Spider-Man 3 came out 5 years ago. And we already have a reboot of the franchise?!? WELCOME TO HOLLYWOOD, FOLKS! MY NAME IS NICK and welcome to my review of THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN! What's that? Why didn't I do an AVENGERS review? Because, unless you're Amish or are in a coma, you've seen the movie, you know how awesome it is, and the few complaints I have are out-weighed by the truly triumphant moments that will live on in my memory of super heroics! And if you are an Amish or in a coma, how in the world are you reading this right now?
Where was I? Oh yeah: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN! So, for those of you who are not familiar with the financial history of MARVEL or the nature of copyright, let me give you the cliff notes: in the early 90's, Marvel went bankrupt. While sorting out their affairs, they began selling off the film rights for their comic properties. Fast forward to today where, despite Marvel being back on their A-Game, the film rights to their properties still belong to the studios who bought them in the 90's so long as they make a film every 10 years. That is why FOX still owns the X-MEN and is working on reboots of the FANTASTIC FOUR and DAREDEVIL. Why THE AVENGERS had stand-in aliens the Chituari rather than the Skrull. And why SONY was in such a rush to get another movie out of one of MARVEL's best characters. Who knew movie execs had stickier fingers than the old Web-Head?(See what I did there?) Yes, 5 years feels a bit too soon to have a Spidey reboot. Particularly for someone like me, a comic geek who fell in love with the art form thanks to Spidey and his spectacular adventures. But let's look at the comic reboot track record: Nolan's BATMAN BEGINS came out 8 years after BATMAN & ROBIN. THE INCREDIBLE HULK came out 5 years after Ang Lee's HULK. Heck, despite some familiar elements(including a Hugh Jackman cameo), X-MEN: FIRST CLASS was basically a reboot done 2 years after the abysmal X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE. So the possibility of a good reboot was promising... than again the PUNISHER reboot came out 4 years after the 2004 version, so the possibility that this could suck was unavoidable as well. So how does THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN fair on the reboot scale?
The movie begins similar in the vein of another comic reboot, BATMAN BEGINS. We see a young Peter Parker playing with his father, a scientist who works for Oscorp. Suddenly comes the realization that someone has broken into their homes in search of something. Fearing for their son's safety, Pete's parents drop him off with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben and disapear. Fast forward about 10 years, and a now 17 year old Peter is a top-performing student attending high school and enjoying a daily routine of skate boarding, taking photos for the yearbook, and getting his ass kicked by "Flash" Thompson. While helping his Uncle Ben fix some appliances around the house, Pete comes across a brief case that belonged to his father. Discovering a secret compartment, he finds secret documents linking his father to some gene-splicing experiments at OSCORP along with another scientist by the name of Curt Connors. Sneaking into OSCORP(with a little help from classmate/assistant to Dr. Connors, Gwen Stacy), Peter goes looking for answers... and ends up bitten by a spider!
Yes, this is another origin story. But rather than driven purely by Uncle Ben and what comes with great power, this movie focuses more on the relationship between Peter and his first true love Gwen Stacy. Which I suppose is one of the reason's SONY brought on (500) DAYS OF SUMMER director Marc Webb(Ha! Spider-Puns!) to bring this film to the screen. As a matter of fact, one of my favorite aspects of this reboot is how well the characterizations are handled. I dug Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. When promo images first started coming in, I know fanboys were worried this Garfield would come off more emo than nerdy(particularly after SPIDER-MAN 3). But Garfield is simply playing a different type of nerd. Rather than the classic meek, nose-in-books nerd, he plays it more as the smart guy with this nervous anxiety about him. As Spidey we finally get a wise-cracking, one-liner spewing Web-Head. As Peter, he has a witty charm about him but has trouble fumbling with his words. Especially when trying to talk to Gwen Stacy, played by the always adorable Emma Stone who is the spitting image of John Romita's illustrations. Gwen is a smart girl, quick with the charm as Pete struggles to find his words. Their relationship is very playful and a joy to watch. Of course, their relationship has opposition in the form of Gwen's father, Captain Stacy(played wonderfully by Dennis Leary). He fills a role much like J. Jonah Jameson in the Rami films. As an officer of the law, he views Spidey as a vigilante. He even notices a pattern about Spidey that, even Pete recognizes, makes the web-head seem guilty.
With all this talk of character development, don't think this movie lacks action! It has it in spades! With this movie, rather than rely too heavily on cg, they tried to use stunt work as much as possible. So when you see Spidey swing through the city, Spidey is actually swinging through the city! This lends itself to a number of action scenes that are fun to watch and seem real to the senses. One of my favorite scenes is Pete having a misunderstanding/panic attack on the subway after being bitten by the spider. There's also this great scene where Spidey strings up an actual spider's web in order to feel out the location of his enemy.
