The Amazing Spider-Man

[Deep Wang]

This movie is a mess. I'm surprised so many people like it. While it is more true to the comics, I feel that this is pretty much in the same league as Spider-Man 3. Okay, we don't have emo Spider-Man, but ugh, I was disappointed with this film.

I personally don't find it any more true to the comics than Raimi's version. I think that Raimi just gets Spider-Man and Webb was picking up a paycheck and a chance a big career.

[Webslinger]

As a big fan of the first two Spider-Man movies (and an uncommonly forgiving viewer in the case of the oft-maligned third) and of the director and cast involved, I really wanted to enjoy The Amazing Spider-Man; but the result onscreen is a frustratingly uneven experience. Comparisons with Sam Raimi's 2002 film were always inevitable, and the fact that this film follows so many of the same story beats makes that film linger over everything that takes place here despite the difference in the style with which the two films were made. For a while, the film works on its own terms, even if it's not quite as effective as the earlier film. Unsurprisingly, director Marc Webb has a strong handle on the relationships between characters, and although certain key events don't register as well as they did before, the filmmakers still sell them well. There's still pathos in Uncle Ben's death, there's still some effective low-key humor in Peter's discovery of his powers, and Peter's flirtations with his love interest are still charming. However, it is when the focus of the film shifts to something more action-oriented where things go awry. Webb's lack of experience with huge setpieces shows in action scenes that aren't especially exciting to watch. It doesn't help matters that The Lizard isn't a particularly compelling or intimidating villain; the tragedy in the man's transformation into a monster is not quite nuanced enough to resonate (like Alfred Molina's Doc Ock), and attempts to make him frightening are undermined by so-so CGI and the goofy decision to allow him to talk while in Lizard form. Then we have these threads: The police, who serve no purpose but to provide unnecessary conflict for our hero; Peter's attempts to capture his uncle's killer, a conflict that is dropped about halfway through the film only to be given a cursory nod again at the end; and the mystery surrounding why Peter's parents left, for which the filmmakers give a non-answer akin to "Wait for the sequel!" The talented cast is also only partially well-utilized. Andrew Garfield is good at playing a likable everyman, even if he looks a cut or two above an everyman. He's charming with Emma Stone, but Stone is restrained to the point where she doesn't come close to radiating the same energy on display in her other performances. Martin Sheen is affecting in his small role, but the movie forgets about Sally Field for what feels like at least an hour. Rhys Ifans tries to bring depth to the villain, but comes up short, and doesn't do frothing-at-the-mouth-crazy particularly well here. And last and least, Denis Leary is almost completely wasted as the police captain. Despite the filmmakers' intentions, The Amazing Spider-Man is a disappointing mixed bag that neither escapes the shadow of its superior predecessor nor starts the reboot of its franchise in the strongest fashion.

C+

[HeyItsMoses]

It shows Dr. Connor being put into a cell. After he sits down on the bed a person standing in the shadows steps out and asks him if he told Parker about his father. Connor says no and that he should leave the boy alone. Then the person says something about letting him be, for now. Then it ends.Personally, I think it was Norman Osborne.

That makes no sense. Norman Osborne was supposedly dying or something, and needed the chemical to save his life or some shit. A part of me thinks it was him talking to himself? How in the movie he's talking to his thoughts, and in the credits scene, his other half manifested into a person that he see's? I don't know. What I do know, is that I have NO IDEA who the villain is gonna be for the TASM2. I thought I heard someone say Rhino, and a part of me is hoping that it's Rhino also, but we'll see.

[The Dark Alfred]

I think those who say it was true to the comics have never read Spidey comics and they just throw that line in, because it sounds cool, but they have no idea what they're talking about. The last time I checked Spider-Man was wearing a mask and didn't tell half NY City his true identity. Am I the only one who got annoyed that he was on his phone in nearly every scene when he finally puts the mask on, but when he really needed to use it, he just calls out for help.

[ddddeeee]

He used almost that exact same motif in Jumanji. I now understand why people complain about him rehashing his old scores.

Titanic pops up a few times.

[Fanboy]

I really enjoyed it. It felt like a 100 minute movie rather than 2 hours and 15 minutes. The villian had cheesy lines to go with his cheesy CGI and the movie lost a bit of its charm in the third act. I really liked the last few scenes with Gwen and Peter though. Actually, now I think about it, the scenes with those two were the best and that's not really surprising considering it's directed by Marc Webb.

