Geek Strong Rating: 7.5/10
After the grueling first trilogy of Spider-Man filmswhere director Sam Raimi, lead actor Tobey Maguire, and the rest of the cast gradually destroyed the Spider-Man legend on the big screen, loyal fans of the comic book found it really hard to imagine that a brand new movie would set it straight. But with a new story arc, fresh actors, and brand new production team supporting it, the new Spider-Man movie just might be the one that would save the franchise... or is it?
The new reboot, The Amazing Spider-Man,starts with a fresh, clean slate for the story to develop.Directed by Marc Webb, whose directorial debut was the well-loved romantic comedy(500) Days of Summer, the movie was filled with awkward, high school romantic moments between Andrew Garfield (Peter Parker) and Emma Stone (Gwen Stacey) which was kind of nice to watch.
Most superhero movies have their respective love angles, but strangely, I find this to be one of the best written as far as romance is concerned. It wasn't too corny, nor was it too sappy. As Goldilocks would put it: it was just right. The fact that longtime readers of the Spider-Man comic book know what is eventually going to happen between Peter and Gwen just makes it all better. It makes you wonder what we'll see in subsequent movies.
Aside from the well-written romantic dialogue, the action was very intense and memorable. Nobody fights like Spider-Man does, and any live-action adaptation of such should extend human imagination when it comes to his fight scenes. With an incredible opponent in the Lizard, Spider-Man uses up everything in his arsenal, including his web shooters, lateral web-spun catapults, and other sensational Spidey moves that you only get to see in video games. As my GeekStrong friend Raph Liloc said, he couldn't wait to buy the game because the movements in the movie were just so epic.
But for me, the value of any movie is always in the story. There has to be a great story behind the explosions, cinematography, and artistry of the movie for it to be very successful, which is what The Amazing Spider-Man lacked a little for me. The origin story was already established from the previous movies and comic books, and I'm sad to say that this new interpretation of how Spider-Man came to be simply became just another version of what happened, and doesn’t really stand out from the rest.
However, the story has its strengths, mainly in the emotional turmoil that Peter had to go through settling in with his powers, including the fact that his Uncle Ben died (if you think that was a spoiler, then congratulations), and all the other things that Peter had to deal with being the new hero that he had become.
The most disturbing aspect of the story for me is the fact that Spider-Man's altruism was born out of selfish desires. He began hunting down robbers because he was looking for his uncle's killer. He went after the Lizard because he felt responsible for his transformation. All of these decisions were based on something born out of him. I guess that is because Peter Parker really needed to face the truth about responsibility in this first movie, in order to set him up for his greatest downfall in the second one. Right, geeks?
All in all, the movie was a tremendous success for the franchise and for the Spider-Man name. It gave the hero a brand new life, which was necessary to really start anew with this franchise. With the past trilogy, the producers and writers literally had nowhere to go but to call it quits, and we're glad they did. As for this new Spider-Man, we're pretty excited for what they'll do next.