This movie does have it's faults. The first being the scientist-turned-villain, Dr. Curt Connors/the Lizard, played by Rhys Ifran. The CGI on the Lizard is... well, it's not that good. Sure, the fight scenes between him and Spidey are awesome to watch but... he just looks off. Part of it is his face I think. His face looks like a Sleestack from Land of the Lost. Or, as a friend pointed out, a Goomba from the Super Mario live-action movie. All I'm saying is, how about we spend a lil money to make the Lizard not look like a carbon copy of the Batman villain Killer Croc? The Lizard's alter ego doesn't fair much better. While Rhys tries to do the best with what he's got, Connors falls flat and has little to do. Which is bizzare since the movie starts out suggesting Connors and Pete's parents might have a deeper influence on the origin of Spider-Man. Yet, 30 minutes in, that story angle gets dropped and basically doesn't get dealt with until the after-credits scene which, once again like Batman Begins, hints at a sequel to this new franchise as well as a possible villain(?).
That is my other beef with the movie. In this expansive movie(a little over 2 hours long!) Webb trys to retell a familiar story in a different way. In doing this, certain aspects that make up the Spidey mythos are either rushed over or left out all together. The Daily Bugle is only seen through news paper headlines, Norman Osborn is mentioned off hand several times in relation to Connors' research, and Pete's childhood friend Harry Osborn is no where to be seen. Perhaps the most offensive of these neglects is the exclusion of Uncle Ben's famous mantra: "With great power comes great responsibility." They have Uncle Ben do everything but say those 6 famous words. After Ben's death, there is a plot device which would have been perfect to have the mantra used, but no such luck. I know that phrase can be over used at times. It's said so much in the first Sam Rami movie you could probably make it a drinking game(If no one has yet, I call dibs on copyright). But to leave out the line entirely is a travesty.
All in all, I dug the movie. Where Rami's Spidey films were influenced by the stories and style of the original 60s-70s comics, Marc Webb brings a modern feel to thestory. The characters were well developed, particularly Peter and Gwen, and the action was intense. Is it better than Sam Rami's films? I think Rami covered the origin better. But I like the Peter/Gwen relationship in this movie better than the Peter/Mary Jane relationship in all 3 Rami films. I can already see people arguing over which movie is better. One thing we can all agree on though: It's better than SPIDER-MAN 3!
Where was I? Oh yeah: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN! So, for those of you who are not familiar with the financial history of MARVEL or the nature of copyright, let me give you the cliff notes: in the early 90's, Marvel went bankrupt. While sorting out their affairs, they began selling off the film rights for their comic properties. Fast forward to today where, despite Marvel being back on their A-Game, the film rights to their properties still belong to the studios who bought them in the 90's so long as they make a film every 10 years. That is why FOX still owns the X-MEN and is working on reboots of the FANTASTIC FOUR and DAREDEVIL. Why THE AVENGERS had stand-in aliens the Chituari rather than the Skrull. And why SONY was in such a rush to get another movie out of one of MARVEL's best characters. Who knew movie execs had stickier fingers than the old Web-Head?(See what I did there?) Yes, 5 years feels a bit too soon to have a Spidey reboot. Particularly for someone like me, a comic geek who fell in love with the art form thanks to Spidey and his spectacular adventures. But let's look at the comic reboot track record: Nolan's BATMAN BEGINS came out 8 years after BATMAN & ROBIN. THE INCREDIBLE HULK came out 5 years after Ang Lee's HULK. Heck, despite some familiar elements(including a Hugh Jackman cameo), X-MEN: FIRST CLASS was basically a reboot done 2 years after the abysmal X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE. So the possibility of a good reboot was promising... than again the PUNISHER reboot came out 4 years after the 2004 version, so the possibility that this could suck was unavoidable as well. So how does THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN fair on the reboot scale?
The movie begins similar in the vein of another comic reboot, BATMAN BEGINS. We see a young Peter Parker playing with his father, a scientist who works for Oscorp. Suddenly comes the realization that someone has broken into their homes in search of something. Fearing for their son's safety, Pete's parents drop him off with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben and disapear. Fast forward about 10 years, and a now 17 year old Peter is a top-performing student attending high school and enjoying a daily routine of skate boarding, taking photos for the yearbook, and getting his ass kicked by "Flash" Thompson. While helping his Uncle Ben fix some appliances around the house, Pete comes across a brief case that belonged to his father. Discovering a secret compartment, he finds secret documents linking his father to some gene-splicing experiments at OSCORP along with another scientist by the name of Curt Connors. Sneaking into OSCORP(with a little help from classmate/assistant to Dr. Connors, Gwen Stacy), Peter goes looking for answers... and ends up bitten by a spider!
