The Amazing Spider-Man review

Boom. Another reboot. Which seems to be the keyword, or disease as some people would say, in Hollywood nowadays, along with "Darker and Edgier".

We've already seen a few movies bitten by that trend (hehe), now its the webhead's turn.

Is it any good?

Actually...it's pretty damn good.

By the way, spoilers ahead. Why? Coz the movie is fucking good, and fuck you, that's why.

Does whatever a spider can!! Like super strength, super senses and combat wittiness.

Once again, they're retelling Spider-man's origin story, though this time its a little different, tying it with Oscorp and Dr. Kurt Konnors with Peter's parents, who died under mysterious circumstances.

Personally, I was a bit tired of them telling the origin story. Again. Though I had to admit, it was different enough that it did justify the retelling for a new generation of moviegoers.

Once again, Uncle Ben dies because Peter chose to not do anything about a robber who robs a jerkass store owner.

As always...Uncle Ben serves as one of the greatest father figures in fiction.

Uncle Ben's death was short and brutally tragic, he was shot by that same robber as they wrestled over a gun. He was like what...close to 50? And he still chose to do the right thing and fought with the robber.

Is there any wonder why Peter Parker is always considered the moral compass in the Marvel Universe? No matter what happens, no matter how much he has to sacrifice, Peter Parker always strive to do the right thing.

Uncle Ben's death brought a tear to my eye. And many others too I think, judging from the sobbing I heard in the cinema.

The thing that makes this movie such a compelling watch is the chemistry between the characters. Everyone interacts very well with each other, and its believable.

Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy was surprisingly good.

Dibs

And she looks good too. Especially in her knee high boots, thigh high socks and boots. She looks so fineeeeeeeeee.

Oh crap...down boy...dowwwwwnnnnn.

She is definitely a better lead actress than Mary-Jane Watson in Sam Raimi's Spider-man trilogy, but that is not because Kirsten Dunst is a horrible actress (She isn't), but Mary-Jane's characterization was pretty much damsel in distress and that's pretty much it.

Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy on the other hand, is bright, brave and downright beautiful. Even after Peter warned her that the Lizard was heading her way as she was making and waiting for the antidote for the Lizard's bioweapon.

Not only that, she also cleared the entire building to avoid casualties, then set off the fire system to fill the room with some form of gas (probably to try to mask her scent). THEN, she hides in a small room with the spreading device that the Lizard was looking for while holding onto a makeshift flamethrower.

The Lizard found her and the first thing she does is to blast fire into that ugly mothafucka's face. Luckily for her, the Lizard was not interested in harming her but focusing on the device.

Holy shit. She's a badass. And I'm in love.

Then there's Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker a.k.a. (SPOILERS ALERT) Spider-Man.

At first, I had my reservations as well. How will he do in the movie?

Pretty well actually.

You seriously think I'm a cop?

Thankfully, Andrew Garfield plays him superbly. He is witty, courageous, and a good person. This version of Peter Parker is more of a loner than a geek or nerd that the traditional depictions, but well, this is an era where being a geek is, you know, pretty normal, so that depiction would be quite out of place.

Rooted in a more contemporary setting, Andrew's performance as Peter Parker is excellent. Every scene of him is a winner: his despair and guilt over Uncle Ben's death, his cockiness and witty banter as Spider-Man while trolling a poor unsuspecting car thief, the adorably cute and awkward way he interacts with Gwen Stacy, his determination at doing the right thing, the scene where he saves the little boy from the car and even the way he was so revenge-driven at finding the robber who killed his uncle is a fascinating watch.

This version of Peter Parker is even more tragic driven than the previous trilogy, and is very much in line with the comics version, taking the best of the 616-universe and the Ultimate Spider-Man version, making viewers just simply unable to take their eyes off him.

They just look so cute together

Another fantastic point about this movie is the way Peter and Gwen's relationship is handled. It's just simply beautiful, and natural. It feels less forced than Mary-Jane/Peter and very much a high school romance.

