*NOTE: I planned on releasing my review of all the comic book films earlier this month, but couldn’t get around to it! So let’s kick it off with my favorite superhero: Spider-Man!!
In 2010 when Marc Webb was announced as the director for the new Spidey reboot, I didn’t care. I mean, maybe he could do well, maybe not. I needed to wait and see one of his films. Then Andrew Garfield was announced as the new Peter Parker, and I decided to see him in The Social Network.
And boy was a pleasantly impressed. After that I was anticipating this film like crazy. Amongst the other films coming out this year, I was rooting for Spider-Man the most. I hope his return to the big screen would be an amazing one.
So how does the film do adapting the character? Personally I thought it did good.
The acting was very great. No one gave a weak performance. Andrew Garfield plays a great Peter Parker, one that I found very relatable. Emma Stone was wonderful as Gwen. Rhys Ifans was enjoyable as Doctor Connors/The Lizard. The rest of the cast was extra greatness on top of what we already got. Everyone worked well together on screen.
People call this Parker a jerk or something along those lines but if you actually think about it teenagers go through a lot in their years. They’re finding out who they want to be, deal with boyfriends/girlfriends, get bullied, feel misunderstood…and this can lead to angst.
Now it’s funny people complain this Peter cries too much yet in the first issue of his own comic, Spider-Man runs away crying because the police interrupt his battle with Chameleon, and gets on the cops bad sides. And even then, in this film, Garfield only cries when he needs to, and he’s great at it. His acting is wonderful to watch.
I was not shocked that this film focuses a lot on the romance between Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy. This is directed by Marc Webb, who did [500] Days of Summer. Also, Peter’s live is normally a love/action story, and it works for the film. The chemistry between Garfield and Stone is the best this year. These two stars show how great of actors they are.
I don’t normally go into effects much. If they are good enough that I know what’s going on, then they’re fine. But the CGI was seamlessly done, and for that I congratulate Sony Imageworks for their effort and hard work. It paid off.
Other great aspects of the film were its breathtaking visuals, its fun yet grounded atmosphere, and the wonderful directing of Marc Webb who, with studio interference, still pulled off a good film.
With all this good there are some drawbacks though:
The Lizard I found was not too much of a compelling villain. Being sympathetic is HIS shtick, and its sad we didn’t get that in this film. It really made me feel like something was missing from Ifans’ performance.
Also, just a minor nitpick: The final fight, (minor SPOILERS), felt a little too CGI-esque for me. It felt like two video game characters fighting. Which is disappointing after the great school battle sequence we got, which showed off Spider-Man’s humor, awesome special effects, foreshadowing of a Stacy event to come, and the most iconic Stan Lee cameo yet!
Those complaints aside, I really enjoyed this movie. And that’s all that mattered for me. It was a fun film that I DIDN’T have to turn my brain off to enjoy. As a Spider-Man adaption it did just fine, and I left the theater satisfied. To anyone who also liked this film: You are not alone.
I’ll give The Amazing Spider-Man 4/5, and seeing how it’ll have a lot of great bonus features, I’m getting it on Blu-ray!
Favorite scene: The ‘Till Kingdom Come montage reminded me of how great Spider-Man is. This is where the wall crawler outshines The Avengers and Batman and all the other superheroes: he’s just a kid, and likes to let loose to play around once in a while. I loved how he just goofed off with his skateboard and powers. It reminded you why Spider-Man is so great: He isn’t an alpha male Superman, but a teenager who sees his power as a gift, and can’t help goofing off once in a while.