One last note and I'll proceed with the review. I wanted to express gratitude to those whose best wishes and prayers have been with my mom while she is in the hospital after her surgery. Everything went great, and she is recovering nicely.
The Amazing Spiderman (2012)
Peter Parker finds a clue that might help him understand why his parents disappeared when he was young. His path puts him on a collision course with Dr. Curt Connors, his father's former partner. Short synopsis of The Amazing Spiderman taken from IMDb.com
I liked The Amazing Spiderman, which is surprising considering what I thought when first hearing there was going to be another Spidey movie and it was a "re-boot." The first movie version of the web-slinger is only a little over a decade old, I said to myself. Why a new take on the comic book hero?
Well, here's the thing. This new film does some stuff that the older one didn't, and surprisingly, I liked the changes. Yes, it is pretty much the same basic plot, with - as the "Honest Trailer" video I have attached - much of the same basic scenes.
Then again, I have to say that some of the changes are good. For one, I liked that they didn't have Peter Parker find his Uncle's killer like in the Tobey Maguire version. And while on the subject, Amazing had no Tobey Mcguire. And no Kirsten Dunst. I think Dunst spent too much time screaming in those movies, myself. Yes, what can you do with what you're given? But still, it got annoying after awhile.
I thought Emma Stone much more capable. My wife quipped that she thought this love interest was just as "together" as the character of Peter Parker, and that was a somewhat refreshing change. Although for myself, I missed Green Goblin. Dafoe's performance as the villain in the first Spiderman flick was pretty convincing. Maybe because I think Dafoe makes a god bad guy. And let's face it, without his silly "Power Rangers" costume, Norman Osbourne, as played by William Dafoe, is down-right menacing. The less said about the costume though, the better.
But just the same, the Lizard guy was ok. The alter-ego of the Lizard, that scientist guy (the name escapes me) was less competent a bad guy than his reptilian counterpoint though. If we could somehow merge Dafoe's Osbourne with the Lizard, there'd be a real villain of substance and style.
Did I mention I liked the development of Peter Parker's character in Amazing Spiderman more than in the Tobey McGuire version? Well, I did. But the "Honest Trailer" was right. The actor, Andrew Garfield, is too good looking, smart, cool, etc.. to fit the role. McGuire got points there, for nerdiness. Maybe they were trying to make Peter Parker "hip" for a modern movie-going audience (aka: teenagers, who - forgive my ranting - don't need to be played to so much, in this old curmudgeony guy's opinion).
The film's humor was good. Like most people I'm sure, I got a kick out of the part where Spiderman catches the car thief, and the guy whips out a knife and Spidey responds: "Oh no, a small knife, my only weakness." In that vein, I liked that Parker/Spiderman didn't go out to be heroic right away. He grew into it. Although he was something of a twit before he decided to become a full-fledged hero.
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| Spiderman's true first appearance, in the Aug. 1962 edition of "Amazing Fantasy." / Source: Wikipedia.com |
On the whole, Amazing Spiderman had some nice reversals of the other movie. Like the girl (Stone) knowing its Parker who wears the mask, and Aunt May figuring it out too. And Uncle Ben doesn't have a "death scene." I've often been annoyed by those "tell your -fill in the blank (mother, brother, aunt, cousin, lawyer, etc...)- that I love him, her, them, it, pistachio, etc... Not that the one in the first film was that bad, but this one was more poignant to me.
On the flip side, my wife said (and I agree), that it was a bit too long. And there is a fair amount of violence here. It is easily comparable to The Avengers in terms of "fantasy violence" (if such terms can be joined together), but certainly tame compared to some of my other recent reviews, such as Sinister, or The Raven. But it isn't a young children appropriate movie, in my old-fashioned opinion. Or at least not repeatedly. Too much action-violence can't be great for a young kid's ideas of right and wrong, they say. And without somebody to teach other values of gentleness, kindness and balance, I'd agree.
Now just listen to me being the voice of niceness. I was exposed to some Sesame Street that my daughter was watching, just prior to starting to write this review. That must be what has put me in a kind and gentle mood. As well as expecting everything to be a full-blown entertainment production too (subtle jab at Sesame Street there). Now I gotta watch some maiming and random wanton violence to get that good stuff out of my head (-sarcastic smile-)
Final thoughts on Amazing Spiderman: Overall, it was a pretty good movie. I don't know if I'd go so far as to say it was "amazing," or anything, but it was amusing, for what that is worth. And speaking of worth, I'd say this movie was worth the Redbox fee. Probably would have been ok for a cheap seats ticket fare as well, had I been able to go that route. But I'm not disappointed that I waited. For what all that may be worth.
The parting comment:
Another "two-for" on parting comments:
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| Source: LolSnaps.com |
Ahhh... Nice. Especially Wonder Woman.
That Honest Trailer was a hoot and a half!
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