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Friday, July 13, 2012

(Movie Review) The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)


Comparisons are the worst. There is nothing worse to me than having something that I have done, or something that I am, compared to something else. That is the main reason I refused to watch Magic Mike. Can you imagine how instantly unattractive I would become just being within the vicinity of that movie screen. My poor wife would never look at me the same again. Getting back on track with this, the bad thing about having such a successful Spiderman franchise under their belt, Sony was going to have a hard time with this movie not being compared to the original trilogy. That is the problem that I think that I, along with most people, had to overcome with this movie. Because in a lot of ways, Spiderman (2002) was better.

Storyline: High school student Peter Parker (Garfield) is bit by a radioactive spider at the OSCORP lab. When he later discovers that this bite has awarded him some superhuman capabilities, he begins to embrace his new found confidence. When tragedy strikes, and a new friend goes off the deep end, Parker must do anything that it take to become the man that he was born to be and the hero that the city needs.

If we are getting down to the nuts and bolts of this movie, it was a fine enough film and it was actually very entertaining. The problem is that this is the second time we have watched the exact (almost exact) same origin story within the past 10 years. While there are some slight differences, the first half of this movie is almost a copy of the original Spiderman (2002). That is by far the worst (and slowest) part of this movie. The second half of the movie, where the story really deviates away from the previous origin story, is where this movie really gets good. If the first half would have been as good as the second half I would have been forced to come up with some awful title for this review like The Amazing Spiderman spins a web of GOLD….so at least you didn’t get stuck with that. The movie was good, but not amazing.

Worth the admission? It is. Despite my slightly harsh critique, the movie is enjoyable. I cannot properly describe how much more I love Andrew Garfield in that suit than I ever liked Tobey Maguire in it. Maguire always looked like a 40 year old man instead of a high school student. Garfield fits the part much better. Also, Emma Stone as Gwen Stacey is much more personable and likeable than Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson. I just hope that the next installment of the movie is a little bit faster paced.
Stick around after the end of the movie for an extra scene during the credits. It looked like this was just thrown together to me and in my opinion is not on par with extra scenes in Iron Man, Captain America and The Avengers…but you might like it. Let me know what you thought.

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