Amazing Spider-Man Movie Reviews *Spoilers*

[jvl1031]

Garfield did a good job but was a little to awkward in an off putting way at times. I thought his Spider-Man was very solid. They had him be way too careless with his identity though. Almost every major character (possibly even May) knew who he was by the end.

Oh, I loved that. Most of us have read the early comics, and a lot of us hated Aunt May the clueless, heart attack-y crazy lady. The fact that it wasn't made explicit with a big dramatic "You're Spider-Man!" was neat, too.

That's how I felt too. I likened it to the way Lucius Fox silently acknowledged Bruce Wayne was Batman in Batman Begins. On a side note, I don't know if anyone here is a fan of the Nostalgia Critic, but the things he says about the Sam Raimi Spider-man films at the beginning of his "Doug's Review" are the things I've been saying about them for years: http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videol ... -spiderman.

[jpd13]

I finally saw it Saturday and I surprisingly really, really liked it.

Like a lot of people here, I was skeptical about this whole "reboot". As a huge Spidey fan it's amazing how apathetic I was about the movie going in. Maybe that's why it caught me by such surprise. I wasn't going in there looking for every continuity era because I honestly just didn't care. I went in there just wanting to see a good Spider-Man movie and that's what I got. It has it's flaws for sure, but over all it really a good movie. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are the best part. Their chemisty and dialogue just feel real. I always liked Tobey (Kristen Dunst not so much), but I always felt like his performance was a little off. Garfield really nails both a more modern take on Peter Parker and Spider-Man. He moves and acts like you'd think someone who was bitten by a radioactive spider would.

Only other thing I'll say is that the suit wasn't that bad. The Raimi suit is still better, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be.

[stillanerd]

Okay, finally saw the Amazing Spider-Man and my verdict? It's pretty good...in certain parts.

First of all, I thought the action choreography was also well-handled, particularly the web-slinging and wall crawling sequences from Spider-Man which I definitely think surpassed the Raimi movies. Perhaps that's, in part, because you know there are certain moment in which you can tell it's an actual person swinging as opposed to a completely CGI figure, which helps to better sell the illusion. Not to mention the POV shots actually looked great as well (although why in the world they felt it necessary to chop up the first one that got shown in the teaser trailer I have no idea). It's definitely come a long way from ten years ago

I also thought all the performances we're really well done, in particular Martin Sheen's portrayal as Uncle Ben and, surprisingly, Denis Leary's Captain Stacy (although technically he is playing himself to a degree). Andrew Garfield was pretty good, although I think he plays a much better Spider-Man than he does Peter Parker, but I think that's a fault of the material he has to work with rather than his acting ability. I mean, whenever he was in costume, that was definitely Spidey right out of the comic book, poses, quips, and all. You can tell he definitely was having fun playing the part and really got into it. And I also like how the film actually SHOWS Peter is a budding scientist rather than just telling us.

By contrast, Rhys Ifans made for a great Dr. Curt Connors but a lousy Lizard, which certainly wasn't helped by the awful design choice. Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy certainly makes for a more capable and active love interest for Peter than Kirsten Dunst's Mary Jane did in the Sam Raimi films, but she kind of came across the same as Dunst personality-wise at times and, while she and Garfield have good chemistry, the romance wasn't as engaging or developed. And while I liked Sally Field as Aunt May, she was criminally under-used in this story.

That leads me to the story, and my gosh, was it a complete and utter mess! Don't get me wrong, there ARE good and decent moments in the film, but some of those moments get ruined by inconsistent tone, choppy editing, and poor pacing. Interestingly enough, all the retold origin elements (which, yes, do follow nearly the same identical beats as the Raimi film) are actually the best parts of the movie, particularly the moments when Peter is discovering his powers (although I think Peter trying to stop Flash from bullying the student and the glass breaking when Peter slammed the front door should have been cut). But the moment after Uncle Ben's murder is when things began to slide off the tracks until, by towards the end of the film, the movie has completely derailed. Granted, I understood what the film was trying to get across with Peter wanting to get revenge on his Uncle's killer and how he learns, thanks to Captain Stacy, how he's not actually helping others, but what should be his driving motivation--his belief that his Uncle's death is his fault and that he wants to make amends--is all but non-existent and the fact that his Uncle's death and the search for his killer gets sidelined in favor of the Lizard plot doesn't help either, particularly when everything about that was by far the weakest and illogical aspect of the entire film.

