The Amazing Spider-Man

Vlad Piranha · Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 8:31 pm Post subject: The Amazing Spider-Man

Enemy lizard spotted!

I was pretty surprised a year or so ago when I heard that Spider-Man was getting a reboot. I thought it would be too soon for another one. I was one of the purists who also felt uncomfortable about the changes in the costume. I wasn't sure the Lizard would really be iconic enough of a villain (though I always liked him). After an opening day viewing, I can assure you guys that these concerns are all laughable.

You guys know much of the story arc to this already, but changes have been made to keep it true to the comic's timeline. More importantly, Peter Parker's early life is explored. This is definitely a new development. The fate of his parents always factored greatly into Peter's character and the fact that the Nineties cartoon and the other films didn't address that always bothered me. The past few years have been full of reboots and prequels and this is one of the few films that truly improved its universe by exploring newer and earlier chapters in-depth.

The cast to this is fantastic and every actor and actress really looks the part. It's hard not to fall in love with Martin Sheen as Uncle Ben. Emma Stone is easy on the eyes as Gwen Stacy, but that's not the sole purpose for her character's existence in this film. The story would have suffered if she wasn't worthwhile. As I mentioned earlier, I wasn't sure that the Lizard would be a cool enough villain for a film like this, but just like Spider-Man, his story was enriched with a bit of time and exploration. It was also pleasant that, after being teased with three films of Dr. Curt Connors in supporting roles, geeks like me will finally get to see his chance to shine. Not only was he effective as an antagonist, his storyline (very comic accurate) was very cleverly integrated with the Spider-Man origin story. What you get is a plot that can entertain the masses, but really really works hard to keep true fans happy. That's not an easy task.

My favorite plot element in this film was the evolution of Peter Parker from an angry vigilante to Spider-Man. The loss of a loved one will lead to his life of crime fighting, as it always has, but there's more depth thanks to the improved back story. A lifetime of unfairness and personal tragedies has given Peter a thirst for justice and, once he has the power to do something about his grief, he sets out to do exactly that. He begins to understand that vengeance will never bring comfort to anyone, but that his new persona of Spider-Man could be a vessel for compassion and real justice. With great power comes great responsibility, but that line is never uttered and the moral of the story is never simply handed to the audience. Everything is laid out a layer at a time until the real principles that drive our hero become clear.

There's one more thing. As always, I stayed for the credits and there is a reward for people with my patience that foreshadows the inevitable sequel and reveals just why a less iconic villain was perfect for the opening of this new series. Spider-Man's true nemesis in waiting in the wings for his debut in the next installment and I can't wait. The setup is so delicate and so perfect.

How could I give this movie anything less than a full-on A? It's the first film I've seen this year that really met expectations for me and didn't have any major flaws in it. I saw the 2D version, so I can't really speak for the 3D one this time around. If the quality of the 3D is good, it should work well with the dynamic camera shots in some scenes. I'll be seeing this one a second time in 3D, so I'll keep you guys posted. In the meantime, you can't go wrong with this movie. It's easily worth the price of admission and concessions.

Stealth · Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 10:54 pm Post subject:

My review:

8======D~~~~~~~~~

Changed pants.
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Motherfucking Triangles! Being all three sided n' shit, who do they think they are?!

massive · Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2012 12:54 pm Post subject:

Stealth wrote:

My review:

8======D~~~~~~~~~

Changed pants.

bunneh said your review should be

8=D~

Laughing

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Vlad Piranha wrote:

I'm offended that a zombie holocaust isn't on the list. It would be terrifying, sure, but it would be pretty sweet if you think about it.

Stealth · Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 10:02 am Post subject:

Haha, clever sir!

But now that I'm not at work, I can post a legit review.

With Spiderman being my favorite super hero of all time, I must comment! But I'm honestly just nit picking.

At first, I was skeptical. High school Peter Parker... I was worried it wouldn't be in my age range and that I wouldn't give a damn about a high romance that he might inquire with Gwen.

They nailed it and gave those awkward moments as well as the building of the relationship. However, my biggest issue with that is how it ended. I felt that was kind of rushed and hoped there'd be some kind of complicated relationship.

What I liked about Peter, in general, was that at first, he took a multitude of women on dates. It's too much for one movie to handle, but it would have been nice to have seen Peter at least have some interests, with nothing coming of it.

I agree with Ben that the plot is amazingly done and is very close to the original. I really love that the chose Lizard and introduced Dr. Conners. It takes me back to when I saw the first episode of the 90s Spiderman, "Night of the Lizard." Brings back a lot of memories.

What I was kind of disappointed in was the Dr. Conners was locked up for his crimes. It prevents the Six Arm story arc, but it's not like they're shooting for it.

I enjoyed seeing all the gadgets and research Peter did to show his intellect. Something I felt was always missing from the other three movies. And what's also nice is that you can see Peter trying to take pictures for the DB, but never making it that far.

Overall, this movie is badass and I enjoyed it immensely. I still feel like something is missing for it to be the start of a series. It might be like a cliffhanger like effect, but I felt everything was completely resolved by the end of the film with the exception of the after credits.

Still gets an A in my book.
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Motherfucking Triangles! Being all three sided n' shit, who do they think they are?!

Vlad Piranha · Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 12:42 pm Post subject:

Due to a dead computer for over a week, this is the first chance I've had to get back to you guys. 3D was actually of pretty good quality, sort of like an A- or B+. If you watched the first teaser trailers, then you saw the first person perspective scene in it. There are a few more in the full length film and they look fantastic in 3D, which is no doubt what they were made for. They balanced out the dialogue driven scenes in which you never got full use of the 3D glasses. The Amazing Spider-Man actually makes decent use of the technology.

By the way, after some thought, I came to the conclusion that these movies will probably be a trilogy as well and that the second and third installments will be named The Spectacular Spider-Man and Web of Spider-Man. I'm calling that now.