Amazing Spider-Man Movie Talk Back

64 Comments

1. Working in media, I got to see an advance screening.

   The overall reaction in the room was….pretty tepid.

2. @The Kidd, what is the core of Spider-man/Peter Parker?

3. I freakin’ loved this movie!!!!!! More details(maybe) later.

4. Actually all I wanted to say was that I realy enjoyed the Amazing Spider-man film =)

5. Om nom nom this humble pie is delicious! 😉

   Never been happier to be wrong 😀

   Full article to come on Thursday.

6. The original ancient myths of hercules and perseus were passed down through the centuries by a spoken tradition because there was little or no writing. The stories naturally got changed and embellished based on memory, the style of the story teller, and probably to fit the mood of the audience at the time.

   Our modern super-hero myths of spider-man and bat-man were only written 50 years ago and we are amazingly lucky that we can still read and enjoy the original stories. But just imagine if those characters live on in our culture hundreds of years from now. Perhaps the original comics aren’t even around anymore. Just how will those characters and stories change?

   You might think that you don’t want them to change at all! But if they didn’t change then it would be because no one was telling the stories. And if no one was telling stories then that would be pretty boring wouldn’t it?

7. I for one have never liked the ultimate comics like 616…never will. I like that there’s now a different spider-man there so people don’t get the characters confused. That being said it takes way more elements from the 616 than ultimate. I’m not a younger fan base. I’m in my twenties but use to read comics till OMD. my dad use to b4 that & my granddad b4 that, plus my bro. I read all spider-man 616 comics up to OMD. & most others spider-man & none s-man books. plus every single s-man cartoons lol…guilty pleasure.(spectacular s-man the best than tsa 90’s) I think even some fans forget spider-man’s parents in 616 are spys & have fought along side wolverine, parker casually dated brant, & others but Gwen was his first real love. They have to really develop her & get u to like her to make the epic tragic story that could be really great onscreen & very controversial. Plus setting the way for MJ. In ultimate comics gwen is a punk rockish chick & her & pete r like bro & sis with absolutely no romantic chem. Pete’s dad could be a scientist for shield or cia. The next villain could be a crime lord boss like silvermane, the big man, king pin, either one of them could be stiffing osborn who’s stiffing anyone working for oscorp which was being done in 616. like in the spectac toon which although had some ultimate elements was more close to 616. Hmm & it has always been hinted that uncle ben could of got the wise words of responsibility from stuff he’s seen with his bro richard…The lizard is even more 616 the ultimate one was an iguana & way less intelligent than this one. the one in this movie is doing what the lizard in 616 has tried in comics & in s-m tas 90’s. If u even look at what peter parker has looked like in comics for years now like when he unmasked in cw he looks like garfield if garfield were to put on more muscle mass(maybe he will & they’ll say he’s a grown up now)

8. What we have been posting here has nothing to do with whether or not we are biased toward Maguire. Personally, I am angry at this movie because it gets the core of Peter Parker/Spider-Man wrong

9. Re: Pro Maguire comment…I don’t believe in any regard that Maguire was an ideal Peter Parker..he gave it a good go as will Garfield, but as yet…still not 100 percent. Some might be too quick to criticize Andrew Garfield…and too many are quick to trash Maguire…in 10 years when the reboot is rebooted the same criticism will occur for Garfield…there are very few cases where film gets it 100 percent…two of the few I can think of are Christian Bale as Batman and Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man……this is still a learning process for everybody…I for one am glad that filmakers/Hollywood are finally paying attention to comic book fans and making quality films in which a “real world” approach is being taken…things will get better…but this latest edition is not fantastic..it is good, but it unquestionably is targeted to a younger, Ultimate fan base…the original three still stand in high esteem…maybe the the Garfield Era will as well…at present it is too soon to tell.

10. *should be rewarded for!

11. Ok just seen this movie & in 3D! Everyone you have to see this movie for yourselves! I read all these crazy comments coming from people whom I now feel are very jaded because they fell for tobey maguire…Those were good films. However Spider-man in this film is more dynamic! More iconic! More competent amongst other heroes like batman & superman! …Finally! Tens years were too long to wait…! Always been the biggest s-man fan & although I loved seein it the first time on film with maguire. I knew he could be cast better. I knew it could all be better…finally! The whole cast here is great & done right. The lizard was just fine as a first villain of s-man’s first challenge please do not listen to the over exaggerated put downs of this whole film by the pro maguire camp! You will be missing out! & parker doesn’t just listen about responsibility here he learns it & it’s even more emphasized in a “no good deed goes undone way” …Parker is still a geek,(but tobey over did it) by the time parker becomes spider-man he does go on a cool guy bit for a while but if u watch u see it was always for someone else! but still learns & is told it’s not right, & he doesn’t go for vengeance for his uncle he goes for justice to bring the guy to justice. 2 completely different things! It’s sad that this has become like politics against the other movie when it shouldn’t..you can like em both…it’s ok! but please don’t spin things to turn people away for what was a great performance it should be for!

