OK, so I know that Tianna will agree with me on this one. But we went to see The Amazing Spider-Man yesterday and it was really, really good. I would’ve turned right back around and watched it again.
It was at the very least on par with the first and second Spider-Man movies (3 was a mess). I think it’s actually better, but that might be just me being a Spidey geek and riding the euphoria of the new film. It was most everything a Spider-Man geek would want.
Andrew Garfield did a great job making Peter Parker a more modern day geek. Nick had mentioned to me that he did a good job of displaying how some situations made Peter uncomfortable and hard to get his point across, sometimes very unsure of what to say. And while his confidence grew in a lot of situations as he became Spider-Man, there were still occasions where he portrayed Peter having a hard time. There was more emotion in dealing with the whole Uncle Ben story as well.
Emma Stone was great as Gwen Stacy. Everything I think I remembered about that character from the comics she portrayed. She was not afraid to stand up for anyone or to do her part in difficult situations. She was Peter’s peer academically. And Emma Stone did a great job of showing Gwen’s understanding of who Peter was, what he had become, and what she was getting into. Her Gwen was able to help and encourage Peter, a trait that I remember from the comics. Doesn’t make too much sense now but if you watch the show you’ll see what I mean.
Was it direct canon from the comics? Not all of it. But did those deviations detract from the movie? I don’t think so at all. And as many times as I’ve read or watched Uncle Ben dying scenes, they still seemed to be able to pull off a very emotional part of the movie superbly. They did a great job of showing Spidey’s “way” of fighting bad guys, and his often witty banter he’d take part in with them. The web-swinging scene near the end of the movie was pretty cool. Even the resolution of the movie had me going from, “You can’t end it like that!,” to, “I really like how what they did there.” Finally, every scene that has both Captain Stacy and Peter/Spidey in it was awesome.
The secret scene half-way through the credits… well, I won’t spoil it, but it does set things up nicely, if not for movie 2, then at least the 3rd one. There wasn’t a secret scene at the very end of the credits like a lot of Marvel movies. I am interested to see if they eventually stick to the comic stories pertaining to Gwen. If you don’t remember, she was eventually killed by the Green Goblin and I’d like to see if the movie studio is brave enough to allow someone to tell that story on the big screen.
Bottom line, if you get the chance, go and see this movie!
The thing that excited me about the whole re-boot was that now they have a second chance to do Venom right instead of having him played by Topher Grace, with about 5 minutes of action.
I see your point about casting an unowknn as Gwen Stacy or whatever romantic lead they decide to go with. If they casted someone with a name or well known, they might overshadow Andrew Garfield who is relatively unowknn (perhaps after The Social Network he’ll be more popular?). Most of my Spider-Man comic book reading has involved Peter Parker and Mary Jane, however Gwen Stacy was supposed to be Parker’s college sweetheart and therefore if this reboot is his younger days, perhaps it should be her or someone new. Originally Peter Parker doesn’t meet Mary Jane until after Gwen. Dennis