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"'The Amazing Spider-Man' Is Not That Amazing But It's Really Good - According To One Jew On Film"
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The 2012 film directed by Marc Webb Based on the Marvel comics character
< read all 14 reviewsSpiderman and Crane Operators to the rescue!
-
Jul 8, 2012
- by TheJohn
- posted in Movie Hype
Rating:
Let me get this out of my system right now:
+1
I don't know why this movie series was rebooted.
I put up with X Men First Class's reboot only because that movie ended up being so good. This one not so much.
And-WHY was this movie series rebooted? Did Tobey Maguire just not want to do another one or was Spierman 3 just SO unredeemable that they had to restart? I'll also say this right now: Spiderman 3 is NOT that bad and it didn't kill my dog the way a LOT of fans think it did to they'res. You have seen worse movies then Spiderman 3. And X Men 3 while I'm at it.
Oh and SPOILER ALERT it's implyed heavily that Green Goblin will be the villain AGAIN in the teaser credits scene. I didn't care for the Goblin in EITHER of the movies before and now we will probably be getting him AGAIN. Unless the Golbin gets some miraculous makeover like the Joker in The Dark Knight I don't know if I will be looking forward to the next film.*
Okay.....now lets get to the movie and this is a film that I'll be honest if it wasn't for the fact that the movie was at least entertaining this movie fumbled for me in plenty of spots.
You also know the story: Peter Parker is a nerdy highschooler who's parents are gone and lives with relatives. One day on a visit to a lab, he gets bit by a radioactive spider and slowly grows spider like powers like being able to stick to walls, having heightened senses and more. His Uncle dies because of a crime Peter could have prevented and then we have a villain.
This time it's the Lizard, a geneticist who is working on using animal DNA to work with human DNA to help humanity but when an experiment goes wrong, he's the Lizard, a giant well, Lizard who is intent on contaminating New York with his chemicals and make everyone Lizard people.
Spiderman always won points with the audiences and the young crowd mainly because they identified with his problems growing up, he was funny and he had fun powers and that is pretty duplicated here with a younger face who we can believe as a Spiderman but other then the casting of Uncle Ben and Aunt May, (Martin Sheen and especially Sally Field) that was all I liked.
Lets get to my litany of issues with this movie.
The movie starts REALLY odd with Peter's parents running away in the middle of the night and leaves Peter with Ben and May. I am not a super fan of Spiderman but I know enough of his story to say I have never seen this in any iteration of Spiderman.
The relationship between Kurt Connors (lizard) and a business partner (Evil Indian Man) over the experiments they are doing and Peter's parents is shaky at best in it's implications. You get that Kurt had to get his hands dirty but it's vague.
Gwen and Peter's relationship is awkward. I know Peter is supposed to be a geeky kid weird around a pretty girl but it feels awkwardly staged almost anytime they are together.
Denis Leary as Captain Stacy. I like Denis Leary but the role is written in a way as I've seen Denis Leary in many other things. He blusters about something, someone brings up where he's wrong and he backpedals or outright lies about something.
No J Jonah Jameson. Peter is shown photographing enough in the movie and the Daily Bugle is mentioned here and there and the man who should start the muckraking about Spiderman ISN'T IN THE MOVIE. I can't think of a better man to play Jameson then J.K. Simmons from the other movies and I hope it was just a case of him being unavailable cause I don't think a better one is out there, but I could be wrong.
Harry Osborne is absent completely. I didn't mind but you really have to think of Harry when you think of Spiderman. Enough mention for Oscorp and Norman abounds throughout the movie, but nothing for Harry considering the number of shots of Peter at school.
OH, and as far as I'm concerned, NO review of this movie is complete without the crane sequence at the end of the film. When comicbook and genre movie's get discussed and they're lowest points, be they your bat nipples and I AM THE LAAAAW, and "I don't like sand", Spiderman and the cranes WILL come up. The scene is THAT stupid.
A lot of what I mentioned above is indeed nitpicking but was distracting enough from the movie to still bother me. Those cranes though are just stupid.
The Amazing Spiderman, for me was fun with it's action, the cast but that was all. If you have to retell more origin stories, look at Batman Begins for new looks at origins or even Incredible Hulk and Blade II where we learn the origins in the opening titles, not devoting half the movie to what we have seen10 years ago and let alone be almost identical.
*Oh, Green Goblin heavily hinted at AND....Peter WILL continue to see Gwen? See you on that bridge Gwen.
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Madpenguin
July 08, 2012
I'm really not feeling see this movie at all. And Spider-Man is my second favorite superhero of all time.
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woopak_the_thrill
July 08, 2012
Yeah, I agree with all the points you've presented. I did not like the script of this film at all. It had so many missteps and it suffered heavily from transitional mistakes. I don't mind them going for a re-imagining, but there really was no need to reboot the whole thing. Yes, Parker photographing and no J.Jonah Jameson was really lame. I did feel that the screenplay on this movie had been re-written from the planned Spidey 4. Oh, well....I already know what is going to happen in its sequel. Nice one, John! Glad I wasn't the only bothered by those missteps.
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July 06, 2012
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About the reviewer
John Nelson (TheJohn)
Ranked #7
Ranked #7
Born in Wausau Wisconsin. Move at an early age to Ventura California and lived for 8 years. Growing up in a big city landscape didn't prepare me for my next move: Archbold Ohio with a population of … more
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About this movie
Cast:
Sally Field,
Campbell Scott,
Andrew Garfield,
Rhys Ifans,
Martin Sheen,
Emma Stone,
Dennis Leary,
Irrfan Khan
Director:
Marc Webb
Genre:
Action,
Adventure,
Drama,
Fantasy
Release Date:
July 3, 2012
MPAA Rating:
PG-13
Studio:
Columbia Pictures,
Marvel Studios
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