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#1
07-03-2012, 03:49 AM
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The Amazing Spiderman is Pretty Good (Spoilers)
Just got back from a sneak preview for the new Spiderman movie. I hadn't really been following this one. I wasn't a big fan of the Tobey McGuire Spiderman movies, and wasn't expecting much from this one. But it's pretty good! Andrew Garfield is a lot less mopey than he looked in the trailers. He's still pretty mopey (this is Peter Parker's life we're talking about, here), but he's also got an endearing goofy streak. And he wisecracks while beating people up, which was sorely missing from the first series.
Martin Sheen was great as Uncle Ben. Partially because we first see her standing next to President Bartlett, I spent the entire movie thinking Aunt May was played by Stockard Channing. Not sure how I feel about the Lizard keeping his intelligence while he was mutated. It gave them the opportunity for some good interactions between Spiderman and the Lizard during the fight scenes, but under cut a lot of the pathos inherent in the Lizard character. Still, his character worked in the story they were trying to tell in this movie. Overall, a good super hero movie. I'd recommend it. 
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#2
07-03-2012, 10:21 AM
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I've been back and forth about wanting to see this but proably will since 6 year-old junior is into Spider-man everything these days.
The things making me not so excited are 1- I don't know if I care to watch the whole origin story all over again checking off boxes as it goes along. 2- After Rami's trilogy this really doesn't look or feel much different from what I've already seen. 3- Andrew Garfield's body is too tiny for his head and is made even worse from his bouffant hair-do.
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#3
07-03-2012, 10:35 AM
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A reboot after only ten years? I refuse to see it on principle.
No, not just that, but the first one was almost perfectly casted. Especially aunt May and James Jamerson. Oh, and MJ too. I keep looking at the stills on Rotten Tomatoes and shouting "HEY, THOSE ARE THE WRONG PEOPLE!!"
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Join Date: May 20, 1999 Location: Bangkok, Thailand ♂ Posts: 8,513
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#4
07-03-2012, 12:15 PM
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i loved the raimi spiderman movies and would have happily gone to see the fourth if it had come to fruition, but its over. i like the looks of this one and am looking forward to seeing it.
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#5
07-03-2012, 12:29 PM
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I like the description of this as "The Perfectly Adequate Spider-Man."
I think the one thing I appreciate about this one is that they went with Gwen Stacy first. I would have preferred Raimi's version to have gone with Gwen and done the death, and introduced MJ in the sequel or as a peripheral character in the first.
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I have only one thing to say about that- Shut up.
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#6
07-03-2012, 12:37 PM
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I'm looking forward to seeing it, though I know it's going to be an OJ movie as opposed to a great one.
I understand why Sony decided to go with a reboot with the movie. They had the property and they needed to put a movie out or lose that, but I agree with everyone who thinks it's too soon for a reboot. I also wished they could skip the origin or gloss over it quickly because it's been done so many times. Every different medium has something different about his origin, so we've seen an origin for him a lot of times already. That being said, I like Spidey and I have a 4 year old son who really likes him too. We may see this tomorrow because it's so hot out there.
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#8
07-03-2012, 01:34 PM
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#9
07-03-2012, 02:50 PM
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I'm tentatively looking forward to this. So glad to hear this Spidey is goofy and wisecracking!
I find the Rami trilogy just okay (well, the first 2 were okay, the third was dreadful). Didn't love the casting in them (except for J.K. Simmons, who was great) and they failed to capture pretty much everything I love about Spider-Man. I really like Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone so I'm hoping they get it right this time.
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#10
07-03-2012, 08:04 PM
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#12
07-03-2012, 09:28 PM
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I have to say it's incredibly different from the Raimi movies. I mean, everything. It's a much more personal and emotional take on Peter Parker, who makes different, yet equally troubling, choices. The villain almost comes off as irrelevant to his ultimate story: not that Kurt Conners is uninteresting, but that he's more the last element in the movie.
I certainly enjoyed it. I did, however, come within an inch of outright murdering the three girls and one grown woman who kept talking during the show.
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#13
07-03-2012, 10:33 PM
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It was pretty good. I could've done with about ten minutes less of teen drama, and sitting through poor Uncle Ben getting murdered yet once again was pretty boring.