12. By the way, can someone please stop Spider-Man from taking his mask off ALL THE TIME?! I believe Peter Parker is unmasked no less than three times during the film, including once at his own hands the very first time he appears in full Spider-Man costume. The audience knows that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. It’s not that difficult of a thread to follow, so stop treating us as idiots who have to constantly be reminded that the guy under the mask is in this case Andrew Garfield. What kind of a secret identity is this if everyone gets to see for themselves?

13. @28 Brian Bradley… My Sentiments exactly! they chose a more wordy play on the “With great power comes great responsibility” creed that’s become synonymous with Spidey. such an idea feels incorporated into the film more like a slave to the mythology than something prevalent in the story, because THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN certainly doesn’t practice what it preaches. Peter Parker doesn’t choose to be Spider-Man to do right by what happened to his uncle, never forcing someone else to go through his pain. Instead he becomes Spider-Man solely to seek vengeance on his uncle’s escaped killer. That’s right… Spider-Man becomes Spider-Man for revenge’s sake. Peter Parker goes after criminals who only fit the description of Uncle Ben’s murderer. If he happens to stop other crime along the way, so be it… but this isn’t the Peter Parker who is using his powers to help others. This is a Peter Parker using those powers for his own selfish reasons, which is what set the chain of events off that wound up killing Uncle Ben. Therefore, Peter Parker doesn’t learn from his own mistakes, leaving us with a Spider-Man that isn’t consistent with any type of Spider-Man I’ve come to love.

14. They did cut the “Football, too dangerous!” line, which made me sad.

15. I do love how all the people who were complaining about the superfluous clips and such, were proven wrong when quite a few clips weren’t in the final film.

16. I loved it! I can’t for the next movie when all my favorite can hang at the Coffee Bean! This movie was amazing!

17. I don’t really see how it lacks a sense of wonder. People online criticized the scenes with the kid in the car and the one with the cranes, and how cheesy, whatever they were, but I absolutely loved them. Exactly what I want to see in a superhero movie.

    And yeah, Pete’s much more immature and angsty. Well, that’s how teenagers are nowadays, and this Peter was old enough to remember his parents.

    Random things I love: “Somebody’s been a bad Lizard!” and the bit with Peter buying eggs.

    Few things I thought the trailer did a bit better: “You found my weakness, it’s small knives!”(He mumbled a bit in the movie) and the scene with the kid in the car went on a bit too long.

18. @Parabolee, Peter broods a bit after getting his powers, and after uncle ben’s death. It’s teenage angst, sure, but it doesn’t break character. Peter is awkward as all hell, and really nerdy. His skateboard is just a small hobby, and he never listens to punk music. Peter’s more of an outsider in the vein of early Stan-Ditko works. He’s inconsiderate, and doesn’t really understand how to socially interact. Personally, I found it to be a perfect balance, especially as Peter grows into the selfless nerd we all know and love. However, as other people here mention, it may not be for you. I’m a teenager of this Peter’s era, so perhaps I am biased. Hopefully you’ll be able to enjoy it.

    I loved how much the expanded all the characters, the fact that they gave Flash a character arc blew me away. I felt everyone was cast and written well, but all the expasion took away from the lizard. I feel the characters are much more fleshed out than they were in Rami’s films, but lacked the threat that Norman Osborn had.

    I think it’s a good start, and hope that the sequel will expand the supporting cast and develop Peter even more.

19. i loved it. loved, loved it. i could deal with the few changes. it was awesome! this is coming from a 46 year old spidey fanboy. emma stone is awesome.

20. Too much of a Dark KNight wannabe. Where is the core value of Peter’s guilt for his uncle’s death? It’s barely touched upon.

    Otherwise, to paraphrase Faulkner, it was “full oof sound and fury, but signifying nothing”. It lacked the sense of wonder of the original films and emo-angsty is not Peter Parker.

    Sorry, good try, but not quite.

21. ok and last one… did anybody actually like that end credit scene? I think that may have been the worst teaser cliffhanger I’ve seen at the end of a movie like that.

22. Also I don’t see how people think this is anything new or fresh, except by making him more edgy and less nerdy… the spider bite came from him be a nosey kid who thought he had the right to just walk around some lab building… and why would none of those scientists in that room have stopped him from leaving the tour… But even when it comes to the bad guy… Scientist with a great plan and idea gets shut down forcing him to move on to human testing on himself… pretty sure that’s exactly what happened to Norman in the first one.

