Amazing Spiderman

The "reboot" of the the 2002 "Spiderman" movie with Tobey Maguire based on the Marvel comic book character. It's the story of a high school outsider named Peter Parker who obtains spider characteristics and powers from getting bitten by a biologically engineered spider. Peter must now wrestle with who he is and who he has become and the choices he makes along the way. Some of those choices end up putting him at odds with the police as well as a scientist (Dr. Curt Connors) who worked with his father before his parents disappeared.

Cast

Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker / Spider-Man
^{Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy
Rhys Ifans as Dr. Curt Connors / The Lizard
Denis Leary as Captain George Stacy
Martin Sheen as Ben Parker
Sally Field as May Parker}

Who will like this

People who know the Spiderman character, but are not comic book fans will appreciate this movie more, as it deviates in a lot of ways from the Marvel series. Fans of the last few Marvel superhero movies might like to see this one as well. Because it is an origin story, it is a bit slow starting and then may be too intense for very young viewers.

Phantom Thoughts

I would like to start out by saying that I have been a fan of Spiderman comic books for a very long time. There are many different titles of books that have different storylines and even alternate universe stories that any "reboot" could have chosen to take. Instead, they decided to go their own way with the story for this one and in the process, I think they failed miserably.

After Spiderman 3, plans were made to make Spiderman 4 with a release date of May 2011. However, after several scripts were turned in and turned down, Director Sam Rami was not confident that they would be able to create a good enough story and "realized we didn't have a good reason to make another one."

Well then, they shouldn't have made one at all. Now you have to tell the same story of how Peter Parker becomes Spiderman all over again to an audience who all pretty much know from either the comic books or the movies from just 10 years ago. I guess they knew that, and added or subtracted some things to try to make it original. The only good thing about this movie was Emma Stone. She played a great Gwen Stacy. The rest of this rant will be riddled with spoilers, so instead of tagging each one, I suggest if you don't want to know what happens in the movie, read no further.

Peter Parker's parents mysteriously disappear when he is younger. It is revealed that Richard Parker is working on some secret experiment with Dr. Curt Connors at Oscorp. Oscorp being the big bad corporation owned by Norman Osborn, who we all know is Spiderman's biggest foe, the Green Goblin. But none of that is brought up in this movie. I guess we'll have to wait for the sequel for THAT one. So he is raised by his aunt and uncle, but since he was old enough to remember his parents, Aunt May and Uncle Ben were not the parent figures they should be to Peter. Martin Sheen plays a great Uncle Ben, but Sally Field is not the frail, old Aunt May that the character should be.

The whole story of why he lets the robber get away that later kills his uncle is REALLY flimsy as well. Basically, it was over a matter of 2 cents. Seriously? And the entire Wrestling story, which was done so well in the original Spiderman movie was reduced to him falling into a deserted wrestling arena and getting the idea for the mask from a poster there. Pathetic.

Peter Parker is a thief. Yep, I said it...and here's proof: When he finds his father's old secret file, he comes across an equation. This is the equation that is the key to regenerating limbs based on lizard DNA that Connors has been working on for years without his partner, Richard Parker. Peter gives him this equation, presenting it as his own. If you're saying to yourself  "Well, that doesn't REALLY make him a thief though". OK...how's this? He STOLE the web cartridges he uses from Oscorp. Now, I was never a fan of the fact that the webs were organic in the original series, but Peter Parker is supposed to invent the webs and web shooters himself. As much as this is a pretty big stretch of the imagination, it is used to highlight his intelligence. We're talking about a story of a kid who takes on the abilities of a spider and becomes a superhero. I would think your imagination is pretty stretched already. But this movie leads you to believe that he stole these from this corporation and Oscorp would not notice their "webs" being used by a guy in a mask swinging across the city? And what happens when he runs out? How will he get more for the sequel?

Now if you're a superhero wearing a mask, it's probably for a reason, right? So nobody knows who you are? Spiderman rips off his mask so many times in this movie, he's not wearing it more than he is! Look, I understand the whole problem with this: if you hire an actor, you want to show his face. I get it. But first of all, Andrew Garfield is not dressed as Spiderman in MOST of the movie, so believe me...you get to see his pretty little puss enough. At least when they did it in the original Spiderman movies, they did it in a reasonable way, where it got torn away in a fight sequence or for the storyline. In this one, he's just pulling off that mask like it's an Alien Facehugger for no reason whatsoever. Take a page from the ONLY thing they got right in Watchmen: Rorschach never takes that mask off until it is ripped off of him, kicking and screaming the whole way.

And where's the rest of the movie? There were scenes in the trailers and commercials we've been watching over and over again for the past 6 months that were not in the movie. Where is that amazing sequence of the POV shot where Spiderman is running over the rooftops? This happens with a lot of films actually and it's one of my pet peeves. But there is also a point in Amazing Spiderman where there is a BLATANT edit of a scene missing that left me saying "How the Hell did THAT happen?"

Speaking of that POV shot, when I saw that as a 3D trailer, it was one of the most amazing 3D scenes I had ever seen. But the movie itself was really lacking in the 3D department. Maybe I'm spoiled after seeing how great the effect was in Prometheus. And perhaps I was expecting too much from that trailer, but if you're going to entice me with effects like that, you better deliver. Amazing Spiderman did not.

And since we are on the subject of special effects, The CGI work on the Lizard was horrible. I know a few computer geek friends who could have done just about as good a job as I saw on the screen. And they are certainly not making the millions of dollars Columbia has to work with.

I really wanted to like this movie, being a fan of the franchise and all. And even though I kinda saw it coming from the previews, I tried to keep an open mind. But the only thing "Amazing" about this Spiderman movie was how bad it was.

Until next time, see you in the center seat.