But the villain was well done, the kid playing Spiderman was alright, the heroine was far better then the girl from the first set of movies (both the character and the actress). I also liked that Spiderman wasn't totally overpowered. When he gets knocked through a wall, he at least appeared sort of hurt (granted, not in any way that actually slowed him down), he was strong but not crazy super strong, he was obviously outmatched by the villain and while he could take on three or four bad guys at once, once he was outnumbered by more then that he either had to run or surrender. Other thoughts: -Best Stan Lee cameo since Chasing Amy -Trying to awkwardly step around the "with great power..." line without actually saying it was...well, awkward. -I kind of liked the ridiculousness of how they shoehorned the exposition setting up the doomsday device. I've been in a lot of science labs in my day, and none have had a decade old, unused WMD just sort of chilling in the corner so that I can explain to the interns how it could be used to spread biological agents. -Ditto Lizard-guy leaving his computer open to Youtube videos in which he explains his nefarious plot, next to a computer animation giving further details in case the previous explicit explanation wasn't enough to tip the hero off. -Was the guy talking to Lizard-guy in the end his subconscious or are we supposed to recognize that as some other villain from the Spiderman franchise. Last edited by Simplicio; 07-03-2012 at 10:34 PM.
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#14
07-03-2012, 11:58 PM
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It was alright. I really liked Andrew Garfield (anyone's better than Toby Maguire, but Garfield did a great job). I enjoyed the fighting quips, the Raimi movies seemed to forget how huge a part of Spiderman the quips are.
However, it suffered from severe pacing issues. In the beginning, you could practically feel the filmmakers groaning with the effort of avoiding a retread of the first Spiderman movie. In the end, I feel like they rushed through the origin (which I'm fine with), but then screwed around for most of the second act so they had to rush through the resolution. It was nice to see Dennis Leary as Captain Stacy.
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#15
07-04-2012, 12:38 AM
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I liked it, the casting was just about perfect imho. I had some major issues with a couple of plot points but since I do not know how to use spoiler boxes I will leave them be.
One problem I had was for the first 20 minutes the actor who player Spiderman reminded me of someone. And it bugged me until I figured out who, the actor who played Kumar in the White Castle movie. Those two share way to much mannerism and expressions, both vocal and facial not to be related.  But overall I would say this Spiderman franchise has far more potential to be a more adult/darker Spiderman ala The Dark Knight. And that isn't a bad thing.
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#16
07-04-2012, 02:32 AM
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It was released in Japan a couple of weeks ago. JpnGal and I watched it in IMAX 3D. While I never closely followed the comic or story, I have seen the original TV series and all the movies made since then.
We both enjoyed this version and took at as a "fun Saturday night at the movies" and nothing else. I have a question about one scene: In one of the police station scenes, Leary's character mentions something about "Godzilla" and "Japan", at least that's what we heard him say and the Japanese subtitles supported that. However, the audio for that quick phrase seemed to be spliced in and the words didn't seem to match Leary's lip movements. Does anyone remember that scene? And if so, I was wondering if the same lines were used in other countries. Thanks.
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#17
07-04-2012, 08:10 AM
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My WAG is that you were used to his words not matching the subtitles, so when he used two Japanese words, your brain interpreted it as being off.
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#18
07-04-2012, 10:12 AM
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#20
07-04-2012, 12:23 PM
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We saw it last night and really enjoyed it! My teen sons enjoyed it more then The Avengers and are still talking about the Spider Man movie this morning.
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#21
07-04-2012, 02:44 PM
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ETA: About a minute later, in the same scene, he makes pretty much an identical joke, except I think he actually says "Godzilla" that time. Last edited by Miller; 07-04-2012 at 02:45 PM.
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#22
07-04-2012, 06:02 PM
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I saw it today, and liked it. Obviously, it set up the sequel. One question. Was it clear whether Dr. Ratha (Irrfan Khan's character) died?
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#23
07-04-2012, 07:33 PM
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I liked it better than the Raimi movies, which I didn't think were all that great. The web-swinging was great in 3D. I liked that it had Gwen Stacy in it, and I way preferred this Uncle Ben and Aunt May to Raimi's. I also liked that they brought back his trademark wise cracks. Denis Leary did a good job.