Another problem I had with the movie though, was the ignorance of events, for example Uncle Ben's death happened so quickly, and then it seemed like everyone just got over it. Aunt May didn't really do much after that either. Sally Field did a good job portraying her though. Andrew Garfield was also good, and Emma Stone was very good.

The score was disappointing. I love James Horner, but this one was meh.

Overall the movie was good, but it's not as good as Sam Raimi's Spider-Man. I kind of missed the franchise when watching it TBH. Even after SM3. Oh well, it was still much better than that movie.

B+

[75Live]

I enjoyed this movie. I didn't expect to as much since the other franchise finally gave me my favorite superhero a grand entrance to the big screen. However, for me, this movie did some things better, but overall still about the same. I felt the main 2 actors were definitely a step up. They had instant chemistry. I also felt that the swinging through the city was done better. Yes CGI has gotten better and they did some more practical effects as well, but it really felt like a person was there with actually weight. That is not a shot to the first series, those were beautiful too.

The biggest "complaint" I have about the movie was there is not a resounding "theme" as with most hero movies. You remember the Superman theme, or any of the main Batman themes, even the Spiderman themes. But while the score worked with every scene, there wasn't a stand out piece of music.

Overall, I think they hit everything they needed to do and it sets up a franchise pretty well.

B+, possibly an A-

Edited July 4, 2012 by 75live

[ddddeeee]

The biggest "complaint" I have about the movie was there is not a resounding "theme" as with most hero movies. You remember the Superman theme, or any of the main Batman themes, even the Spiderman themes. But while the score worked with every scene, there wasn't a stand out piece of music.

There are themes, they're just a bit anonymous. Williams' Superman theme and Elfman's Batman theme completely capture the essence of those characters, and Elfman's Peter Parker theme is inseparable from the lines "With great power, comes great responsibility". OTOH Horner's theme is just generic fanfare that doesn't really sound like Spider-Man at all. Edited July 4, 2012 by ddddeeee

[CloneWars]

I think those who say it was true to the comics have never read Spidey comics and they just throw that line in, because it sounds cool, but they have no idea what they're talking about. The last time I checked Spider-Man was wearing a mask and didn't tell half NY City his true identity. Am I the only one who got annoyed that he was on his phone in nearly every scene when he finally puts the mask on, but when he really needed to use it, he just calls out for help.

That annoyed me as well that he didn't pull out his cell phone and call for an ambulance, especially considering how often we see him on his cell phone. That seemed so cheap when he said someone call for a cop. Unfortunately, I feel there are many nuances like this and you just go WTF.Also, I was pissed that we didn't get the line With Great Power Comes Great Responibility. Instead, is said differently and it packs no emotion, that and Uncle Ben was talking about something Peter's father said instead of it coming from Uncle Ben's heart. Actually, now that I think about it, Peter doesn't seem as close to Uncle Ben in this film as he did Raimi's movies. His whole parental relationship thing is really messed up in this movie and they build it up and then it goes nowhere.In many ways, this feels like half a movie, and I agree that the Lizard is a lame villian. He comes across as a cardboard cutout. It could have been so much better, especially because Connors and Peter are friends before the transformation. Where is the inner conflict like we see with Doc Ock in SM2. And, I also agree that he looks like a fricking Goomba from the live action Mario Bros.This movie is sad on so many levels. And, here is a question, I've read every review here, and some of you talk about how you didn't like the film that much and pretty much admit it's very flawed and yet give it a grade of a B and sometimes even an A/A-. What gives people? I personally think that some people are being nicer to this film because its a Spidey, and it isn't as bad as SM3, but if this were any other SH film, I think people would be giving this a more harsher grade. Even I feel my grade might be a bit generous which is a C, but I almost never give out D's and F's unless the film is really bad, so a C from me is a low, low grade. Edited July 4, 2012 by CloneWars

[AniNate]

If I walk out of a movie feeling satisfied, I don't give it anything less than a B-, whatever its flaws may be.

[lab276]

There are themes, they're just a bit anonymous. Williams' Superman theme and Elfman's Batman theme completely capture the essence of those characters, and Elfman's Peter Parker theme is inseparable from the lines "With great power, comes great responsibility". OTOH Horner's theme is just generic fanfare that doesn't really sound like Spider-Man at all.