Yes, this is another origin story. But rather than driven purely by Uncle Ben and what comes with great power, this movie focuses more on the relationship between Peter and his first true love Gwen Stacy. Which I suppose is one of the reason's SONY brought on (500) DAYS OF SUMMER director Marc Webb(Ha! Spider-Puns!) to bring this film to the screen. As a matter of fact, one of my favorite aspects of this reboot is how well the characterizations are handled. I dug Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. When promo images first started coming in, I know fanboys were worried this Garfield would come off more emo than nerdy(particularly after SPIDER-MAN 3). But Garfield is simply playing a different type of nerd. Rather than the classic meek, nose-in-books nerd, he plays it more as the smart guy with this nervous anxiety about him. As Spidey we finally get a wise-cracking, one-liner spewing Web-Head. As Peter, he has a witty charm about him but has trouble fumbling with his words. Especially when trying to talk to Gwen Stacy, played by the always adorable Emma Stone who is the spitting image of John Romita's illustrations. Gwen is a smart girl, quick with the charm as Pete struggles to find his words. Their relationship is very playful and a joy to watch. Of course, their relationship has opposition in the form of Gwen's father, Captain Stacy(played wonderfully by Dennis Leary). He fills a role much like J. Jonah Jameson in the Rami films. As an officer of the law, he views Spidey as a vigilante. He even notices a pattern about Spidey that, even Pete recognizes, makes the web-head seem guilty.
With all this talk of character development, don't think this movie lacks action! It has it in spades! With this movie, rather than rely too heavily on cg, they tried to use stunt work as much as possible. So when you see Spidey swing through the city, Spidey is actually swinging through the city! This lends itself to a number of action scenes that are fun to watch and seem real to the senses. One of my favorite scenes is Pete having a misunderstanding/panic attack on the subway after being bitten by the spider. There's also this great scene where Spidey strings up an actual spider's web in order to feel out the location of his enemy.
This movie does have it's faults. The first being the scientist-turned-villain, Dr. Curt Connors/the Lizard, played by Rhys Ifran. The CGI on the Lizard is... well, it's not that good. Sure, the fight scenes between him and Spidey are awesome to watch but... he just looks off. Part of it is his face I think. His face looks like a Sleestack from Land of the Lost. Or, as a friend pointed out, a Goomba from the Super Mario live-action movie. All I'm saying is, how about we spend a lil money to make the Lizard not look like a carbon copy of the Batman villain Killer Croc? The Lizard's alter ego doesn't fair much better. While Rhys tries to do the best with what he's got, Connors falls flat and has little to do. Which is bizzare since the movie starts out suggesting Connors and Pete's parents might have a deeper influence on the origin of Spider-Man. Yet, 30 minutes in, that story angle gets dropped and basically doesn't get dealt with until the after-credits scene which, once again like Batman Begins, hints at a sequel to this new franchise as well as a possible villain(?).
That is my other beef with the movie. In this expansive movie(a little over 2 hours long!) Webb trys to retell a familiar story in a different way. In doing this, certain aspects that make up the Spidey mythos are either rushed over or left out all together. The Daily Bugle is only seen through news paper headlines, Norman Osborn is mentioned off hand several times in relation to Connors' research, and Pete's childhood friend Harry Osborn is no where to be seen. Perhaps the most offensive of these neglects is the exclusion of Uncle Ben's famous mantra: "With great power comes great responsibility." They have Uncle Ben do everything but say those 6 famous words. After Ben's death, there is a plot device which would have been perfect to have the mantra used, but no such luck. I know that phrase can be over used at times. It's said so much in the first Sam Rami movie you could probably make it a drinking game(If no one has yet, I call dibs on copyright). But to leave out the line entirely is a travesty.
All in all, I dug the movie. Where Rami's Spidey films were influenced by the stories and style of the original 60s-70s comics, Marc Webb brings a modern feel to thestory. The characters were well developed, particularly Peter and Gwen, and the action was intense. Is it better than Sam Rami's films? I think Rami covered the origin better. But I like the Peter/Gwen relationship in this movie better than the Peter/Mary Jane relationship in all 3 Rami films. I can already see people arguing over which movie is better. One thing we can all agree on though: It's better than SPIDER-MAN 3!
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