I didn't mind the talking Lizard, perhaps because he could talk in his earliest incarnations. Overall I'd recommend it, though the Avengers was more fun, IMO.
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#24
07-04-2012, 09:37 PM
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One minor criticism: I think Martin Sheen and Sally Field are too old to play the uncle and aunt of a teenager. Grandparents, perhaps, but not uncle and aunt.
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#25
07-04-2012, 10:35 PM
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#26
07-04-2012, 11:16 PM
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#27
07-05-2012, 08:43 AM
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In the trailer, someone asks, "Do you think what happened to you, Peter, was an accident? Do you have any idea what you really are?" I don't remember seeing that bit in the movie, but when I saw the trailer, I thought the origin of his powers was going be explained as not just the spider bite, but, perhaps, manipulation of his genetics by his father. Perhaps the next film will get into that?
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#29
07-05-2012, 11:00 AM
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We saw the movie yesterday and I thought it was pretty decent. I hold the Avengers as the gold standard for comic book movies and this one was not close to that, though it was much better than Spider-Man 3 (not really high praise, but you get my drift). A few things that didn't work so well for me: SPOILER:
Plus the retelling of the origin in general. We've seen it so many times already. What I did like: I liked the actors a lot. Andrew Garfield's hair is piled up kind of funny, but he makes a good Peter/Spider-Man. Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy is so good looking and her acting in this is streets ahead of Kirsten Dunst's MJ Watson. Martin Sheen, Dennis Leary, and Rhys Ifans are all very good in their roles as is Sally Field, though she didn't have much else to other than be the worried old aunt. I liked the action scenes; I liked how Spidey used his webs against the Lizard and everything looked realistic for the most part in comparison to the first Spider-Man film. I liked how they established that Peter was scientifically smart and able to make his own webshooters, though I think they took a bit of a shortcut with that. I also liked that Spidey was a smartenheimer in this movie -- the wisecracks are something that Raimi's missed. Last edited by Intergalactic Gladiator; 07-05-2012 at 11:01 AM. Reason: Not gonna tell -- spoilers!
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#30
07-05-2012, 11:29 AM
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Oh, and the Stan Lee cameo was very good. It's interesing how Hugh Heffner, that guy in Milwaukee who drank the gamma-infected drink, a New York hot dog vendor, a security guard, a WWII general, and a high school librarian all look alike. ;-)
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#31
07-05-2012, 06:16 PM
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#32
07-06-2012, 09:35 AM
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One minor detail I didn't like:
SPOILER:
Last edited by Larry Borgia; 07-06-2012 at 09:36 AM.
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#33
07-06-2012, 09:45 AM
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But yea, I was amused that, for a lab that has an unused biological weapon dispersing machine just chilling in the corner, security was so lax. Gwen Stacey is a high school intern and yet can get into the lab in the middle of the night, get access to a machine that can apparently mix up whatever crazy biological agent you want and a machine that they were apparently so worried could be used to disperse said agents that the forbid its use, even though it could apparently wipe out polio or something. Doubly amusing since all the super-high tec looking card readers and key pads made it look like Oscorp had invested a lot in their completely ineffective security system.
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#34
07-06-2012, 10:02 AM
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#35
07-06-2012, 10:07 AM
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I thought so. So it sounds like the filmmakers dropped the plot point that suggested that Peter Parker's abilities were due (in part) to genetic manipulation by his father.
