From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

Praise, praise, nothing but praise.

It started with positive reviews, then was hit with a wave of mixed reviews, but unexpectedly, it made a U-turn and was greeted by another wave of praise.

The "Los Angeles Times" and "New York Times," two major comprehensive media outlets, and "The Hollywood Reporter" and "Variety," two major professional and authoritative media outlets, all simultaneously offered their praise.

Moreover, it wasn't just positive reviews.

Two scores of 100, two scores of 95.

Undoubtedly, this was shocking, enough to leave other industry insiders speechless and jaw-dropped, yet it was happening right before their eyes.

Even more unbelievable was that this was just the beginning.

Other professional media outlets were equally generous with their praise and admiration, with both their scores and wording showcasing their appreciation for the film, comprehensively detonating the word-of-mouth for "Spider-Man" in a frenzied manner—

"The Wall Street Journal," 93 points, "Unbelievable, Sam Raimi did it, simultaneously satisfying the fantasies of original comic book lovers and the expectations of outsiders who know nothing about comics for superhero movies, or rather, did Ansen Wood do it?"

"The Washington Post," 91 points, "So smooth and so perfect, I dare to ask, who still dares to say we don't need superhero movies."

"USA Today," 90 points, "Ansen Wood makes Peter Parker vulnerable, strong, gentle, and decisive, and more importantly, makes him irresistible. In an unexpected way, he touches the softest parts of every audience member's heart."

One, two, three, four, five, positive reviews gushed forth.

Stunned.

Dumbfounded.

Everything was too overwhelming and too crazy, to the point that audiences began to doubt their own eyes.

Checking once, checking twice, no matter how many times they checked, they got the same answer:

They were not mistaken, nor were they seeing things.

This was a flood of positive reviews, instantly sweeping away those mixed reviews again, so that the media review website pages were all green.

Mentally and physically refreshed!

But, was this real?

A movie adapted from a manga for otaku, a superhero movie without any unique characteristics, a typical summer blockbuster popcorn-style commercial movie, actually made the authoritative media collectively go crazy, was this possible?

Wait, maybe—

This was a means for the media to join forces to save the summer box office market, no matter what, even if it was half-coaxing and half-deceiving, they had to trick the audience into the cinema first?

However, a careful observation would reveal that this was impossible.

One or two media outlets, maybe it was possible, probably, or there was a slight chance, but such a wide range and large area of authoritative professional media unanimously giving positive reviews, then there was only one possibility:

The movie was a truly good movie.

These praises were professional and objective reviews.

In a predicament of bearing countless pressures and facing countless doubts, "Spider-Man" truly turned the situation around, carving out a path of its own.

This was indeed a rare sight.

After all, summer blockbuster popcorn-style commercial movies often meant being close to the market and close to the masses, and those professional film critics were naturally more critical—

For reference, since 1990, among the annual North American box office champions, only 1994's "The Lion King" had a media aggregate score that broke the 80-point threshold, reaching 88 points; all other works were excluded from the "appreciation" of professional film critics.

"Titanic", 75 points; "Terminator 2", 75 points; "Men in Black", 71 points, these were the only three works with media aggregate scores above 70 points.

Box office and media aggregate scores were often not directly proportional.

Thus, it could be seen that it was an impossible task for summer movies to win the recognition of both audiences and film critics at the same time.

From this, one could see the efforts of the entire Hollywood to unite and promote "Spider-Man" in an attempt to ignite the summer season, whether good or bad, at least the heat needed to be generated; whether they cared or not, industry insiders gave their attention.

Attention was power.

And the next step, good reviews or bad reviews, the media still had their own authority and professional image to maintain, and they wrote down their views at the first opportunity.

Time would prove the value of these comments.

Fifty media outlets, ten mixed reviews, forty positive reviews—

No negative reviews.

Rarely seen, "Spider-Man" won the treatment of zero negative reviews.

Regarding Sam Raimi's unique approach of focusing on Peter Parker's coming-of-age story as a middle school student, the media generally believed that this was clever, because it allowed the audience to have an innate resonance with the character, no longer watching a spectacle, but connecting with the character.

More accurately, "Spider-Man" should not be compared to superhero movies such as "Batman Returns", "X-Men", "Blade", etc., but rather to coming-of-age movies such as "Stand by Me" and "The Breakfast Club", but at the same time, it could also satisfy the preferences of summer popcorn movies.

It was precisely because of this that even the most critical and sharp media only gave a mixed review of 50 points. Perhaps "Spider-Man's" upper limit was not high, but its lower limit was very high, which also laid the foundation for the film's word-of-mouth explosion.

At the same time, there was also a media review that accurately and sharply cut into the audience's psychology.

"When we see the Twin Towers in the movie again, it will awaken the sad memories in our hearts; but at the same time, when we see Peter Parker taking on the responsibility of a hero with his weak shoulders, we all regain courage."

This was the key.

Various factors collided together, and finally created this wonderful scene in front of us.

Media Aggregate Score: 81 points.

It's a hit, it's a hit, it's a complete hit!

This was the first movie released on a large scale in the summer season since the millennium to break the 80-point threshold for media aggregate scores; and there were as many as 50 media outlets scoring, and the credibility and authority were even more linearly increased.

This time, it was no longer a smoke bomb, and Century City could rest assured and cheer to their heart's content—

Perhaps they were competitors, perhaps they would be at daggers drawn in the blink of an eye, but at least at this moment, the entire Hollywood was united.

If this kind of "Spider-Man" could not awaken the sleeping and sluggish box office market, then Hollywood might really be at a loss.

Everything was ready, only the east wind was lacking.

As a movie company, everything they could do had been prepared properly, and they had already done their best. Now, they just needed to calm down and wait for the market's feedback.

Everything was left to fate, or rather—

Left to Peter Parker.

Times create heroes, so could Peter Parker become a hero this time? To be more precise, could Ansen play a hero?

Obviously, more than one media outlet chose to believe.

"The Village Voice", 88 points.

"Ansen Wood! Ansen Wood! Ansen Wood!"