The Amazing Spider-Man Review and Discussion Thread (spoilers)

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

It was a fun movie that I feel was basically buoyed by it's acting. It was very well cast, Andrew Garfield was great, I really believed him as an awkward teen kid. Chemistry with Emma Stone was palpable. Dennis Leary, Martin Sheen, Sally Fields, all very good. Uncle Ben's death had real resonance.

They did their best at trying to make the origin seem different than the Raimi, but the whole story still feels too familiar. It just hasn't been that long. While I realize there's actually a length of time between Raimi's first movie and this one, people still remember the sequels, I don't feel there's been that generational crossover.

I also think this movie would have been much better with more focus on the Peter/Gwen/NYPD/Capt-Stacy angle and less on the supervillain. That character stuff was so much better than the "story" (yet another lab experiment gone wrong, *yawn*).

I really did enjoy it, but I can already tell I'm not going to remember this as a really great movie at the end of the year when I think about summer movies. Kind of reminds me of a Marvel Studios movie like Thor or Capt America. Fun, entertaining, charming, formulaic, It'll start fading from memory pretty soon.

[stj]

Hmm, seems like this one will wait til DVD. No doubt giving Spiderman the comicky wisecracks will be entertaining. But I've got a powerful image of Andrew Garfield from Red Riding that's going to interfere with seeing him as a high school student.

Also, Rhys Ifans instead of Dylan Baker? Shouldn't the Director-Gods know something about acting?

[Agent Richard07]

Agent Richard07 wrote:

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I've had little to no interest in this movie. It's always felt like one of those direct-to-video sequels with new cast members, except this one isn't direct-to-video. Still, it's Spider-Man, so I plan to check it out next week. I expect it to be fun.

I saw the movie and I'll stand by what I said earlier. It was an average superhero movie and an unnecessary reboot, but it was fun and I had a good time.

- Andrew Garfield was alright. No real issue with him. In fact, the Spidey wisecracks were pretty good. I had an issue with the big hair though. Does every "hot guy" in Hollywood have to have big hair?

- I liked Emma Stone, but she did come off more like Emma Stone made-up-to-look-like-Gwen Stacy. I wasn't fully immersed in the Gwen Stacy character. The same thing happened with Kirsten Dunst.

- Did I mention that she and Garfield had great chemistry? Well, I won't because it's been mentioned a million times already. Besides, I didn't really notice.

- Rhys Ifans played a good villain.

- Martin Sheen is always good to see.

- Sally Field as Ant May... Now that was an interesting choice. I'm used to the character being a lot older and greyer. And I couldn't believe that sally Field is at that point where she's "Aunt May" Time flies and we all get old. On the way home, I decided that she was a good choice given that they'd need someone who could stick around in case they want to churn out more movies over the next several years.

- Loved all the Peter Parker action. Maybe they should have called him Peter Parkour.

- I also loved the web-slinging. Lots of good work there, that rivaled the grace and quickness of a scene from a good martial arts movie.

- I've thought long and hard over the years about how Spider-Man's web-shooter could work and how it could hold enough webbing. I couldn't come up with anything good, but what I saw here was believable. It was glossed over pretty quickly, but here's what I got... Oscorp manufactures a small crazy glue-like contraption that can shoot hundreds of meters worth of thin, tensile filaments that resemble spider silk. Then, Peter used his Spidey sharpness to make a wrist shooter that incorporated the Oscorp webbing he bought. I also assume that they'll evaporate eventually. I think that about does it. I remember when the first Spider-Man movie came out, a lot of people loved the organic shooters because they had issue with a teenager being able to invent and make a web shooter. What we got here seemed to work well enough though.

- The movie was directed by "Marc Webb"? That's pretty funny actually.

Agent Richard07 wrote:

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And not to nit-pick, but I'm not too fond of the gold plating on the eyes. Makes Spider-Man look jaundiced.

OK, the gold lenses weren't so bad. They were hardly noticeable in the movie itself.

[Trekker4747]

AvBaur wrote:

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Looks like the movie's a huge success at the box office: http://www.hitfix.com/news/box-offic...illion-tuesday

I'd say a sequel is all but certain.

Well it's certain no matter what if Sony wants to keep the film rights to SM.

[DigificWriter]

AvBaur wrote:

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I'd say a sequel is all but certain.