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#36
07-06-2012, 02:16 PM
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Well, I grew up on the comics and subscribed to all 3 Spidey titles (at the time) for years, so here's my $0.02 (most of which lean to the highly disappointed)
THE CONSPIRACY: I found this a stupid and pointless thread to fixate on--the secrecy around his father, the Lizard's association, OsCorp's involvement, etc. None of it paid off and none of it really added any genuine intrigue. So I found it all pointless filler that didn't really add to characterization at all. THE ORIGIN: The manner in which he gets the bite is stupid, both in how dumb he is to be nosing around and how ridiculous it was that he could have access to such a high-security area. I don't care about the orga vs. mecha shooters, but the film handled it so inadequately that it created more questions than answers. For example, he was obviously basing the webbing on that tow cable that he saw online and ordered a sample of. How much did this cost? How could he sustain that expense? How did he make it sticky? We never see him in a lab or as a teacher's pet, he's never bullied at school for being a science nerd, we're just supposed to take a few people's word that he's some kind of genius? With storytelling, Show, not Tell. It's weak sauce. THE QUIPS: As a Spidey fan, I loved the quips in the comics. But action sequences in films are different animals. The Raimi films wisely dispensed with them, and the ones in this film never really quite worked for me. They may be essential to comic-Spidey, but I found their inclusion more distracting than effective. THE VILLAIN: A snoozer. Not particularly well-rendered (from a CG standpoint), and the main things that make Connors compelling--a brilliant scientist becomes a slave to his own obsession, while also acting as a mentor figure to Peter--was handled immeasurably better with Doc Ock and even Norman Osbourne in the original films. The Lizard adds nothing--he's not a more interesting or sympathetic character, and his powers or level of menace don't compare to the others. He's iconic, but in this film, a snooze. Plus, don't we see that the serum he gives himself to turn into the Lizard degrades over a time and he needs a bigger boost regularly? So where is the real threat by aerosoling the city? Without a booster, the effects would be short-term anyway. Anyone who complained about the similar climax in Batman Begins can't ignore the silliness of it here. SPIDEY SENSE: I counted three times where Spidey is caught off-guard in a way that would have been unthinkable in the comics, based on his Spidey sense. On the balcony with Gwen, we "see" it in action from many many blocks away. So how does the Lizard get the drop on him in the sewer? Or how is he surprised by the helicopter near the end? Especially since he can still dodge bullets Matrix-style at point blank range? This is just bad. CASTING: Andrew Garfield seriously overplays the hemming and hawing in a way that is almost Michael Cera-ish (that is not a compliment); Tobey wasn't always great, but I was convinced of his sincerity and conviction as PP. Sheen & Field are fine, though I think Robertson & Harris were better. And Uncle Ben's death is painfully contrived (Why jump for the gun? Stupid). Ifans is fine but not as good an actor as Dafoe or Molina. It's a small blessing we only hear about Norman and JJJ because any real actors would've probably suffered by comparison. The best casting is of the Stacys, and the best part of the film is how they are dealt with and the touching relationship they have. They were given short shrift in SM3 so there isn't any comparison, but the only promising thing I can see about subsequent films in this series is dealing with Gwen's ultimate fate. THE MASK: The one time that Spidey reveals his identity (inadvertently) in SM2, it's a very touching and powerful moment, and it touches into the nature of his youth and the sacrifice he's making. In this film, Spidey is revealing (and being revealed) left and right, so there's no weight to the revelation. It's glib. And while I've never liked Aunt May in the comic, I liked the possibility that this May might actually suspect her nephew's secret--because if she doesn't, she's dumb as a post given the state he comes back home in night after night. So, for this Spidey fan, too facile, too redundant, too unnecessary. I love the character so didn't mind a reboot if they found a way to justify this new take. But there's very little that's new that is actually better than the first two films (probably in the top 3 of Marvel adaptations, to these eyes). Some is just new for new sake and some is just dumb. But very little worked for me.
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#37
07-06-2012, 03:22 PM
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I actually had more of a problem with him being able to afford a full-body spandex suit, but after looking around online, that stuff's actually pretty cheap. Quote:
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That said: Quote:
Plus, if Connors can set off the aerosol device once, he can set it off a second time, so there's nothing stopping him from delivering regular booster shots to the city, if necessary. And lastly, while the physical transformation of Connors' initial serum is temporary, the side effect of violent psychosis appears to be permanent: Connors is still a psychopath after the first dose wears off, and doesn't regain his sanity until he's dosed with the antidote. So even after the lizard transformation wears off, you still have a NYC filled with murderous psychopaths. Admittedly, that's not much of a change. Quote:
Other than that, eh, I didn't mind. Spiderman's supposed to be hard to hit, but he's not untouchable. One guy, with one gun, he can dodge easily. A street filled with police snipers, all trying to take him down while he's desperately trying to save his girlfriend's life? I don't have a problem with him being overwhelmed by so many danger sources that one catches him off guard - that seems like a legitimate way to get past his defenses. The only one that really bugged me was when the roof collapsed under him and dropped him into the abandoned gymnasium. No way he wouldn't have been able to catch himself before he fell.