    I think it was a fine movie, but I’m going to say it… I agree with Parabolee… way too much angst/cool kid/rebel without a cause attitude to Garfield. While he may have looked the part, I felt the writing missed the mark big time. Garfield is a better Spidey, but it turns out Maguire was the better Parker in my opinion.

    Also… they must have taken a hint from the comics with the sex appeal… him ripping the shirt off of a girl to leave her standing in her bra in the middle of a subway… totally unnecessary… and he even made a joke about “where the webbing comes from” to the car jacker I believe.

    But I will be seeing it again I’m sure at some point to better form my thoughts. It’s not the worst movie out there, but its not the best either.

23. @25 the kidd… Totally agree on Uncle Bens’ death. I felt nothing for any of these characters, and Ben died basically because Peter had a hissy fit and stormed out of the house because he was being taught a lesson he was too cool to hear. Uncle Ben was even robbed of the “great power, great responsibility” line by saying “your father used to say how important responsibility was”… so Peter will never say in this world “my uncle used to tell me…”… in this movie you could tell Peter cared for his uncle and aunt but the amount of emphasis they put on his parents took the shine off of the connection he had with Ben and May. He seemed way too resentful in this movie to pretty much everybody. Not a fan of this Peter Parker.

24. I’m confused as to how Garfield can be a “pitch perfect” Peter Parker and also “emo angsty”. Peter Parker was not “emo angsty”. He also was not mean spirited in his humour, which is what came across in the clips. I’m hoping they are out of context but these reports seem conflicting to me. 6 hours to go.

25. I liked a GREAT deal. Part of the charm is that the film knows how soon it is for the origin to be done again, and it differentiates itself nicely without betrayinmuc from the source material. The characters felt more real, and Garfield was a near-pitch perfect Peter/Spider-Man. Plus, the action was all kinds of kickass.

26. Even worse, the death of Uncle Ben is so clunky and poorly done, involving a convenience store robbery, Peter Parker spitefully choosing not to help, though he’s probably not in a position to do any good even if he did, and Uncle Ben wandering into the wrong place at the wrong time and then entering into a struggle for a gun. You never get the sense that Peter Parker is even remotely responsible for Uncle Ben’s death, or that there’s any reason he would ever blame himself… and that’s essential to Peter Parker becoming Spider-Man. He should bear this huge cross of guilt and self-blame, but, because of how THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN presents it, none of that is apparent.

27. This isn’t a fun, comic-y Spider-Man story at all. In addition to the abandonment issues Peter Parker deals with as a result of his parents suddenly walking out of his life at a young age, which are simply introduced and then forgotten about later (most likely to be addressed more deeply in the coming chapters of another prospective trilogy), THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN attempts to borrow heavily from the success of THE DARK KNIGHT by adding some attitude, some edge to our hero. The only problem with such an idea is that it doesn’t work for Spider-Man.

28. And Brad Douglas once again proves that he is easily entertained!

29. I’m 13 and I liked it and sort of related to it more than the 1rst. I really loved Spider-Man 1 & 2 but this one knocked it out of the water. It really felt new to me.

30. Ah, it is good, no worries in that regard…but it is not fantastic, which considering the money put in to it..and marketing and attempts to re-invent Spidey for “the next generation”…..it ought to be..either way…you should still have a good time..cheers;)

31. “Emo angsty more often than not” – Oh dear, that does not sound good.

    Oh well the positive feedback from Brad and others has given me hope that the movie is redeemable. Just got my 3D tickets for tonight, so fingers crossed!

32. Parabolee, nope:) Still a touch of nerdy science geek, but emo angsty more often than not.

33. For those that have seen it. My biggest concern is Peter Parker being more or a rebel with attitude (that listens to punk an skateboards) as apposed to the lovable square nerd I have always loved.

    Please tell me the clips make it seem worse than it is and some of that square lovable nerd remains in his character!

34. Loved it. Definitely a true Spider-Man movie!

35. Hmm… not sure why my little rant didn’t go through… I guess I could just save it and try to call into your recording when you set it up. The gist of it was though… Nice Spider-Man movie as far as action, graphics and stuff… but poor movie as a whole with plot, characterization and writing leaving a good bit to be desired in my opinion.

36. @Fred-The scene where Spidey gets electrocuted and the final shot of the movie, with Spider-Man shooting the web at the camera looked off, yeah.

37. P.S. Who felt that the CGI was not up to nuff? i did not think it was but that’s my opinion.

38. The film was decent but it pales greatly to the first series. I agree that the chemistry was good between the leads but outside of them, the film felt hollow. More a remake than an original film.

