The Amazing Spider-man

Saw it today, better than I feared it would be. It's no Avengers or Dark Knight, but as a fun light entertainment movie, it works fine as it's a lot lighter in tone with all the wise-cracking and it seemed to be aimed at a younger audience.

Sure, it has plotholes you could drive a jumbo jet through, and at times Peter Parker came off like a colossal selfish ass-hole, but overall it's no Spider-man 3.

Anybody else seen it?

Saw it during the premiere night, and I liked it.

It took Spiderman in a new direction, which is what it should have done given it's a whole new cast and separate from the other series.

Like Vigil said, it's just a very fun movie.


Also it has great action scenes.

Funny, Spider-Man 3 just ended on TV when you posted this.

Angatar wrote:Funny, Spider-Man 3 just ended on TV when you posted this.

I watched it recently before seeing this. It helped keep my expectations in check.

Gonna see it tonnight.

Who's the bad guy for the film even?

Lord Pheonix wrote:Who's the bad guy for the film even?

The Lizard.

Just saw it. I really liked it.

I'm trying to restrain myself from sitting here and writing a full review... but I don't think I'll be able to. I just got back from the theater, and I enjoyed the hell out of it. I haven't been this pleasantly surprised by a movie in a pretty damn long time.

OKAY.

Let me first explain: I don't read comics. I've never read comics. The closest I ever came was few justice league comics, over a period of maybe 6 months, when I was 12. I wish I could say I've read comics at some point, but I really haven't. I know nothing about Spiderman comics. My real knowledge of anything regarding his canon is pretty much non-existent. (gets annoyed at red squigglies, adds word 'Spiderman' to chrome spell-check dictionary....(also adds 'squigglies.'))

Now let me explain, I fucking love Spiderman. I feel nothing but good feelings toward him. The idea of Spiderman makes me feel like a 6 year old, running around the house in Spiderman pajamas (WITH WEBBING ATTACHED TO THE ARMPITS) wishing that I had one of those Spiderman silly-string wrist bands. I remember seeing those commercials every single day, and never having one. I don't know why I never had one. My parents were great, and wouldn't have been so resistant over what must have been at least 5 years of wishing I had something, when that something probably didn't even cost $20. I think my mom thought it would be too messy or something, and just didn't want to deal with that. So I vaguely wanted something for 5 years, and just never wound up having it. I kind of remember playing with other people who had them, and even using one myself... but I don't remember how I felt about them.

Anyway, I've had a vague, kind of background love of Spiderman since before I can really comprehend. I've never been "Into" Spiderman, but I've always really liked him.

I think Spiderman is the perfect super hero. He has unique and interesting abilities, and although he's capable of great feats, he's not unfathomably strong. He isn't this unfairly powerful super being, like superman, or even guys like Iron Man and Thor in the recent marvel movies. On top of that, he's the most appealing kind of identity for a comic book character. He's a high school student, he's kind of geeky, though not a complete fucking loser (LIKE TOBEY MAGUIRE). He's shy, not an androgynous weirdo. He's quick witted, smart-mouthy, and really intelligent. Name one of those virtues that TOBEY MAGUIRE Spiderman had.

Mary Jane, or the equivalent romantic interest, is perfect, because she's "the cute, high school crush, that came to fruition through the giant stage of Spiderman's saga." She is so much more appealing a character than any other superhero romantic interest. Fuck Lois Lane, she's some twenty-something, professional journalist lady, with nasty wire-framed glasses. Mary Jane is the cute blonde, with really nice legs, who is what, 17? Regarding this, I was really surprised by how much I liked Emma Stone. I haven't really liked her much in any other role. I think she did alright in Zombie Land, but holy crap, I liked her in this. She had some nice legs, and did everything exactly right.

I had initially doubted the casting of Spiderman himself, but I was so wrong. Eduardo really did a great job. Seriously. Every time TOBEY MAGUIRE Spiderman got emotional, you felt uncomfortable. You had to look at his twitchy face, and the awkward acting, and it made you feel uncomfortable, sitting there in the theater. When Eduardo started to get choked up, it felt reasonable, and appropriate. He didn't over-act it, and start sobbing, or screaming. He played it really well.

