Hello followers of the Comic Book Way, Preacherfanatic7 here, for a review of the new movie "The Amazing Spider-Man". It will be hard, but I will do my best not compare this to the first Raimi Spider-Man. That may be easier said than done however.
I will be grading the film on a scale of 1 to 10, I will review each aspect of the movie and give a result out of 10 and then I shall Average that Score for the final Review.
Let’s start off with the most Important Aspect. The Story.
Story- The story is about Peter Parker, a social outcast at Midtown Science High School, who is bitten by a genetically altered Spider and becomes Spider-Man, soon he discovers that his father’s old pal Curt Conners has transformed himself in to a Giant Lizard and plans on creating a Master Race of Lizard men who will survive longer than Humans.
The story is good, the beginning is slow, but it builds on itself, it makes you care for these characters, you want them to win, you don't want them to die. It did get a bit shaky at times and felt too sped up and rushed, but that all comes down to editing, there seems like there should have been a bit more to the story but the editors cut out some to shorten the film. That was really my main issue. I love how the plot is very reminiscent of an Old Stan Lee/Ditko Spider-Man story especially the Lizards master plan towards the end of the movie. Even though i thought the end was rushed, it made me happy that it was completely different than any other plan a villain made in a Spider-Man movie before.
What i love about this is that the stakes were incredibly high at the end, and I will compare it to Raimi's Spider-Man. All the Goblin did in that movie was terrorize and threaten to kill people and asked Spidey to join him. Lizard did none of that, he realized what he wanted to do, and it would affect several people other than just the Love interest and a small group of civilians.
Also, the origin was handled very efficiently, critics saying that this was just a rehash, and that we had seen it before, are just being assholes. Yes there are familiar scenes such as the Spider bite, uncle bens death and designing the suit. However it was handled very well, and added a twist on the events. Those worried that this has been Ang Lee'd fear not, that is not the case in this movie. Also, i like how he just doesn’t start fighting all crime in New York after Ben died. HE had a reason to go out and find thugs; his costume is a result in failed attempts at catching his Uncles killer.
Another big thing for me is that they did not kill the main villain off in this movie like they have in pretty much every other Spider-Man movie! He actually lives, so we may see him return. That was definitely refreshing.
I give the plot an 8.5/10
Characters/Actors- I thought all the characters in this were handled very well.
Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Man- He made me believe that this character was troubled, that he had unresolved issues with his family. I love how brilliant Garfield is in the movie, he portrays a range of emotions with and without his mask, from happy, to awkward to in love, to anger to sadness. He is the perfect Spider-Man, in and out of the suit! Best Part, he only takes his mask off when he needs to, it does not conveniently come off at any point, he takes it off when he needs to.
Emma Stone as Gwen Stacey: I do love her portrayal in this movie, she is smart, pretty but brave, she is anything but the Damsel in distress, she even Fights the Lizard at one point (Kinda) But she is never kidnapped, nor is she oblivious to Peter as Spider-Man, making her bitch and whine why he doesn't meet her for dates and what not. My only Issue is that she is not in the movie enough. I know she is in it a lot, but her performance made me want more Gwen. She also looks perfect in the role!
Rhys Ifans as Dr. Connors/The Lizard- While i think he is the best actor in the movie besides Garfield, he is definitely underused. There could be more to his character, he plays the character very sympathetic, but i think editing took a little character out of him, either that or he was underwritten. I love his transformation into the Lizard, the effects are great and he does not look like a Goomba once you see him on screen for a good amount of time, he feels like a real threat, he is almost like a horror movie monster. While I think they played him up more as a Mad scientist towards the end, it is still believable that he has two personalities, the Scientist who wants to cure the world through his medical breakthroughs, and the egotistical Lizard who wants to do the same, but through much sinister means. His plan is a very comic booky one, which i loved. I thought when they said that this was going to be a more realistic movie i though they would Nolan it up and make it too realistic.
Martin Sheen as Uncle Ben- THIS WAS ONE OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS! He reminds me of my grandfather in both looks and character, sort of a goofball sometimes, but when it comes to serious business he doesn’t joke around. His death seen was tragic. In the Raimi film it felt like it dragged on for too long, and to me that made his death in the first Spidey film feel less tragic. His death is so sudden and quick, that peter doesn’t even get a last word with him, the last thing he does is curse him and storm out the door, that is what makes his death so tragic here. And yes the rumors are true, the Great responsibility line is not in here, but Ben does say something similar, which and may Stan Lee strike me down, sounded better than "With great power comes great responsibility" What he tells peter sounds less preachy I guess, like it actually comes from the heart, not that it is just a line to be a line.