Same goes for the "untold story" about Peter's parents, which, to be honest, even if the scenes that emphasized it were back in the film, it still wouldn't have added much to the overall story apart from what happened to Iffan Khan's Dr. Rafta. Oh, and BTW, the carjacker scene STILL doesn't make any sense (again, how did Spidey get into a locked car or even know the carjacker was going to steal that particular car in the first place?) and that scene with the crane operators was FAR cheesier and nonsensical than anything Raimi ever did in his Spider-Man films. However, the best scene of the film by far is the moment where Spidey saves the little boy from the car; that truly captured the essence of Spider-Man, I thought, and showed how he had became a real hero.

So overall, a pretty decent film, better than Spider-Man 3 anyway, but not quite up to the level of the first two, in my opinion. 2 1/2 out of 4 stars for me.

[campbelldropout]

Is the plot of where Dr. Connors is trying to turn everybody into reptiles a storyline from the comic. I just watched the Night of the Lizard episode from the 90's Spider-Man cartoon (learned it was on netflix from the podcast, thanks). And the story lines are really similar in that Connors wants to make the entire human race into reptiles.

[FSUSpiderFan]

Garfield did a good job but was a little to awkward in an off putting way at times. I thought his Spider-Man was very solid. They had him be way too careless with his identity though. Almost every major character (possibly even May) knew who he was by the end.

Oh, I loved that. Most of us have read the early comics, and a lot of us hated Aunt May the clueless, heart attack-y crazy lady. The fact that it wasn't made explicit with a big dramatic "You're Spider-Man!" was neat, too.

I agree that a more perceptive Aunt May is more interesting than a dottering old lady who doesn't see what's in front of her face, but the impact of that is lessened by every other major character finding out who he was. They really should have waited for Gwen to find out in a later film. The whole Stacey dynamic was completely reversed from the comic story. Gwen instead of her father was supportive of Spidey. If they needed to keep them apart rather than having it be a rehash of Spider-Man 1 they could have had her blame Spidey for her father's death as it was in the comics. Also, they completely reversed the personalities of Gwen and MJ in the two franchises. In these movies Gwen is the spunky one instead of MJ.

[iron_patriot]

(although why in the world they felt it necessary to chop up the first one that got shown in the teaser trailer I have no idea)

Probably for the people with motion sickness.

Is the plot of where Dr. Connors is trying to turn everybody into reptiles a storyline from the comic. I just watched the Night of the Lizard episode from the 90's Spider-Man cartoon (learned it was on netflix from the podcast, thanks). And the story lines are really similar in that Connors wants to make the entire human race into reptiles.

Turning everyone into lizards is one of the three possible Lizard stories. He's a bit limited as a character.

If they needed to keep them apart rather than having it be a rehash of Spider-Man 1 they could have had her blame Spidey for her father's death as it was in the comics.

Gwen already said she knows that her dad can die at anytime so that would be bitchy of her. Plus, her dad died a hero.(kind of like Uncle Ben. I thought that was really cool)

Also, they completely reversed the personalities of Gwen and MJ in the two franchises. In these movies Gwen is the spunky one instead of MJ.

MJ still hasn't appeared yet, so this one might be different.

[Spideydude]

I gathered that they got back together at the end.

When he said Promises meant to be broken. Or something like that when she smiles.

[RHagen]

I gathered that they got back together at the end.

When he said Promises meant to be broken. Or something like that when she smiles.

