So as I mentioned previously I am a huge comic book fan, I own both the DC and Marvel Encyclopedia’s as well as many comics and pretty much know Spiderman and Batman backwards (but I can’t guarantee everything); so when it comes to the Amazing Spiderman I’m not going to let the movie off easy (AKA way more detail in this review than for Abe Lincoln’s). Overall the film was incredible, yet a bit of a disappointment for comic fans. I had high hopes when Gwen Stacy was Peters love rather than Mary Jane who was in Sam Raimi's version; yet there were a few minor things not according to the comic that made me cringe in the theatre. For example in the original comic Peter meets Gwen through his best friend Harry Osborn in University; yet at the time she is dating Flash Thompson. Though there is competition with Mary Jane, Gwen wins Peter’s heart and eventually, once Gwen and Flash break up, they begin their relationship. Basically all of the above is overlooked in the movie, other than Gwen and Peters love, perfectly shown through Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. Truth be told they are actually dating in real life. Andrew Garfield is a perfect actor for Spiderman; he pulled off the geek look perfectly; ignoring the nature of “a clumsy nerd” Tobey Maguire had portrayed ever so flawlessly in 2002; yet, Garfield retained the features of the comic book Peter Parker that Maguire lacked. Garfield's a surprisingly good actor, he was phenomenal in the subway scene after Peter was bitten, making his actions so realistic you almost forget how hard something like that was to do. A good actor appearing from out of the blue, similar to Emma Stone in her sudden appearance in Easy A followed by The Help, both movies I enjoyed watching. What I adored about Emma Stones performance was that Gwen Stacy was not seen as a damsel in distress. I mean FINALLY a superhero is dating a girl that can stand up for herself! This was definitely not the case in Tranformers: Dark of the Moon with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley which actually made me miss Megan Fox as Sam's girlfriend  (speaking of Transformers expect a fourth sequel in 2014). 

The music in Spiderman was a bit disappointing. After Marvel created the Avengers with wonderful action songs to add to the excitement, one would expect just as amazing pieces in the Amazing Spiderman; yet I found that the songs were slower and took a longer time to build up, which made the action scenes appear to be a little off; especially the closing song for the last few minutes of the movie and credits.

Another disappointment was the animation of The Lizard, the face was more human than lizard, making him appear less savage than his character was supposed to be. I kept on thinking “yeah okay this is what he looks like now, but let’s wait until he doubles the dosage again!” But it never happened. Perhaps I expected him to look like Killer Croc from Batman Hush…

But either way his face was a disappointment...

MINOR SPOILER ALERT! THE PLOT IS NOT SPOILED BUT MINOR SCENES ARE GIVEN AWAY skip to the final paragraph (bolded) to see my overall opinion

Of course Spiderman cannot be created without the classic death of Uncle Ben. Because Peter doesn’t mention much of his parents in the comics, the death of Uncle Ben is a huge impact and a death that weighs the heaviest on his shoulders. In Sam Raimi’s version he portrays the impact perfectly, Peter’s sadness is evident and it emphasizes the point that it was “Peters fault” Ben dies. The relationship between them in this movie is not stressed at all and neither is Peter’s grief. It was almost as if Ben’s death was something that came and went, the audience merely thinks: “okay it’s not that big of a deal, Peter cares more about of his disappearing parents, alright;” but then Ben’s death is mentions again at the ending as if it’s the biggest thing in the world! It just didn’t fit in. I feel as though they should have had a bigger fight, or emphasize that Ben was outside because of Peter; but I must admit Garfield’s reaction to Ben’s death wasn’t one of the best moments in the movie. Instead of coming across as a concerned panicked boy he appeared more of a messy baby; but I’ll let that pass, Garfield was still good and I must give Webb props for trying to make it different from Saimi’s film.

A great feature of the film that was from the comic was Peter creating his own webs through the machine he built. That was awesome, I mean doesn’t it make more sense to create a web machine rather than have these sticky strings come out of your veins? I remember the scene in Spiderman (2002) with Peter played by Tobey Maguire on the roof, trying to discover what way to move his wrist for the webs to come out. I remember thinking how awkward that scene appeared to be. Though Peter didn’t refill his machine once in this film, I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt and say the audience just never saw it.

                Oh and never, NEVER does Gwen Stacy discover that Peter Parker is Spiderman. In fact she ends up hating Spiderman as she dates Peter because of her father’s death. Yes George Stacy does die in the comics and just like the movie he is captain of the police force, but he never argues or dislikes Peter and he discovers himself that Peter Parker is Spiderman. Also, in the comics Gwen is an only child and her father is a widow, why change that in the film? There is no difference in the plot so why don’t they respect the comic even more and just throw that in there?

So there’s that cheesy scene that everyone’s talking about, when the citizens help their neighbourhood hero Spidey, I thought it was a nice touch but completely redundant.  See what happens is that everyone wants to help Spiderman, so they place all these cranes in one line towards his, let’s call it “destination.” The point is that he needs to attach a web to each crane and he will arrive there in a quicker amount of time. Well, a helicopter is used to shine a light on him and then shines on the cranes to show him where to go… Hello? Why don’t you just attach yourself to the helicopter and fly over there? The helicopter had been available, flying in the sky, before they set the cranes out in the first place and could have been easily instructed by George Stacy to help Spiderman!

Another little flaw was when Peter begins to experiment with his new strength (great acting by Garfield) he shatters the front door of the house; later that evening Uncle Ben dies. After that all these battles occur and Peter continues to come home late. Miraculously, after the climax, the door is suddenly fixed as he lightly bangs his head on it. Who fixed it? It couldn’t have been him, Uncle Ben is dead and it certainly wasn’t Aunt May…

Overall the film was great, besides missing Cliff Robertson and Rosemarry Harris as Uncle Ben and Aunt May and the (liberal?) artistic licence variations from the original comic storyline, the actors were right on. The chemistry between Stone and Garfield was priceless and Garfields acting was astounding. I again salute Marc Webb for trying to make it different from Reimi’s film, as I thought it was very successful.

So which did you like better? Spiderman (2002) directed by Sam Reimi or The Amazing Spiderman (2012) directed by Marc Webb? Tobey Maguire as Spiderman or Andrew Garfield? Leave a comment!