Martin Sheen is Martin Sheen and that's all there is to say about it. He's great, and he's always a good casting for a dad/uncle, and that was great. I also like Sally Fields. She may be getting a little old, but she was a great actor in her youth. It's also nice that she's not crazy old, like TOBEY MAGUIRE Aunt May... and I like how now, even just in the first movie, she's already clearly aware of what Peter's doing, and she just kind of lets it be, and makes him biscuits.

I also like that the girl knows it early too. It's good for the character to have someone to tell things about, and have an understanding relationship with. In TOBEY MAGUIRE Spiderman, nobody fucking knew he was Spiderman. There could be no conversations about what he was thinking. There was no one to talk to. How can you even have character development? The only people he could talk to about BEING SPIDERMAN were his fucking enemies.

I saw the Avengers movie, and I thought it was great, but I don't think it really compares to this movie. The Avengers was really well executed, really polished, really action-packed... but sort of empty. None of the superheroes were really likable. They were all just kind of there, doing cool stuff, being superheroes. Spiderman, on the other hand, is Spiderman. He has this atmosphere that's techy and semi-serious, but still light-hearted and fun. Two horrible things happen in this movie... and one of them takes place like 10 minutes prior to the end-credits... and it STILL ends on an optimistic note.

This movie didn't dwell on Spiderman's origins. It brushed over a lot of things, and made a lot of jumps. He's kind of just instantly capable... but that's nice. We've spent so many years in TOBEY MAGUIRE Spiderman dark ages. We can skip the pleasantries. The way they introduced his powers was so much better executed this time around. The Spidey-Sense effect was really great.

As far as the actual plot goes... you know... it's there. It's fine. The origin is there, the important stuff, like Ben's death, is there, and it brings in all the comic sci-fi elements. The Lizard is fairly uninteresting, but he fits an origin movie. You can't take on the real heavy stuff in the first movie. You have to keep things a little light, focus on the hero character. Wait for the sequel to bring out your Joker.

I think the CGI was fine. I'm generally annoyed by over-use of CGI, but for Spiderman, it just doesn't bother me. That much CGI would stand out in The Dark Knight. Spiderman is less serious, and that makes it easier to get away with things.

The visuals in the movie were awesome. Movies are starting to look so incredible. Picture quality is really amazing. Prometheus, despite its horrible writing, was a great looking movie too. The shots of Spiderman slinging through the city, with the lights, and the buildings, and the cars... man. The short little first-person segments were hokey... but I can ignore that.

Other than that, my only complaint is that he never referred to himself as "your friendly neighborhood Spiderman." I was so ready for him to say it when he pulled the kid out of the burning car, but he just said 'Spiderman.' Also, if this girl doesn't later come to be known as Mary Jane, and Mary Jane is some later girl who will show up to complicate things... fuck that. That's annoying. I'm slightly annoyed if they just picked another Spiderman character to be the love interest... (why not just combine that character with Mary Jane?), but I'll be really annoyed if they complicate that shit.

CONCLUSION:

So I really liked it. It wasn't perfect. It just did a really great job at so many core elements. It set things up well, and I think it'll make for a great series. I think they really captured Spiderman.

(I did write this late last night, but posted it this morning as my internet went out)

Avengers has something there, Badassery, Enough said. Character development is for their own movies, Just like everything else avengers when they are all together its to see them fight.

Emma Stone played Gwen Stacy, not Mary Jane. Mary Jane has red hair.


Also, I thought your review was nice minus the original spiderman bashing. I don't have anything against Tobey Maguire and the first and second spiderman movies are still really good imo.

I liked The Avengers a lot, but I've heard good things about this from pretty much everyone and I'm now interested.

So now I have to watch Spiderman AND Batman.

You don't have to watch a Cristopher Nolan film, you are allowed to.

Relevant.

Gauz wrote:Relevant.

haha, I noticed that too... and the fact that he had a really shitty computer AND camera.

I am currently in Italy ATM, so I can't see it. Of course I am going to have the Dark Knight take priority over the Spiderman movie, but from you guys are saying it sounds good. Not going in to expect some ridiculous new movie of epic proportions but hopefully it won't be horrible (cough cough Spiderman 3).

This discussion suddenly got really boring for people who have yet to see the movie.

(also, c-c-c-c-combo breaker)

Spoiler:

Spoiler tags are gay.

Spoiler:

Hey. You know who's gay? Spoi-