39. Gotta agree with Honesty on this one..I am in my 40s and have been a fan of Spidey since 70s…hell, I practically learned to read via Spidey books…this being said, while the chemistry between the two (Gwen/Emma and Andrew/Peter) was undeniable..as Peter, Garfield was nearly manic….too “outsidery”, angsty and simply odd……..as Spidey he was bang on….but there was much wrong with this movie….Rhys Ifans was fantastic as the lizard and it was good seeing the proper Thompson/Parker dynamic..but this is very much an attempted reinvention for the “new” spider crowd..I saw it at 9:30pm and the theatre at a prescreeing wasn’t even half full…it would have been better to let Raimi finish his vision with Spideys 4 & 5 as was intended..but they opted for the more Ultimate version..but while it wasn’t bad..it wasn’t awesome…and it needed to be to relaunch the franchise…

40. Gotta disagree with your points on Uncle Ben being forgotten and Peter’s motivation. When Peter is doubting himself, he listens to a message from Uncle Ben, rather than look at a picture of his parents or whatever. And then, first revenge was his motive, but the scene at the bridge and the talk with Captain Stacy before that made him realize that his desire for payback aren’t the center of the universe.

41. I thought it was just average. Sorry, but this movie is suffering from “Avengers Hyperbole”, aka “an above average romp getting hailed as the best thing ever by brand loyalists”. Is it the best Spider-Man movie yet? Possibly, but there’s a lot of things wrong with it. Gwen has never been an interesting character and the way she falls for Peter is so superficial and forced, Peter’s reason for becoming Spidey feels out-of-place (“with great power, comes vengeance”), Uncle Ben becomes an afterthought in favour of the piddling parents story, and The Lizard wasnt all that. Andrew and Emma’s chemistry was nice enough, but Peter/Gwen will NEVER be Peter/MJ no matter how hard Marvel push it down our throats.

42. Dr Ratha is their own creation, yeah.

43. That movie was Amazing and Stan Lee’s cameo was the best. I was impressed with the CG and I will for sure be watching it again. My only question is who is Dr. Ratja or whatever that guys name was who worked for Norman Osborn? Is he a made up character for the movie?

44. Hope they take their time with the supporting cast, unlike Raimi who gave us Flash and Betty and never did anything with them. Like how Flash is less of a caricature in this movie.

    Also, Sally Avril was there, apparently. I never noticed because she A) didn’t Sound like the illegitimate child of Josh Bertone and Gilbert Gottfried and B) didn’t have a blue superhero costume.

45. I really liked it too. I liked that Flash was in it more than he was in the first Raimi version. I also loved the Spidey quipage. It was the way he used to come across when I first got into liking Spider-Man in the ’70s.

46. Finally! I’ve been waiting five days for you guys to get this! Seen it twice already, I think it’s the best Spider-Man movie.

    Everyone was well cast. Even Captain Stacy, who I was leery about,(see what I did there?) was well acted.

    I wasn’t crazy about the music when they were posted, but it was great in context. Love the theme.

    Also, THAT SCENE NEAR THE END WITH THE AMERICAN FLAG, SPOTLIGHTS AND CRANES DAMN NEAR MADE ME CRY.

47. Just got back from the movie and freaking loved it. It’s better than the first Spider-Man in many ways. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are outstanding in the film and who knew I’d like the Lizard. Outstanding movie and better than 1 and 3 in my opinion. More discussion this weekend when we record the podcast. We’ll have live callers so add “webheadspidey” on Skype and you can be on the show. More details later this week.

48. I thought it was really good, I saw it in IMAX 3D. Because this is the movie talkback thread, I’m guessing it is ok to post spoilers.

    I didn’t mind the re-imagining of the origin as much as I thought I would. It fit and it flowed, not bad at all.

    The spandex line was priceless.

    My only problem with the movie was Peter revealing himself to Captain Stacy. Granted it made sense in the story, just wasn’t my cuppa.

    Overall I thought this was the best of any of the Spider-Man movies. It was just fun. I didn’t feel any of the brooding overtones I felt in the Raimi movies.

49. Have fun Brad. I guess I’m old, I can barely stay up until midnight let alone start watching a movie at that time!

50. Hey Bard ,I’d love to say I saw this at the midnight premiere in my hometown but I have a lot of things I have to in real time in the morning . Still after work tomorrow I hope for a chance to see it even if if’s a real late showing of it I get off at 6;30 and I walk everywhere I go to and theater is two miles from my home! Still I wish I could go tonight because I hear they are giving limited Spider-Man figures away…… The funny thing is all the one by Rami I did see on opening night so there’s still a lot of hope for this one as well? also is this really Marc Web’s second film how darn slick is that of all things if it really is, huh!