That bit bugged me quite a bit. Why go through the whole 'dying man's last request' with Captain Stacy only to throw it all away just before the credits roll? It kind of takes away from the whole death. Also, if they are going to hook up again that easily, you've just robbed some good tension and drama from any sequel that may come down the line.

My two cents.

[MacGyver]

So, the most famous phrase in Spider-Man's history is a NO-SHOW in this movie? The rewording did NOT work!

Talk about silly...
A car thief breaks into a LOCKED car.
He gets in and finds Spider-Man already in the backseat!
So Spider-Man can not only predict the future...he can also break into locked cars and sit and wait.
NONSENSE!

The Amazing Spider-Man replaced all of the AWE of the first movie and added far too much MEH.

Think about that first movie and the fun and "amazement" as Peter Parker climbed up an alley wall for the very first time. Now replace that with a Peter Parker who clings to the ceiling of a subway and nobody so much as reacts to it....beyond the fact that a girl says, "You spilled beer on me." Sloppy storytelling.

What a mess this movie was.

Grade "C-"...the high school fight scene with the Lizard was good but give me the fun of Tobey Maguire discovering his powers, having fun swinging through the city, and learning about POWER AND RESPONSIBILITY to this new Spider-Man just striking cool poses for the viewer.

Mac

[iron_patriot]

I thought there was a lot of wonder here. The crane scene, the balancing on the ledge of a building, the swinging on chains...all very fun stuff.

Also, we see a cop defending Spidey to Capt. Stacy, and we see that he's the one who owns the car, so maybe he had help?

[Wombat 909]

I think people taking apart the car thief scene are taking this way too seriously. Spidey sees thief breaking in, swoops into the car and thus. Do we need to see Spidey open the door, sit inside, get comfortable, close the door and proceed. It's just a comedic moment to entertain. So many movies and TV shows have scenes where a bus or large vehicle goes by and someone disappears with it, no explanation given and it's the same here. Picking this scene apart is really people just looking for flaws. If you didn't like the movie, fine but I think taking apart how Spidey got into a car is picking at straws which aren't really there.

[iron_patriot]

I think people taking apart the car thief scene are taking this way too seriously. Spidey sees thief breaking in, swoops into the car and thus. Do we need to see Spidey open the door, sit inside, get comfortable, close the door and proceed. It's just a comedic moment to entertain. So many movies and TV shows have scenes where a bus or large vehicle goes by and someone disappears with it, no explanation given and it's the same here. Picking this scene apart is really people just looking for flaws. If you
didn't like the movie, fine but I think taking apart how Spidey got into a car is picking at straws which aren't really there.

Yeah, I thought it was like a Batman "Where are you? Here." scene.

[jpd13]

So, the most famous phrase in Spider-Man's history is a NO-SHOW in this movie? The rewording did NOT work!

Yeah, that was missed. Eventhough I really liked the movie, it was almost a distraction that they wouldn't say it. I kept waiting for it eventhough I knew it wasn't coming. A nice compromise would have been to have it somehow on the voicemail.

[Spideydude]

I thought there was a lot of wonder here. The crane scene, the balancing on the ledge of a building, the swinging on chains...all very fun stuff.

Also, we see a cop defending Spidey to Capt. Stacy, and we see that he's the one who owns the car, so maybe he had help?

The crane scene was the worst part of the film.

[Wombat 909]

I thought there was a lot of wonder here. The crane scene, the balancing on the ledge of a building, the swinging on chains...all very fun stuff.

Also, we see a cop defending Spidey to Capt. Stacy, and we see that he's the one who owns the car, so maybe he had help?

The crane scene was the worst part of the film.

It was my favourite part of the film... I know it was cheesy and reminiscent of the Rami movies but I didn't care. It was so uplifting and emotional for me personally that I just sat back and let it play. It was needed for Spidey to get to Oscorp but more to the point, its about him realizing that there are people who believe in him and sucking it up and pushing through the adversity.