The Amazing Spider-Man Review (Spoilers)

While on a rainy day on vacation at Prince Edward Island I decided to go and see the new rebooted Spider-Man movie.  Having been a fan of Spider-Man since the 80’s I was a bit hesitant about this new direction for Peter Parker and his alter ego.  Like would this new direction be somewhat true to the comic book or would it be something totally unrecognizable.

Well for the most part it was accurate to what we all know about his origin and such.  Getting bit by the radioactive spider and finding out about his powers was all the same.  The actions leading up to Uncle Ben’s death was a tad different but worked for me even better than what happened in the comic book.  But what I really enjoyed which the changed from the first three movies was that we saw Peter Parker make his web slingers.  Yes! The one big problem I had with the other movies (web coming out of his wrist) was gone and the true way was back.

I also liked how they added the mystery of Peter Parkers parents.  Longtime fans of Spider-Man will know the true back story of his parents but if this is indeed a trilogy then this will indeed by an interesting plot device to keep an eye on for future films.   I have a few theories but I think I’ll keep them to myself.

I liked the overall story.  I liked how Peter Parker evolved from weak wimpy nerd to strong hero.  I also liked how Gwen Stacy was introduced as a high school student instead of the college science student.  Even though her background for the most part stayed the same it was by far more interesting to see her as student along with Peter Parker. I also liked the fact that they are focusing on her instead of Mary Jane as the Gwen Stacy relationship makes for a good story that may not be what people will expect.  Be interesting if they go there and when.

Plus it was good to see how their relationship would build when Peter tells her he’s Spider-Man while her father Captain Stacy is trying to arrest him.  Captain Stacy was played perfectly by Dennis Leary.  Fans of the comic book will not be shocked of his outcome but I think it would have been better if he died in the second movie. 

I liked how they portrayed The Lizard.  They got that character right.  Rhys Ifans plays Dr. Curt Connors perfectly. You can believe how desperate he is to get his arm back.  Plus the way he makes Dr. Connors seem evil after he transform is absolutely freaky.  I wasn’t sure using The Lizard as the villain in The Amazing Spider-Man would be good but after seeing movie and seeing how the executed it I see that I was wrong.  For the first movie in a trilogy it was in fact a good idea as The Lizard wasn’t a complex villain and was easy for non-hardcore fans to follow along with.  I loved seeing The Lizard in the lab coat and pants just like in the comic books from the 70’s.

I really liked Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker.  Dare I say it I actually thought he was a more convincing Peter Parker than Tobey Maguire.  In fact I thought Andrew Garfield acted more like Peter Parker/Spider-Man from the comic books than Tobey Maguire did.  When I watched Andrew Garfield on the screen I thought I was really watching Peter Parker. The Peter Parker I know from the comic books.  It was really cool seeing that and I am glad the makers of the film did their homework for once.

I was really skeptical about The Amazing Spider-Man before seeing it.  Now after seeing it and enjoying the story and the amount of action my fears were not warranted.  In fact it was a very enjoyable movie that held my attention through out and did leave a lot of questions that will hopefully be answered in the next few films.  Well there is one mystery that most spider-man fans already know the answer to but I’m not telling you’ll have to do the research yourself.   So The Amazing Spider-Man is a pretty good movie that I actually enjoyed a lot and actually like better than the other three that came before it.

Grade A-