Some Love for the Civilians in The Amazing Spider-Man

There’s so much to love about a good superhero movie.  Awesome powers/fight scenes, larger-than-life stories, superpowered characters made to feel human and real, big sacrifices, triumphant moments – the list goes on and on.  For me, I have a soft spot for little scenes showing how the hero has inspired other people, ordinary people, to step up and do what’s right.  And that is one place where The Amazing Spider-Man films get me every time (a few spoilers for both films.)

I feel like there’s just something about Spidey that engenders these kinds of moments.  Being a quintessentially New York hero gives him something of a “my city” feeling, and the people he saves in turn have an “our Spider-Man” attitude.  In general, Spider-Man also strikes me as a hero who takes time for “the little things” – which is really showcased in this franchise in particular – and that has an effect on people, too.  For all that the Daily Bugle dumps on him and people debate whether the webcrawler is a help or a menace, the people who really understand what Spidey is about are on his side 100%.

The Tobey Maguire Spider-Man films have some of this kind of thing as well.  I love the bit on the first movie where a bunch of New Yorkers throw stuff at the Green Goblin while he’s fighting with Spidey, and the second movie has that lovely scene where Spidey is unmasked as he’s saving a bunch of people on a runaway train, and they give him his mask back and promise to keep his secret (although, why they pass him hand over hand like a crowdsurfing Jesus when he passes out, I have no idea.)

But really, The Amazing Spider-Man films have this stuff down.  I love that Spidey saves a little boy from bullies in the second movie, uses his webbing to repair the kid’s wind-turbine science project, and geeks out over the kid’s accomplishment.  When the kid shows up again at the end, dressed in a Spider-Man mask, to stare down the Rhino, this is more than just a boy who idolizes Spider-Man based on his exploits in the news; this is someone who’s seen Spider-Man and knows what sort of hero he is, who wants to do the right thing like Spider-Man does. 

The big civilian-moment-to-shine scene in the first movie has a similar feel of one of Spidey’s good turns deserving another (notice I saved the first movie for last because this scene is my favorite.)  In this case, Spidey’s save is far from little.  He rescues another little kid stuck in a car dangling off the edge of a bridge.  More than just a daring save, Spidey connects with the terrified little boy and helps him to be brave for what he needs to do.  Spidey can’t get to the boy and needs him to climb up through the car so Spidey can reach him and pull him to safety.  When the kid is too scared to move, Spidey loans him the mask, promising, “It’s going to make you strong.”  This scene leads us to the part the boy’s dad, a construction worker, plays in the lead-up to the final showdown between Spidey and the Lizard.  Spidey is injured and struggling to cover a great distance very quickly, afraid he won’t make it in time.  When he looks and see that all the cranes in the area have swung their crossbars out across the street, giving him a clear path to swing on (after the dad saw Spidey’s predicament on the news and called in every favor he had)?  Gets me right in the feels.  I love that.  I love what it says about people, that they step up to help.  I love what it says about Spider-Man, that he inspires that devotion.  And I love the way it shows Spider-Man how much the city appreciates him for what he does and is looking out for him in return.