I thought you liked the score a lot.

[ddddeeee]

I do, the themes are bland though. All the piano stuff is lovely, if very derivative. Then again everything Horner does is derivative in some shape or form so it's best to go along with it.

[narniadis]

Outside of the score (A Beautiful Mind, Titanic, Jumanji, and even Avatar and Deep Impact make appearances) I loved it - neither my wife or I have cared for the original Trilogy (TM & KD, enough said) and we really did feel that minus a few points this was closer in spirit to the comics than Raimi's versions. And as one poster said above - if I leave satisfied then I don't rate below **** its the same here we felt like we totally got our money's worth and will probably go see it again before TDKR hits.....A/A-

[Heretic]

Everything made it look bad, but the end result was actually pretty good. First off, I think the Garfield was excellent. Really well cast. Same for Emma Stone. She's unbelievably charming, and the chemistry between the pair was brilliant. It just worked.Unfortunately, this did not hold together perfectly with the action. While the POV scenes of Spider- Man diving around the city were rather impressive, the actual battles with the Lizard were much less ambitious and inconsistent. He looked and sounded absolutely ridiculous the whole time, and the ending was simply underwhelming.Obviously their were a number of glaring pot-holes...perhaps to be answered in the next instalment, but in general I liked the whole coming of age aspect to this film. While it lacked a little on the action side, I found it enjoyable just watching Spider-man do his thing, and this time round it was much more relatable to real life. I feel satisfied with this first film, and I can see there's a LOT of potential for further movies. They just need to improve that script and get a better, more menacing villain.B

Edited April 22, 2014 by Heretic

[Heretic]

The balcony scene. TITANIC. That's all I was thinking about the entire time.

[Deep Wang]

The balcony scene. TITANIC. That's all I was thinking about the entire time.

How about the T2 scene? I was really laughing at that.

[junkshop36]

The only thing that bothered me about the Lizard was the look of his face. Not sure why they couldn't just give him a snout, even if just a small one. He could have still talked. Like others have said, I left the theater satisfied as did my wife and son.

[BK007]

I think you guys are being really harsh. I really loved this movie. Love may be a bit of a strong word, but I definitely did more than like it.Maybe it's because I never liked Spider Man 1-3, Maguire's awfully one note performance or Kirsten Dunst's enigmatic-less Mary Jane.Sure the first bit felt familiar but it really worked for me and Garfield/Stone have out of this world chemistry. Find me a better couple in a superhero movie and I don't think you will. Nostalgia clouds your minds, but I'm OK. We're getting a sequel, it's doing well at the BO and always gotta love it when people don't appreciate the same things. I just hope Sony don't mess around. The execs may hate it but I thought it was brilliant. More human, more focus on actual acting, you know, what they're hired for, is always a plus point even though it should be the pivot.

[BK007]

I personally don't find it any more true to the comics than Raimi's version. I think that Raimi just gets Spider-Man and Webb was picking up a paycheck and a chance a big career.

Having seen (500) Days of Summer, I love that they chose him. Sure, the action wasn't revolutionary but then, how many films have that these days? May I remind that Avengers certainly didn't for many scenes either. What they can't make up for though are the choice of shots in the personal scenes. Spider Man had none of it except the upside down kiss which is really only iconic for the composition and nothing else since there was as much chemistry as there is in a history class. Maybe people didn't like the ending but so many action films and superhero films have low-key or "generic" climaxes. It's hard to come up with something totally original, but in this movie, given the injury, given the characterization, that ending worked. It would be hard pressed to have something gobsmackingly awesome but that stretched the suspension of disbelief. I really liked it anyway. Didn't bother me. Then again, when people enjoy the most generic of action movies, it's hard to argue properly and objectively why TASM is better. Personal preference can only take you so far before it becomes a chaotic clusterfuck of non-reasons.

[ecstasy]

Saw it today with my daughter. I thoughtit was very good, especially the first half. I was kind of disappointed with dr connor aka lizard. That whole part seemed totally rushed and flat. What i did love was Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker. He really gave the character a lot of depth. I actually teared up when he was listening to uncle bens phone message. I cried like a baby when uncle ben died in sm1. All in all I thought it was agood effort. All of the actors did a great job but I do miss the spiderman fights from the other films. Hopefully we'll get it in the next one.