Amazing Spider-Man -- early reviews are in

[Karl O'Neill]

Here's where they fucked up.

The movie starts with a mystery and finishes with one!

That's poor storytelling.

You'd expect that from a pretentious post-modern novel or something.

[Legato]

Here's where they fucked up.

The movie starts with a mystery and finishes with one!
That's poor storytelling.

You'd expect that from a pretentious post-modern novel or something.

Wouldn't have anything to do with it being the first part of a trilogy now would it?

[Karl O'Neill]

I know the intentions, Legato. It did not work.

This ties into the recent Hobbit movie discussion in that writers and directors no longer but their best effort out first and foremost. Everything is for the franchise.

WE MUST EXPAND LITTLE STORY INTO LONGER NARRATIVE. MAKE MORE YUU ESSS DOLLARS.

[paulski]

Trust me. I was really impressed by Emma Stone in this. She plays Gwen as an intelligent beautiful and yet supportive of Peter. You totally buy them as a couple together,

"Thank god for Emma Stone" is what I say. The rest of the movie was pretty reasonable and Garfield did an okay job as Peter/Spidey, but I hated the majority of the action scenes - I felt like I was watching a damn video game and had flashbacks to Incredible Hulk (Hulk vs Abomination). Just sheer overkill.

But Emma? She absolutely killed the role. And I was worried how she'd look as a blonde, but I needn't have been. Hot.

[Frank]

Here's where they fucked up.

The movie starts with a mystery and finishes with one!

That's poor storytelling.

You'd expect that from a pretentious post-modern novel or something.

They start with a mystery and don't resolve it. I watched it with my 10 Years old nephew and he was mad that Spider-Man stopped his search for the spider-tattoo guy and went into the far less interesting Lizard plot. It meant more to him than the boring Lizard.

Speaking of wich, holly bad CGI Batman! That creature looked half finish. And Conner was a pretty underdevelopped character. Lizard's motivation was boring. They should have had him be a brainless monster, at least the terror would have been more real(with maybe adding another villain for the speaking part).

This whole movie is all like that, it felt like a whole chunk was missing from it and the cast were lifeless mannekins. Of the supporting cast Dennis Leary was the one that came out the best and I think and he did by himself. Andrew Garfield and the girl playing Gwen Stacy were pretty good but after a while it got more teeny teary mushy mush than Tobey Maguire and the gang. Less tears next time would be cool.

The good I think goes all to the scenes with Spider-Man/Peter Parker in action pre-last Lizard fight. Spidey did not look like a videogame character! That was a big reason why I didn't love the Sam Raimi flicks because I could not get past that. This time wow director Mark Webb renders how a character like that would fonction in a real World setting in such a masterful manner. (That's what should have been like in the first frame of the Spider-Man Raimi movie!) You have to think this could be kinda real. I know it's comic-books but to connect with the viewer it's important that you see the actor doing his parts of the stunts, or rather you should see actual people doing actual things in there!

In all I felt it was a half finished flick and underwritten but if they could continue with Garfield and the same "realistic" Spider-action but with better writing this could be good. I also liked the darker approach with a Parker who's more real, less of the cartoonish typical nerd. (and even if I liked JK Simmons in the Raimi flicks, I hope if they introduce JJ Jameson in this Universe that he's gonna be less cartoonish too. more a well rounded character)

[Jared]

Still no clue who that was at the end, has that been deciphered?

It had to be Norman Osbourne. No one else would make any sense in that context.

[Treqqor]

It had to be Norman Osbourne. No one else would make any sense in that context.

Except that the people who made the movie flat out said "It is not Norman Osborn. It is someone in the employ of Norman Osborn, without question."

[Deep_Sleeper]

Off topic, but I just figured out that Elizabeth Banks was Betty Brant in the Raimi trilogy.

[Monty_Cristo]

It had to be Norman Osbourne. No one else would make any sense in that context.

Electro makes sense to me.

[jesse_custer]

I watched this movie on television the other day. My reaction (copied and pasted from my blog):

'The Amazing Spider-Man': Without a Mask, Without a Point

Spider-Man hardly wears his mask in Marc Webb's "The Amazing Spider-Man," a cheap ploy that manufactures the most mundane drama. Remember when Michael Keaton rips off his mask in Tim Burton's "Batman Returns"? That scene offered a poignant character moment, a hero willing to give up his madness for love. In contrast, "The Amazing Spider-Man" makes one wonder, "So what is the fucking point of wearing a mask?" The funny thing is that Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy already made me ask that question.

"The Amazing Spider-Man" begins with Peter Parker's parents leaving him behind, but this opening only sets up a flimsy link between Peter's father and Dr. Connors, the villain of the film, and the suggestion that Peter and Dr. Connors can owe their transformations to Peter's father (Peter's mother is forgotten). Peter's love interest, Gwen Stacy, just so happens to work for Dr. Connors. In the middle of the film, Spider-Man saves a man's son, and this man later plays deus ex machina - in the right spot at the right time to save Spidey's ass. With great power comes great coincidence.

Like its hero, this film doesn't have a secret identity. It is clearly a riff on Sam Raimi's trilogy and David Cronenberg's "The Fly," with the villain's master plan resembling what Magneto did way back in Bryan Singer's "X-Men" - and this isn't the first time a superhero movie has copied that scheme. The only interesting idea in "The Amazing Spider-Man" is the conflict between Spider-Man and Gwen Stacey's cop father, played by Dennis Leary. But their relationship is deemed pointless by the end of the film, as Peter Parker vows to break a promise he made to the man, despite the fact that Spider-Man owed his life to him.