Then we have Gwen Stacy's father, George Stacy (Denis Leary), Ben and May Parker (Martin Sheen and Sally Field respectively) and Dr. Curt Connors/The Lizard (Rhys Ifans). Obviously, they get much less screentime than the two leads.

George Stacy is a very competent Captain of New York's finest, who hunts Spider-Man out of mistrust. Here, he is not hunting him for making the cops look bad, and brings up legitimate points on Spider-Man's vigilante acts: screwing up the police department's long term plans to bust a bigger operation, and extremely accurately deducts that Spider-Man was not actually helping the innocent but more concerned with hunting a specific target.

I know what goes on in your mind when you look at my daughter.
You damn perv.

This leads to Peter Parker changing his ways as he realizes how George Stacy was right about him. George Stacy even lets him go after Peter reveals his identity and begs him to let him go so that he can go stop The Lizard. Hell, he even comes to Peter's rescue (with a BOOMSTICK!!) after The Lizard was on the verge of crushing Peter's skull.

Unfortunately, George was impaled by The Lizard's claws and died and he made Peter promise that he will leave Gwen alone to keep her safe.

At first, Peter kept to that promise, and Gwen knew that he was doing it because of her father. But towards the end, Peter hinted that he could not keep that promise.

I'm a little torn up by that actually. On one hand, not keeping the promise felt like a slap in the face to the memory of George Stacy; on the other hand, I felt that with all the tragedies in his life, does Peter Parker not deserve some happiness in his life?

It's a dilemma for me.

So here's a cute little kitten to elevate the mood.

Anyways.....

Then, of course, you have Ben and May Parker, both excellently portrayed as well, showing how much they care for Peter after his parents had to leave him there for his own safety. Martin Sheen's portrayal as Ben Parker is especially noteworthy: he is shown to be extremely loving and a good person, and his death was just heart-wrenching. 

Obviously, we all know his death was coming. It was inevitable, but the way it was portrayed was short, brutal, unceremonious and tear-jerking. The scene worked extremely well within the context of the movie and never goes into narm territory.

Finally, we have the villain: Dr. Curt Connors. 

As Dr. Connors, Rhys Ifans was a compelling watch, he is actually more of a man driven to desperation to test the serum on himself because he wanted to spare others the fate of being unwilling test subjects. His interaction with Peter and his feelings of in-adequateness over the loss of his limb are stand out points.

However, as The Lizard...well...yea. Frankly, I felt that The Lizard was a let down.

It's not the CGI though. 

Green with envy

The CGI used to bring The Lizard to life on the silverscreen is well...Not that great, but frankly it could be a lot worse. And in the first place, he's a difficult character to animate in real life, so it's understandable.

The problem is that The Lizard's motivation was a bit well...unmotivated. 

So, Curt Connors pushed the serum into himself, gets turned into a giant reptile monster, then somehow suddenly decides to gas all of humanity to bring out their full potential?

Erm...yea. Not that convincing really. Granted, as Dr. Connors, he talked about how he wanted to help humanity so that everyone will be equal and not alone, so there is a bit of foreshadowing going on there, but still the insanity that followed was a bit too forced.

The action scenes are FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC. 

They actually show Spider-Man using his athletics, super agility, his webshooting and his environment to his advantage, not just plain fisticuffs or kicking. 

I especially loved the scene where Spider-Man was held at gunpoint, and he just dodged all the bullets and managed to get away.

There's also this scene (pic above) where Peter makes a makeshift web in the sewers to try to hunt The Lizard. I found it a very oddly mesmerizing scene

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Honestly, I was a bit hesitant with the reboot of Spider-Man, but I love this movie a lot, its much closer to a character drama than Sam Raimi's trilogy and it makes it a lot more compelling to watch.

The only significant downfall is that The Lizard was not really a good villain, so I hope the sequel will do a better job at it.

The Amazing Spider-Man will make you cry tears of laughter and sadness, and it will also amaze you (hehe) with its action and mellow moments.

It's not going to be an epic like The Avengers or The Dark Knight Rises, but I believe that this movie stands strong among the year of comic book epics.

A definite must watch for comic book fans. Especially in IMAX.