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Anyone else think the The Lizards "evil plan" was unneeded?

posted 8 years ago by spencermalley935
7 replies | jump to latest

Seriously, It added nothing to the movie and it really only served to make the focus uneven. We have this character centered story with Peter but then suddenly we switch to a city-wide threat evil plan that doesn't even make any sense (Won't the gas wear off after a day has passed)

I think they should've just made the Lizard a rampaging, mindless monster and make that transformation gradual so that we would have some reason to feel sympathetic towards him as we see a good man losing his humanity instead of the generic multiple personality thing we've seen before.

[–] Viltrumite 8 years ago

That was the Lizard's plan in the comics. Anyway, he's crazy, how much sense does it really need to make? He thought everyone would be better off as lizards, end of story.

[–] spencermalley935 8 years ago

That was the Lizard's plan in the comics.

Doesn't matter because it doesn't answer my question, Was it necesarry?, did it add anything to the overall movie?

[–] greg-233 8 years ago

"Was it necesarry?, did it add anything to the overall movie?"

It's what drove the overall movie. Richard Parker saw what the results of cross species genetics could lead to, which was why he and his wife fled the scene, leaving Peter with Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Years later Peter learns about Curtis Connors and the work he did with Richard, so Peter seeks him out at Oscorp. And consequently gets bitten by one of the genetically enhanced spiders that Richard had been experimenting with. Peter completed that Decay Rate Algorithm thingy for Dr. Connors, which ultimately led to the birth of the Lizard.

Madmen, and in particular mad scientists committed to a world without weakness, have a tendency not to know that they're mad. In Dr. Connors's mind, it was his mission to take humans to the next evolutionary level:

"Human beings are weak, pathetic, feeble-minded creatures. Why be a human at all when we can be so much more? Faster, stronger, smarter. This is my gift to you."

What mad scientist wouldn't want a world without weakness?

If Peter Parker had had the same mentality as Dr. Connors, he could have concocted a plan to turn everyone else into human spiders.

[–] spencermalley935 8 years ago

It's what drove the overall movie.

Not really, Peter's quest to find the truth about his parents is what drove the movie, The Lizard plot just came out of nowhere at the end.

[–] greg-233 8 years ago

"Not really, Peter's quest to find the truth about his parents is what drove the movie, The Lizard plot just came out of nowhere at the end."

I'll rephrase it then. The Lizard's plan was a part of what drove the overall movie. It wasn't something the writers just tacked on, there had been a build-up to it from near the beginning. Cross species genetics, and its potential to be used or misused, was what was driving the story.

Richard Parker's involvement in cross species genetics, which caused him and his wife to disappear, led Peter into the quest to find the truth about his parents. As a result of cross species genetics, Peter got bitten by one of the spiders at Oscorp and developed the characteristics of a spider. His fears about where this would lead caused him to go round to Dr. Connors' house and tell him he was Richard Parker's son. Because of Peter's help with the Decay Rate Algorithm, Dr. Connors' experiments on animal test subjects proved a success. Dr. Connors elected to be the first human test subject, and he of course became the Lizard. Seeing what his experiments in cross species genetics achieved - a chance to fulfil his life-long ambition to create a world without weakness - Dr. Connors came to the conclusion that humans are an inadequate species. Hence the misguided desire to genetically improve humanity, starting with the population of New York.

Even Uncle Ben's death is an indirect result of cross species genetics. Peter got so absorbed in the experiment, he forgot about Aunt May, Ben was angry, Peter stormed out of the house, Ben got killed, and Peter became a crimefighter in a red and blue suit. The events in the story are all interconnected - just like the threads in a spiderweb - by cross species genetics.

[–] spencermalley935 8 years ago

It wasn't something the writers just tacked on

It clearly was. The movie in no way hinted at a city-wide threat, that was just tacked on. It ended up being an extremely rushed villain plot because it came out of nowhere. The Cross-Species stuff in no way hinted at a city wide threat.

[–] greg-233 8 years ago

"It ended up being an extremely rushed villain plot because it came out of nowhere."

Lots of unexpected or surprising things seem to "come out of nowhere" - a real-life example would be the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor - but the motivation becomes apparent with hindsight.

About less than halfway through The Amazing Spider-Man, there is the scene where Dr. Connors shows Peter around the lab and Peter recognises a piece of machinery - the Ganali device:

Peter: I've seen that before. Yeah, I remember a picture of that in my dad's office.

Dr. Connors: The idea was so simple, load it with an antigen, which creates a cloud, which disperses over a neighbourhood, even an entire city. Theoretically it could cure polio in an afternoon.

Peter: It's incredible.

Dr. Connors: Well, others disagreed. What if the device were loaded with a toxin, what if you wanted to opt out, you can't run away from a cloud, after all, so here it lies, gathering dust.

Hint hint... Wink wink... Nudge nudge....

As has been pointed out already, the Lizard's plan to apply cross species genetics to the rest of the human race wasn't that much of a surprise to other viewers of the movie, because the Lizard had been trying to do that in the comic.