Denis Leary as Captain Stacey- While it is a bit of a departure from the comics it would make sense that the cops don’t like this guy going around doing their job, there are even times where he gets pissed off because Spidey walked in on a sting operation and that stopped the cops from doing their job. When he finds out who Spider-Man really is, he understands, he shows his love for his daughter. He knows that even though Spidey is somewhat of an outlaw, that his daughter could be in trouble so he helps him out towards the end of the film, which unfortunately leads to his downfall. But dammit if he doesn’t go out like a Badass! There need to more movies with Denis Leary brandishing a shotgun.
Sally Fields as Aunt May- I like her, she wasn't too big of a character, but it is much more believable as an aunt, she is definitely not an old lady. Her concern for peter is what i like most about the character.
Chris Zylka as Flash Thompson- This guy reminds me of people i dealt with in high school,. he felt like a real bully, who was actually a nice guy sometimes. And I love that he is a big Spidey fan by the end of the film. He is very likeable even though he is a douche, you kind of feel bad for him when Parker is embarrassing him. I like how he wasn’t the same old asshole when Uncle Ben died, it showed that he may be a bully but he can still understand when a guy’s family member dies and knows when to Back off
Irrfan Khan does a good job with what he has even though you can barely hear him and he doesn't appear through the rest of the film after Spidey saves him on the bridge. He seemed like he could have been replaced by Norman Osborne, and it would have made it much more interesting.
Cast/Characters: 9/10
SFX- The special effects are really good, but not perfect, some of the CGI is really well rendered, like the Lizard, but the gas he releases is really fake looking, but it was very fun to watch, the aesthetic of the CGI was interesting. The Lizard looked really good. People calling him a Goomba will definitely change their tune when watching this movie. I loved that they primarily use practical effects especially on Spider-Man, in the Raimi films when you look back at them now it is so obvious that he is a CGI construct and is distracting. But this Spider-Man felt real, I felt like I was watching a real person do these things. It can kind of be compared to the old Superman movies when they said “You will believe a man can fly” Because in this I could believe that a man can Wall Crawl or swing on webs. The CGI on the Rats and the Lizards, (the little ones) was a little bit dodgy and silly looking, but that is only a minor complaint when compared to the whole film. I did not see it in 3D, because I hate 3D, but some shots did feel like they were specifically for 3D which bugged me a little bit and this part of the grade may have to suffer for it.
SFX: 8/10
Tone- The tone of the film is much Darker than most Spider-Man films we have seen before. Not only that but it is more emotional. This feels like the real world, even though there are crazy things going on, I feel like this is could actually happen in New York city, and not just the Lizard thing, but the drama and the high school experience, and the family issues, they all felt really real. This is definitely more adult than most Superhero movies. A lot of it is set at night, which I believe also helps the tone of the film, but it does not feel contrived or like they were trying to copy Batman. He had a reason to be out at night most of the time. He was trying to catch Uncle Ben’s killer, and most muggers are out at night, this also helped him become Spider-Man, because when he could not find the right guy he would just leave them webbed for the police, so through looking for the thief he becomes, inadvertently, a superhero. Then you have the Lizard, who is mostly Nocturnal, and likes dark places, like the Sewer, which fits the comics perfectly!
Tone: 10/10
Score- While I did like a lot of the musical cues in the film, it did not feel like the characters had theme music, there is something missing. The small bits of music are more memorable than the long ones, James Horner does a good job at setting the tone for scene and a lot of it feels very classical Hollywood, such as the horror movie riffs whenever the Lizard is on screen, which made him feel like the monster that he is. However other than that the music is not too memorable
Score: 7.5/10
Overall- Overall the film was a mix of what makes Spider-Man great, with what makes a film a great, the drama was absolutely necessary in order for you to feel for the main characters. The characters were all great, and though there were some flaws with them here or there, it is not enough for you to hate the film. The movie does a good job at separating itself from the previous movies while still keeping in touch with the source material. You can tell everyone involved was really on top of their game the whole time. Webb has an interesting film style which is very comic booky, without being too campy. The visuals and music prove that. While I did like the villain, I really wanted to see more people turn into lizard men, and Spidey would have to fight them off, but realize that they are people too and come into conflict with how he should handle them, and an army of Lizard me just sounds cool. But That is personal preference. While it is not a Perfect film, it definitely does not suck. Spider-Man fans will enjoy this movie a lot, and if you aren’t too big on Spider-Man because of Raimi’s films this will garner you interest.
Overall grade: 8.6/10
PEACE BE WITH YOU CBM. EXCELSIOR!