What up, peeps?
It's been a very long time since I contributed to CBM. Too long some would say, others would say not long enough.
My last article was actually one of those 'CBM hate' articles that Galactus was talking about the other day. Though mine focussed more on the fact that more and more non-comic book related news was being posted. I now am ok with this but I think the site should have a tagline such as: "For all your Pop Culture Related News" or something similar.
But that's neither here or way over there.
What I'm here for is to review The Amazing Spider-Man, largely due to other reviews not giving it the love I think it needs.
So here it goes...
It was a Wednesday, not unlike other Wednesday's, except that on this particular Wednesday a new movie was being released. Now where I'm from, a land where Kangaroos eat Vegemite and battle Crocodile Dundee to the death, we usually get new movies on a Thursday. But we lucky Australians were not only blessed with a day early release but with a 2D session option (sometimes you don't get 2D til the day after).
So as you can imagine I was at the cinema as soon as I'd finished slaving away at work and with a glow in the dark Spider-Man cup in hand I sat in my pre-delegated seat and waited for the movie to begin.
And what a movie.
Was it Avengers or Dark Knight awesomeness? Perhaps not, but I think those are unfair peers to judge this film against.
This film, to me, was a love letter to all the CBMs of the 00's era. But it was good in all aspects. It was on par with Spider-Man 2 and just had the feeling of 2000's movie, especially with the New York locale. It was almost as if Director Marc Webb just watched all of Marvels pre-independent films and just made a list of what was good and what was bad.
If this movie had come out instead of Raimi's Spider-Man it would have been hailed by critics and been given the same ground breaking praise as The Dark Knight or the Avengers. The movie probably came out ten years too late but as everyone keeps reminding us "the old movies are still relevant and in the peoples minds".
So why is this film not getting the love it deserves?
I think the main reason is that it's a reboot, a term which has such negative associations these day that it just immediately brings the average fanboy to anger. It will often anger me. But there was no place else to go for Spider-Man given Raimi's trilogy and Sony had a franchise where the previous movies brang in 2 and a half billion dollars. There was no way they were going to sell their rights back to Marvel/Disney.
If the movie had become Spider-Man 4 we would have had no love interest, and older Spider-Man and lots of re-casting of roles that had been successfully portrayed. It was the right move for everyone, the studio and the fans included.
The only other issue is the re-telling of an origin. But it's a new trilogy and you can't start a completely unique series of stories without re-visiting where the characters come from. I rarely hear complaints from Batman fans having to read comics or what have you where we see the night Bruce Wayne's parents are killed. The reason being is that we all know that it's a key moment in the characters back story that drove him to become Batman.
Well the death of Uncle Ben and the realisation that as Spider-Man he can use his powers for good or for his own means and then choosing the heroic path is crucial to Spider-Man's back story. He's not Superman, he's not inherently good. He's a teenager who takes the high road to honour his uncle and to use his abilities for good. It needed to be re-told for the character and for the new trilogy to work, it's definitely a hit that we all had to take but it'll be worth it in the end.
Oh and I would just like to point out that Batman & Robin came out in 1997 and the Batman Begins came out in 2005. That's a similar time frame for what Spider-Man is currently going through and for similar reasons. That reason being: The last instalment was really, really bad.
I love watching The Amazing Spider-Man. It gave me everything I wanted and was better than my expectations. The two leads were fantastic and The Lizard was a great villain and most 'comic booky' (if that's a word) villain I've seen in a CBM in a long time. Which I consider a great thing. It's all well and good to have Comic Book Movies embrace realism and try to establish themselves as a legitimate genre and art form within the Film Industry but let's not forget where we came from.
Go see the film if you haven't already.
It's really good.
It works better then Spider-Man 1 as an origin (for me at least) and not only pays tribute to it's predecessors but also stands on it's own.
I give it an 8/10 and am really excited for this new chapter in Spider-Man's cinematic history.
Cheers,
Benjamin Boekelaar