The Amazing Spider-Man has finally arrived in theaters. The franchise reboot has a new face under the mask, and a new villain to fight, and Sony is hoping fans pack the theater this holiday.
Like most teenagers his age, Peter [played by Andrew Garfield]is trying to figure out who he is and how to be the person he is today. In his journey to put the pieces of his past together he uncovers a secret that his father [Campbell Scott] held… a secret that will ultimately shape his destiny as Spider-Man. This is the first in a series of movies that tells a different side of the Peter Parker story.
We want to know what you thought of the movie. Did the wall crawler wrap you in his web, or did his mechanical web-shooters fall short of thrilling you?
Use the comment section below to share your thoughts, reviews, and reactions to the Spider-Man reboot.
27 Comments
OK so I am 100% back on with this franchise again after seeing this movie. Sam Raimi (bless him) just killed this whole character to me. After seeing a advanced screening of it, I sat at home this morning reading every Spider-Man comic I could get my hands on. He is back baby!
Saw ASM yesterday and felt that it was very enjoyable. While it is another telling of Spider-Man’s origin, the tone and stroy-tweaks go a pong way in differentiating ASM from the previous trilogy. Andrew Garfield is supeeiorbto Toby Maguire as both Peter Parker and Spider-Man, due, in equal parts, to better writing for the character and his delivery. Emma Stone, while not believable as a 17 year old, does a good job as Gwen Stacy, certainly better than the vapid MJ we saw in the past. The Lizard is also a great villan. Believable from both a story and special effects standpoint. He is scary-powerful in a way that Dafoe’s Green Goblin was not.
I was fairly apathetic about ASM going in, but I am glad that I have seen it. It was fun and exciting. I will look forward to the continuation of the story.
I just got back from a showing of the movie, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I didn’t have extremely high hopes for the movie (despite the fact that it has Emma Stone and Denis Leary in it), but I quite enjoyed it.
The acting was top notch (especially from Leary). Garfield’s Peter Parker was a believably awkward teenager, and his interactions with Emma’s Gwen were spot on. The hallway scene between the two of them… Hilariously awkward and adorable. His transformation into a more confident person as he gets a handle on his powers was well done. I especially liked the quips and jokes that I felt were sorely missing from the Sam Raimi films.
I’m also glad that they didn’t reintroduce Jameson, because honestly, I don’t think anyone could have stepped into JK Simmons’s shoes. If they do introduce him in later films, I hope they recast Simmons.
Even the soundtrack was very well done… Except for one scene. For those that have seen the movie, did you find the piano stings during a certain tense scene to be a bit too much? I know I was actually laughing at them.
Overall, I’d give the movie 4 out of 5 randomly chosen objects to represent value.
I, of course, thought of a couple more things as soon as I hit “Post Comment.”
First, every movie I see Emma Stone in makes me respond more and more like Matthew does to the mention of her name. When she cried in this movie, her eyes looked like they took up half her face and I just wanted to hug her and tell her it would be all better. She’s too damned adorable.
Second, I disliked the use of the mask removal. I understand that the movie company doesn’t like covering up the hero’s face, but seriously, his mask shouldn’t come off every thirty seconds.
I really enjoyed ASM! Garfield does a much better job as Peter Parker and Spider Man than Toby McGuire. The whole movie felt much closer to the comics than any of the Rami movies. The best part for me was that they finally have Spider Man being really sarcastic and cracking one liners during his fight scenes which is something I always thought the other movies were missing. Great flick!
It was swell.
Ah, the mask removal.
I suggest the following – do the half mask (like in the Ditko run) where we see Peter and Spidey’s face or do a ‘Quantum Leap’ where the audience see the actor’s face but everybody else in the movie sees Spidey with his mask on.
It was awful. Just terrible. They couldn’t decide what they wanted Peter to be, often changing his character dramatically. The story relied on coincidence WAY too much, and it messed up even the most basic parts of Spdey’s origin. The best parts were stolen DIRECTLY from Ultimate Spider-Man.
Spider-Man 2 will remain the best Spider-Man movie.
So you’re complaining that they changed things about his origin, and then turning around and complaining that they used plot elements from the comics… Do you see the issue there?
Yeah, they changed some things (no wrestling sub-plot, a change in the way Uncle Ben died, who his parents were) but the core of the character remained the same.
No what I am saying is the messed up the core of his character by not using the core elements of his origin stories, and then I am saying I like the bits they stole from Ultimate Spidey but those were the BEST bits.
I rather liked it. The movie hit a lot of the emotional notes I was looking for, and I thought they did a fine job updating the origin. I think this one was, in certain regards, allowed to move into darker territory more than the previous trilogy could. Just by picking Gwen over Mary Jane automatically gives the story a lot of heavy thematic ground to work with. I enjoyed the interaction between Garfield and Stone, but it felt creepily voyeuristic to consider how at some point (spoilers) she dies.
The only real gripe that I had with the movie was the crane sequence. To me, it felt really fabricated. It also felt odd having the cops do a 180 degree reversal. But, considering who was the leading officer, I GUESS that can make sense. I wish there had been some more character development with Officer Stacy, but the movie was well over two hours long. Something had to wind up on the cutting room floor.
Overall, I’d give it a solid A. If I could get a chance to go see it again, I’d do it no questions asked.
alot of questions-it kinda had some unresolved plot points- what happened to parents- why did he go out and hunt down 5 guys who looked like Bens killer than just forget about it- was that Osborne at the end?- wheres JJJ-aunt may yells at him for his injurys but when he looks like a truck hit him, no questions asked??-weak villian motivation—there was some good action scenes though
I would bet that a lot of these “holes” will be filled in the sequels. I liked that a lot of questions, non-crucial questions, were left open instead of some kind of cliffhanger or coolant reveal leaving me begging for more story. As far as Uncle Ben’s lille goes, Peter could. Have realized that he is being called to something higher than revenge. Again, this is an issue that could easily be brought up in the future. j.J.J. was not needed. Captain Stacy basically filled his role and it kept the movie from repeating to much of the past films. This is especially required to kept audiences and critics from comparing actors and performances any more than they already will be. As someone said above, J.K. Simmon’s Jameson may be nigh-unbeatable.
