Review of Spider-Man (1977) by Henry P — 02 Sep 2016

9/3/16.

Sony may as well have raised the red flag saying "Spidey needs to go back to Marvel!" with this film back in 2012. Glad they did (eventually) work something out with Marvel, but while The Amazing Spider-Man had great characters, picture and humor with a good soundtrack by James Horner (God rest his soul), there was a serious lack of plot; while the story was coherent, they may have gone too far with being realistic while simultaneously being unrealistic. But I'll get to that another time. We open with a young Peter Parker playing hide-and-seek with his dad, and after he wanders into the wrong room at what we can guess is the wrong time, because after seeing the open window, Richard Parker (Campbell Scott) and his wife Mary (Embeth Davis) rush Peter to his Uncle Ben and Aunt May (Martin Sheen and Sally Field as somewhat younger versions of the characters, but they could still be confused for Peter's grandparents), and we transition from a young Peter watching his parents leave to teenage Peter (Andrew Garfield) at school. Throughout that day and the high school scenes in general, we get to see an early look at his need to deal out justice when he tries getting Flash Thompson (Chris Zylka) to stop tormenting some guy, resulting in a fight that attracts the attention of Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) but somehow, doesn't attract any teachers/staff members (one of the many simultaneous realistic and unrealistic scenes, and I don't mean the genetic science). Up until the pivotal scene that is so pivotal to all Spider-Man canon that I need not say anymore. Peter's interactions with characters like Gwen, his aunt-and-uncle, his classmates, Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans), etc, are what forms Peter Parker. Andrew Garfield does a great job as awkward Peter Parker and confident Spider-Man, whether he's stammering around for the right thing to say, or being a pain in the butt (what did you say?) to a car thief, making quips, being sarcastic, and fighting crime with style Tobey MaGuire would only dabble in. They don't reach Spider-Man 2 levels of great characters, but they do a good job with the material. The picture is great, but it may have been a little too gritty and realistic for Spider-Man, and CGI isn't as bad as what would come two years later... back to what I was saying about the plot: coherent story, but how the actual hell did nobody figure out that Peter was Spider-Man? After he gets his powers, Peter basically shows a whole train-car of strangers, Flash Thompson, and a whole variety of classmates and more strangers what he can do (unintentionally), as well as Gwen (intentionally). Smashing a basketball net backboard is one thing, but denting a football goal post with the ball from the bleachers? The human characters are believable, but these plot holes aren't. Even if they didn't figure out he was Spider-Man, someone ought to have figured out that Peter had some particular set of skills. On top of that, this movie is a too long-and-slow-origin-story. The Amazing Spider-Man should have been called the fun-in-places-with-nice-characters-good-effects-bad-pacing-and-numerous-errors-in-being-realistic Spider-Man.

4/26/14.

Amazing. Sony was so desperate to maintain the film rights to the wall crawler, the masked vigilante, Peter Parker: Spider-Man. So desperate they couldn't wait for Sam Raimi to pull together a fourth in his series, or find another director for that continuity, so they do another one. Marc Webb actually does a pretty good job with the characters, making them seem more human, and making it so that you won't really blame the villain for his actions, but still prefer the hero all the way. Don't worry, the old web slinger is still the same guy you knew from comic books and cartoons, and still a smart outcast. The plot moves slowly, taking over an hour for Peter to become the hero we all know he'd become, but it's not all BS on the way, with discoveries, drama and laughs along the way. The actual plot makes sense and is pretty clear cut, but it still doesn't make sense as to why we got a reboot instead of more Tobey McGuire. Two words: Film rights. Still some pretty cool effects in it. James Horner does a nice job with the soundtrack: It is appropriate for the scenes, and sets the mood. Spidey's sense of humor also sets the mood for some of his encounters with criminals. Not so amazing that you'll be dying of suspense until the next movie, but exciting enough to make you wonder where these characters are going.

7/7/12.

The Amazing Spider-Man. Is it an amazing movie? Yes, because it has great effets, and likable characters from Spidey himself, to Gwen Stacey, even Dr. Connors, as well as a unique plot, and the first person shots from Spider Man's point of view. It was no Sam Reimi movie, but The Amazing Spider Man is simply off to a rocky start. Hopefully, The Amazong Spider Man 2 will be a rare sequel-better-than-original deal.