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#38
07-06-2012, 04:27 PM
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#40
07-07-2012, 12:39 PM
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I enjoyed it - was a fun movie. I was disappointed with the casting of Emma Stone as Gwen - she doesn't quite work for me. Boy was I wrong. She was very good in the role and just so adorable.
The two of them made this 50 year old man remember what it was like to be a bumbling nerdy teen trying to figure out romance. It was a fun movie, the effects were great and the acting was very fine.
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#43
07-07-2012, 10:26 PM
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Saw it and I found it just Okay. The origin took way too long to get off the ground. I kept waiting for them to get to the fireworks factory...er...I mean to the lab where the mutant spider makes Peter into a hero. And once he became Spider-Man I wanted more web slinging and crime busting.
I also thought the villain just wasn't very compelling. At the end of the day he was just another CGI monster. I definitely prefer the original one from 2002. That one had more energy, chemistry and a sense of fun (although admittedly I liked how this Spidey was much more of wise cracker. That was something the other movies lacked.). Movie wasn't bad but not as good as I was hoping.
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#44
07-14-2012, 11:25 AM
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Finally had a chance to see the film yesterday.
It was truly horrible. 1. Far, far too long. 2. Took forever to get through how Spiderman becomes Spiderman, plus we have all seen that before, so most certainly a "been there, done that" waste of time. 3. Dumbass lizard was the lamest villain in a superhuman film in ages...not scary, not fun, not particularly well designed either. 4. High school story lines were even stupider than what they slap on GLEE. Actually, they should have thrown a slushee somewhere to make this film even have a plot. 5. Did I mention that at 2 hours 17 minutes, this was far, far too long - about 2 hours too long as far as I was concerned. The other most recent Spiderman films were pretty good, but I cannot image anyone over the age of 12 finding this mess worth spending the time and money to watch. If you have not seen this film and are not sure if you want to see it, my advice is to save your money and wait until this is on TV for free...and even then, I will be surprised it you watch it all the way through and don't switch channels for something far more interesting - like maybe watching C-Span instead. Boring, insipid waste of time and money to see in a theater.
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#45
07-14-2012, 03:24 PM
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Well, I'm glad I didn't read this before I saw the movie. I just got home from it, and I had a great time. I liked the Peter and Gwen interaction, I liked that Gwen was not a helpless damsel in distress, and I liked the early fighting against mooks in alleys sequences.
I agree that another origin was not necessary. I like the organic webshooters better than the mechanical ones. I kinda got the impression he stole the web-juice from Oscorp labs--it was just lying around. And when Spidey and The Lizard are fighting it is too obviously pure CGI. However, I liked it a lot.
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#46
07-14-2012, 03:52 PM
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Liked it a lot.
If this was the very first Spider-Man movie, I think it would have been very highly regarded. But between Spidey 1 and 2 with Dr. Octopus, it did feel like familar territory. Still... I really like how they covered the territory. My biggest beef was how easy it was for random teenagers to slip in and out and lurk around OsCorp.
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#47
07-15-2012, 09:34 AM
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I saw the movie with my family and we all enjoyed it quite a but. I think it stands quite a but above the Raimi movies. The special effects were worlds better and I prefer Garfield's Parker to McGuire's. Those that hated it...well, de gustibus but I sure didn't see the same movie they did.
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#48
07-15-2012, 11:43 AM
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I saw it last night and thought it was pretty great. I was a little disappointed that the whole story about looking for the guy who shot Uncle Ben was just abruptly dropped, but I can write that off to Capt Stacy pointing out how obvious he was being and Peter deciding to lay off that for a while.
I couldn't help but feel like the Lizard's plot was more than a little similar to Magneto's in the first X-Men movie, but it's not a huge deal.
__________________
All generalizations are wrong, including this one. -George Carlin (1937-2008)
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#50
07-15-2012, 05:54 PM
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My husband and I just saw it. Shouldn't Gwen just have broken the spread-the-lizard-gas device? She had fire, plus plenty of heavy looking objects to break it with. Maybe she could have tossed it out the window, even. Yeah, yeah, then the police wouldn't have been cured, but still.
My husband liked the movie, but I didn't. If he ever is in an Avengers sequel, get Joss Whedon to write his dialogue. Last edited by Dendarii Dame; 07-15-2012 at 05:55 PM.
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