I think that Captain Stacy’s rant about how Spider-man wasn’t out there helping people, he was pursuing a vendetta, and then saving the kid on the bridge made Peter realize that hunting down the Uncle Ben’s killer wasn’t using his powers responsibly.
Aunt May has to know he’s Spider-Man, right guys?
I think that was the vibe they were trying to give off at the end. I’m not sure whether I like that or not, but I think that’s what they were going for.
I think it would be cool if she knows.
What parts did they miss? Uncle Ben died. Peter could have stopped the killer. He uses his powers for his own benefit, revenge instead of money in this case. I appreciated the understated great power = great responsibility speech. I thought it worked. You have to let them do their own thing. While I still don’t think the origin needed to be retold, its what we got. I am glad that it was not the other movie all over again.
Here are two great reasons why the movie was awful
http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/spiderman
and
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escape-to-the-movies/5995-The-Amazing-Spider-Man
I can’t help but think that the people making those reviews weren’t really watching or understanding the same movie I was.
They point to certain actions stating that a character was doing one thing when they were trying to do another (Gwen locking down the lab by using the butane torch, which the Penny Arcade reviewer claims is her attempt to attack the Lizard with cold) or ignore character development (Flash actually was humanized and had character development, and Peter’s work with Connors went beyond simply his father’s work which was illustrated during the scene where they encode the serum before injecting Fred). Both claim that Garfield’s performance was bad, but I couldn’t disagree more. Peter’s personality was quite well defined, and it evolved as he did. Peter was quiet, horribly awkward with girls, good-hearted, and confident when it came to mechanical and/or scientific pursuits. When he got his powers, he became more confident and even cocky (which blew up in his face).
Movie Bob’s fury about Uncle Ben’s death is a bit mystifying. I’m not sure what part, other than the lack of a wrestling subplot was so different that it would inspire fury. Was it because Uncle Ben grabbed for the gun? Was it because Uncle Ben was confronting the robber instead of being carjacked (which actually made the entire thing more poignant as Uncle Ben JUST lectured Peter about how you had an obligation to do good if you were able to, and he died attempting just that)?
What can I say? I liked it. I thought it was better than the other three spidey films, and, thank God, they didn’t do a “raindrops keep falling on my head” scene in this one. They played a little fast and loose with the backstory, though. That whole thing about Peter’s parents was never part of the original comic continuity. I didn’t like they they gutted the Uncle Ben power = responsibility scene. I don’t remember Gwen Stacy being Peter’s high school sweety. I thought they met later, after he went to work for the Daily Bugel, and that MJ was his high school unrequitted love interest. Though I may be wrong about this, because I haven’t read the 60s spidey comics since the 60s. Emma Stone had to work hard to pull of being a high school student, but I did like the fact that they brought back the go-go boots she wore in the comics. The new movie isn’t flawed in any serious way except for one point – a Science High School? Whose ass did they pull that stupid idea from? And even if there really were such a thing, then how is a jock like Flash Thomson, who couldn’t spell CAT if you spotted him three letters, doing there? I think Captain Stacey got shortchanged, too. In the comics he became a sort of surrogate father to Peter, and it’s only at his death that Capt. Stacey reveals he knew all along that Peter was Spidey, Peter didn’t unmask as part of the great reveal. I’m glad they didn’t kill off Gwen in the movie – yet – that would have been crowding too much into one story.
Actually Science High Schools are a real thing – http://www.bxscience.edu/
Yeah, Flash is called out as not having done his homework in the past and needing tutoring from Gwen (but seriously, who wouldn’t claim that they needed tutoring if that was the potential tutor?), but he’s never called an idiot or shown to be stupid, just hyper-aggressive and a jerk until he gets humiliated by Peter and he actually starts developing as a character.
My biggest issue was when the police devoted so many assets to trying to take down Spiderman when they just found out that a 9 foot tall monster was releasing biological warfare on the city. Other than that I thought it was a fantastic movie . I would have been more disappointed if they ended the movie after Gwen visits Peter. I’m glad they didn’t dwell on how Peter has these amazing powers but can’t seem to catch a break. That part of the Raimi movies really turned me off of the franchise.
The Amazing Spider-man did not disappoint. Andrew Garfield did an excellent job. Definitely looking foward to the sequel. Much better than the previous Raimi trilogy which got progressively worse with each installment.
I have to agree with Trey a lil about the cops, but then again I don’t remember them being particularly smart n e way. Other than that tho, fantastic movie. If I was rich, I’d prolly go see it again.
The poster said “The untold story”, I contend it should be “The retold story”. The first hour was completely unnecessary.
A friend I went with walked out of the theater and said ASM should stand for Adequate Spider-Man.
If this would have been the first, It would have been just fine and I would have been happy with it. But nearly half of the movie is redundant to the first Spider-Man movie which was not long enough ago to justify a remake.
Have seen much worse. Bit too intense / talky in a few places for my 7-year old but he cheered any time SM made good. At least Peter didn’t look like he needed to shave and check his 401K before he went webslinging (Tobey, loved you as Spiderman, not so much as Parker). I’m starting to like the Ultimate universe’s spins on origins being included in the movies. 616’s stories were written a LONG time ago, and 1610’s ideas appeal to me more now.
Strangely, I missed the great power / responsibility speech. As cliched as it is, it’s the bit I look for in almost every version.