I thought it had been too soon for the new reboot of the Spider-Man franchise. Though, I couldn’t get over how I thought the Sam Raimi version of Spider-Man was a little… lacking. @@plus, it was factually inaccurate. spidey hooked up with gwen stacy first, not mj@@Sub-mediocre, I think I would say. I love Sam Raimi, but his Spider-Man films lost all of the things that really made the character the deeper, interesting person I have come to love from reading the comics. Raimi turned a wisecracking, brilliant, but inwardly blue character with a bit of depth into a crime fighting Charlie Brown.@@um…thats how spidey is…he was a teenager in hs@@ Good grief.
In the original source material, Spider-man would be a bit of a wise-ass during his crime fighting escapades as a defense mechanism to cope with the fact that he’s wearing tights fighting cackling villains. It’s nice to see that aspect of the “real” Spidey come through into the film.
“The Amazing Spider-Man,” directed by Marc Webb, (fitting last name there) took all the things that were wrong with the Raimi version and set them right. A cheeky Spider-Man? Check.@@ugh…peter parker was a total nerd in hs. no wit or hard attitude. he was a generally nice kid@@ An obviously smart and scientifically proficient Peter Parker? Check. The first love of the protagonist in the story, with no hint of Mary Jane Watson? Check!
I enjoyed “The Amazing Spider-Man.” That being said, this isn’t a melt-your-face-off production. There were a few things wrong with it.
The pacing was a tad slow at a few points in the film. There were too many lulls in the action. Lulls in the action should introduce and reinforce character. When they’re in danger — if the characters are solid — there’s tension. Unfortunately, I never felt as though we got deeper into these people. The death of Uncle Ben (Shocking right? Performed very well by Martin Sheen) seemed to lack emotional gravity. It didn’t seem as though we got as close to Peter’s relationship to him to really make that event stick.
Uncle Ben didn’t utter the famous “with great power comes great responsibility” line during the whole film. On one hand, it’s been over used. On the other hand, it’s as much a part of Spidey as his wall crawling. I’m one to fall more on the side of the former sentiment.
The lead actors’ performances were solid, and the goofy teenage love that emerges is believable. There’s no prime time television garbage interactions between them. There isn’t pining away in a dark corner or hyper-sexy-slow-motion looks over the shoulder. Thank goodness.
Dennis Leary’s character as Gwen Stacy’s father seemed a little mailed in. Leary did well, but the writing for the character makes the events involving Captain Stacy lose meaning. That seems to be the biggest common spider thread in this film: missed opportunities in the writing process.
But the writing wasn’t bad! It just wasn’t all it could be.@@so, it sucked@@ In fact, they made some decisions that make sense. For instance, Spider-Man never finds Uncle Ben’s murderer, which makes sense in the long run.@@how? that goes against the comic’s facts@@ Here is that driving motive behind his crime fighting; the knowledge that behind his actions there are consequences.@@um, no…its ‘with great power there must also come—great responsibility’@@
It’s little details like this that add to the believability of a film. Sometimes, things just don’t turn out right. Sometimes you can’t find your uncle’s murderer. Peter still sees his Uncle’s murderer and has the chance to prevent it but doesn’t, so the plot still generally cleaves to original comic’s idea. I can see why they changed it to avoid being redundant with the last films. It makes Spiderman’s crusade against crime a constant search for “the one that got away” and adds depth to his experience. @@but he does! that’s the cornerstone of what made him decide to be spiderman@@
Doctor Curt Conners (The Lizard) played by Rhys Ifans@@http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0406975/@@ did well but seemed a little subdued. I liked this actor ever since I saw him in “Human Nature,” and he does a great job as a well-meaning but manipulated doctor who eventually becomes the villain. The villain’s primary motivation seemed to be one of mania, but I didn’t understand why they just decided to play the crazy card without much allusion to it earlier in the film.@@because the two aren’t connect. connors was never crazy.@@
In film terms, “you can’t show a gun without using it,”@@uh…yes you can@@ and you can’t use crazy without giving us the knowledge that he’s crazy. Connors never showed any signs of insanity during the entire movie! And then, he just up and has an argument with “The Lizard” (himself) in an inner monologue during the second act. It doesn’t make all that much sense.@@connors always tried to control the lizard, which his later research was about. you don’t know shit about spidey, yo’!@@ Meh. It worked, albeit barely. But it could have been done better, and that’s the crime.
All in all, it was a solid “OK,” with room for improvement. But it is over and above the past Spider-Man films, and that is good enough for me. They will make a sequel, and since I’m a nerd and have read the comics,@@apparently@@ I have a feeling as to what is going to happen. If they get deep into the characters, it’ll be jaw-dropping. I hope.
 
Final grade: C+