"The Amazing Spider-Man" is a dark and silly movie. The witty lines in the trailer are reserved for one scene, which suggests their placement in the trailer was used to attract people like me who thought the Sam Raimi films needed a more lighthearted Spider-Man. However, what we end up with is an inept and horny Spider-Man. Quite frankly, the guys in "American Pie" were more heroic.

[SephirothDZX]

As I've said before, I liked Amazing Spider-Man moreso than any of the previous Raimi movies. ASM is still a flawed movie, but I'm more forgiving of its flaws in comparison to what I didn't like about Raimi's movies.

Also, they really need to cut it out with Spidey taking his mask off at every other potential chance he gets. I know its hard for an actor to emote when he's hidden behind a mask, so I dunno, maybe a live-action Spidey movie should attempt what the comics/cartoons do with his mask - make the eyes/mask emote.

[DennyK]

I watched this movie on television the other day. My reaction (copied and pasted from my blog):

'The Amazing Spider-Man': Without a Mask, Without a Point

Spider-Man hardly wears his mask in Marc Webb's "The Amazing Spider-Man," a cheap ploy that manufactures the most mundane drama. Remember when Michael Keaton rips off his mask in Tim Burton's "Batman Returns"? That scene offered a poignant character moment, a hero willing to give up his madness for love. In contrast, "The Amazing Spider-Man" makes one wonder, "So what is the fucking point of wearing a mask?" The funny thing is that Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy already made me ask that question.

"The Amazing Spider-Man" begins with Peter Parker's parents leaving him behind, but this opening only sets up a flimsy link between Peter's father and Dr. Connors, the villain of the film, and the suggestion that Peter and Dr. Connors can owe their transformations to Peter's father (Peter's mother is forgotten). Peter's love interest, Gwen Stacy, just so happens to work for Dr. Connors. In the middle of the film, Spider-Man saves a man's son, and this man later plays deus ex machina - in the right spot at the right time to save Spidey's ass. With great power comes great coincidence.

Like its hero, this film doesn't have a secret identity. It is clearly a riff on Sam Raimi's trilogy and David Cronenberg's "The Fly," with the villain's master plan resembling what Magneto did way back in Bryan Singer's "X-Men" - and this isn't the first time a superhero movie has copied that scheme. The only interesting idea in "The Amazing Spider-Man" is the conflict between Spider-Man and Gwen Stacey's cop father, played by Dennis Leary. But their relationship is deemed pointless by the end of the film, as Peter Parker vows to break a promise he made to the man, despite the fact that Spider-Man owed his life to him.

"The Amazing Spider-Man" is a dark and silly movie. The witty lines in the trailer are reserved for one scene, which suggests their placement in the trailer was used to attract people like me who thought the Sam Raimi films needed a more lighthearted Spider-Man. However, what we end up with is an inept and horny Spider-Man. Quite frankly, the guys in "American Pie" were more heroic.

For the most part I enjoy reading your posts, but in this case I couldn't disagree more. The Amazing Spider-Man was not a good movie, it was a very good movie. I had no problem with him taking off his mask when he did as he is still in high school, and as smart as he is, he's still young and prone to making poor decisions. One of the times he takes the mask off is to serve a very good purpose and is one of the dramatic high points (saving the child in the burning car). As I posted in the 'What Film Have You Watched Lately' thread I think The Amazing Spider-Man is almost as good as Spider-Man 2, and I'm looking forward to the next installment.

[SephirothDZX]

For the most part I enjoy reading your posts, but in this case I couldn't disagree more. The Amazing Spider-Man was not a good movie, it was a very good movie. I had no problem with him taking off his mask when he did as he is still in high school, and as smart as he is, he's still young and prone to making poor decisions. One of the times he takes the mask off is to serve a very good purpose and is one of the dramatic high points (saving the child in the burning car). As I posted in the 'What Film Have You Watched Lately' thread I think The Amazing Spider-Man is almost as good as Spider-Man 2, and I'm looking forward to the next installment.

My main problem with ASM is that Parker does very little to hide his identity and the only reason he seems to take up the Spider-Man mantle in the first place is simply to fulfill the need for the audiences to see Spider-Man.

[z1co80]

As I've said before, I liked Amazing Spider-Man moreso than any of the previous Raimi movies. ASM is still a flawed movie, but I'm more forgiving of its flaws in comparison to what I didn't like about Raimi's movies.

Also, they really need to cut it out with Spidey taking his mask off at every other potential chance he gets.

Definitely agree with you here.

When i came out of The Dark Knight Rises i was saying was the fuck was the deal with Bane's voice? It ruined it for me.

I came out of The Amazing Spider-Man and was asked well what did you think? I said he needs to keep his fucking mask on. I lost count of the amount of times he took it off and the worst being the fight in the school where after the Lizard escapes Spidey decides i'll take my mask off and run down the corridor without knowing who could be coming in like the police or the possibility that anyone may have seen him.

Still enoyed the film but the mask thing did bug me.

[DennyK]

Again, teens make poor decisions and continually taking the mask off is a bad idea. IMO he becomes Spider-Man at the beginning because he can, by that I mean he has always been the intellectual with no physical prowess who acquires these incredible abilities and he's just having fun with them. His relationship with his Uncle was done much better in ASM than it was is SM, and again; going back to the burning car, when he hears the father saying "my son" over and over it touched him and made him appreciate to an even greater degree his Uncle's words. I wish I could express it better, sorry.