A sequel was already certain, since it was greenlit in principle about a month or two after the first one finished shooting.

It IS possible that TASM2 would've been scrapped had the first one underperformed at the BO, but given that the second's release date has already been set in stone, that doesn't strike me as being very likely, meaning that, even had TASM not lived up to expectations BO-wise, we would still be getting at least one sequel.

[Trekker4747]

On the age of Sally Field/Martin Sheen and their expected age. I think their age here works better as it never made sense to me Peter's aunt and uncle would be at retirement age and beyond when he was a teenager. Considering that they're his aunt and uncle and not his great-aunt and uncle they shouldn't be too much older than his parents were given that one of them is a parent's sibling. Even ten years older than the parent would still place his aunt/uncle at a fairly "young" age. So I thought Field and Sheen worked here for that aspect alone.

(But, instead of Martin Sheen they should have used his vastly more talented, but under appreciated, brother Joe Estevez. )

And I agree with other comments that The Lizard's goals and villainy was stretched. He came up with a solution that can regenerate limbs/organs with the side-effect of turning him into a Lizard so naturally being a scientist his goal ends up to be to gas one of the largest cities in the world to turn everyone into lizard-monsters. It's quite the leap and I don't think the push from his boss really worked to make The Lizard's actions justifiable. He goes from wanting to do the the proper thing with increased testing to just shooting the shit into his arm. What?!

[DarthPipes]

I thought Peter's dynamic with Captain Stacey added a lot to the film.

[StarTrek1701]

My Verdict: Terrible

Where to begin? The first hour of the movie is worthless retreading, slow as molasses. Raimi did a spectacular job in introducing Spidey the way he was. This one, however, was boring as trite. Garfield, Stone, Ifans and Leary did terrific jobs with what was given to them, but besides their great acting, this movie was absolute shit. dont have to say exactly what I found shit, all I know is that I was not entertained the slightest.

[Mr. Adventure]

I think the familiarity isn't just due to the rehash of the origin but the Lizard's story seemed to hit a lot of the beats of the Green Goblin. I didn't mind though, it was fresh enough, and I liked that the story took its time. I liked the way they handled Pete learning and handling his power. Funny that now it actually seemed weird to have mechanical webshooters!

Some random shit:

It was nice to see C. Thomas Howell in an A-list picture even if only for a small role.

Emma Stone was pushing it a little for a high school senior (though not off the deep end) and damn if I didn't feel old seeing Sally Field as Aunt May.

My little six-year-old niece (who wanted to see this over Brave) thought the Stan Lee bit was hysterical.

From what I understand of NY, the Stacys' apartment would be quite desirable, it seemed pretty huge.

[AvBaur]

Mr. Adventure wrote:

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Emma Stone was pushing it a little for a high school senior (though not off the deep end)

She's actually five years younger than Andrew Garfield. I thought both of them looked a bit too old, but no more than the kids on Glee or something.

[Admiral2]

I'm voting Good.


Is it as good as Avengers? Not even close.

Is it better than the other Spidey movies? Yes, except for "Spider-Man 2." it's definitely as good as that one, better than the others.

Two things I especially liked: Spidey was more of a wise-ass in this one, which is more consistent with the comics...

AAAAAANNND, He got his web-shooters back! That's the real Amazing Spider-Man!

And of course, Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy...

Good movie.

[Samurai8472]

Two more sequels announced

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/n...o-sequels.html

Since Marc Webb won't return for the sequel I guess this can be called "The garfield trilogy"

[AvBaur]

Samurai8472 wrote:

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Since Marc Webb won't return for the sequel [...]

Do we already know this for sure? I don't remember reading anything about that. I would really like him to return. If there's an major weak spot in the movie it's probably the script. I thought Webb's direction was pretty great, especially in the smaller character moments.

[Samurai8472]

That what I assumed from this article

http://fanboycomics.net/fanboy-scoop...e-presses/1000

Fanboy Comics recently received information from a reliable inside source regarding the future of Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man films. Though it has not yet been confirmed, we have learned that Marc Webb, the un-ironically named director of The Amazing Spider-Man slated for release this summer, will not be returning to direct any more Spider-Man movies. It is still a rumor, so take this info with a grain of salt, but if true, it is very interesting, indeed.

[Trekker4747]

I sort of think the shot of Peter getting hit in the face during a failed web-shooter test had a rather... bukkake look to it?