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IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0948470/ A short five years ago director Sam Raimi arguably delivered us a luke-warm turd after dishing out two of the most fantastic superhero films in history. Now Marc Webb hopes to give new life to the series by restarting it completely fresh. So does he succeed? Well... mostly. I know this film is getting fantastic reviews, but for me there was just something off about the whole thing. The feeling of everything being rushed is basically industry standard with superhero origin films, but this one's pacing is just all over the place. The Lizard seems so secondary to the film, and the sudden hostility of the police just kind of comes out of nowhere. Plus I just found the films take on George Stacy to just be bland. He's hateful for the sake of being hateful. There's no depth to him at all, and I could give a poo poo less about him dying. But other than that the film's ok. I really like the idea of Spiderman being more urban-legend, with YouTube videos being basically the only way word's spread of him as a new figure out there on the streets. I also like this film's portrayal of Parker as a science geek, which I feel was far too ignored in the previous trilogy. Another thing I really liked was seeing Parker bruised and beaten. When you've been out fighting God-knows-what all day between slamming into cars and buildings you should look like hell, and he does! All in all I'd call this film a fantastic set-up to a sequel, which will happen since the whole drat film practically screams who it's setting us up for. 3.5/5 Pros: More true to the comics, more true to reality (no, really), and home-made web-shooters. Cons: Bad pacing, dragged out scenes between Peter and Gwen, and the Lizard REALLY looks like The Abomination. I mean like they literally recycled him or something.
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| # ? Jul 6, 2012 00:12 |
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| # ? May 23, 2013 22:42 |
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So I basically was hating on this film from the moment they announced it on the basis that I hate hate hate origin stories for the major comic characters being redone over and over again. Who doesn't know who SPIDERMAN is and how he got his powers? Couldn't we just skip that and get to glorious Spidey action? Well the studios clearly said no you can't and thankfully what they put together this time was a lot more charming and valuable to the future plot of the franchise than I was expecting. For a 2.5 hour movie it only drags lightly right before Spidey's first appearances, and throughout I felt the characters had a lot more levity and ease to their performances than some of the Raimi films. I really like Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker (who is thankfully so much more like most people's preferred comic book Peter, jovial, brilliant, and decidedly awkward when he isn't in the costume) and his lead counterpart Emma Stone was a solid Gwen Stacy, but I'm excited to see her do more in future films. Their chemistry was good and felt on point for some old folks playing teenagers. I liked that both of them found this connection through science and that Peter actually shows off how smart he is in this film unlike the last trilogy where that seemed glossed over. The villain I appreciated because the Lizard always felt like an under appreciated Spidey rogue. I liked the tie ins to Peter/Spidey's story and I think it was important to establish Curt Connors as a central figure to the mystery of this story because he's frequently floating through the history of the comics as an interesting figure which I feel will allow them some interesting opportunities in the sequels. Only sad he didn't wear the lab coat more often. I also visually liked the way Spidey's costume works in motion as well as having gotten plenty of scenes where its spidey doin spidey things which are nice little shout outs to comic panels (ooohhh I've seen spidey strike that pose a bunch of times before was cool). I was highly skeptical of it from the stills, but I thought the film looked good and did a good job of blending solid shots with some of the more up close and sometimes first person vision. If I have a complaint its the one that I mentioned at the start. You have to sit though how he gets to be Spider Man, again. Which basically handicaps more than a third of the film into having no spider man or any appreciable action sequences. As a result while I felt you got enough of the villain, this movie is really just a tease for the kind of adventures you'd like to think the production team can come up with. There just isn't quite as much Spider Man as I'd wanted but that's the price of the origin story. 4/5 Pros: Much better story setup, better actor portrayals, closer to my memory of the best Spidey comics in tone and content. Cons: Yet more origin story, clearly hampered by being "necessary" for better future adventures.
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| # ? Jul 6, 2012 16:39 |
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This film is one of the most frustrating movies to watch this summer. The movie is over 2 hours long and yet still feels like too many ideas were crammed in, unfinished, and rushed. The acting is decent with Dennis Leary stealing any scene he's in. Unfortunately the characters are written so poorly it looks more like its Emma Stone having an interest in Andrew Garfield than Gwen falling for Peter. The villain in this movie has a paper thin motive and never seems to give the audience a reason to care. This is in stark contrast to the tone of the movie which attempts to be dark and serious. The movie world feels bleak and oppressing while a giant green lizard and a man in spandex run around doing ballet. On top of the the editing is atrocious and creates lots of plot holes. It adds to the feeling that the movie is rushed and unsure what, exactly, it wants to be. The Amazing Spider-Man is anything but. Its about as offensive to the senses as knowing Adam Sandler still has a career. 2/5 Pros: Best Cameo of Stan Lee in a marvel movie to date, it eventually ended Cons: Editing, pacing, story, characters, set, ugly cg, messy fight scenes, etc.
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| # ? Jul 10, 2012 15:38 |
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Ever since the trailers I was very excited about this movie, I had pretty high expectations, even though I was probably setting myself up for a fall. Despite Disney whipping everyone into shape, Marvel movies tend to be all over the place in terms of quality. This movie pretty much did it all for me. The funny moments were hilarious, the action sequences were tense and uncertain, and didn't reek of the "super shaky camera" thing a lot of modern movies are using to make action scenes seem frantic. But the most powerful aspect was Peter and his relationship with his aunt and uncle. You really feel that they are human, Peter is not perfect. Toby Maguire delivered a souless Peter Parker by comparison, Amazing Spiderman's Peter is awkward, selfish, irresponsible, and incredibly arrogant once he has the mask on. It's these imperfections that made me root for him to succeed and undergo change, that made me feel sad and angry when he was sad and angry, etc. There are quite a few moments in the movie where I had a lump in my throat. It's not perfect though. Denis Leary does the job right, in fact he basically steals the show anytime he's on-screen, but his character is the quintessential "Hard-rear end Cop Dad with a heart of gold." I didn't find him annoying in the least but he is incredibly predictable. Gwen Stacy I felt was also paper thin, but it's forgivable since she was just around to assist in Peter's character development. Overall though, the imperfections don't even put a dent in what was a really great experience. I'd recommend this movie to anyone, not just Spider-man fans. 5/5 Pros: Protagonist has a deep, rounded character. Movie is highly entertaining and emotional. Cons: Some paper-thin characters here and there, but they don't poo poo all over the experience. Bobnumerotres fucked around with this message at Dec 8, 2012 around 23:23 |
| # ? Dec 8, 2012 23:07 |
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This was a movie about a sullen uncommunicative teenager, Peter Parker, set largely around his high school. The actor portrayed this sometimes by drooping his head down, and sometimes by screaming at people around him. It was a cardboard portrayal of a cardboard character. The lead villain, a mature scientist, was bizarrely-enough also portrayed in the same manner. I don't know why. Peter's aunt "showed" her deep emotions by staring soulfully at Peter every single time she was on screen. I hated this movie. The only reason I watched it through to the end is because I was trapped in an airplane flying over the Atlantic. If I'd been in a movie theater, I'd have walked out. 1/5
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| # ? Jan 3, 2013 01:40 |
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