Review of Spider-Man (1977) by Gabe S — 27 Aug 2014

Better than Raimi's third Spider-Man, not as good as his second... but is it better, as good, or worse than the original Spidey movie? That's a real tough call. I grew up with the Raimi trilogy and was skeptical about a reboot, because to me, Toby McGuire WAS Spider-Man. I saw the first one when I was three, around the same time the second came out, and I watched them over and over again, anxiously awaiting the third one. When I first saw Three, I thought, 'how are they going to make a fourth one without Harry?' Eventually I grew out of the Spider-Man series and got into Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings. So when heard in early 2011 that there was going to be another Spidey movie, my very first thought was that it was The fourth in the Raimi franchise. Then about two seconds later I found out it was a reboot, with totally new actors, plotlines, villains, and movies. Like I said before, I was skeptical, but at the same time I wanted to check it out if I heard good things about it.

When I saw that it got 73% on RT, I put it on my Want to See list, and finally watched it in 2013. I really liked it, and I couldn't believe that Andrew Garfield was slightly better (in my opinion) than McGuire. I also liked that they didn't use a villain from the Raimi trilogy. I was familiar with the Lizard before this (as well as every other Spidey villain) and new that it was Dr. Conners who turned into him. I had hoped that if there was a fourth Raimi Spider-Man that we'd finally get more on Dr. Conners, a character who had been in the second and third movies.

The acting was great, the storyline with Oscorp was interesting and for once - Peter Parker is his proper funny-yet-nerdy self. With McGuire, he wasn't funny and was as nerdy as Garfield. Also, thank you Marc Webb for giving Gwen something to do other then getting captured. Mary Jane in the Raimi trilogy NEVER did anything to help defeat the bad guy. Gwen Stacy/Emma Stone actually does something, and is much more interesting than MJ. When the Lizard is releasing the gas everywhere and trying to get into Oscorp, where Gwen is, instead of leaving like Peter tells her to she says "No, I'll work on an antidote". Then when the Lizard breaks in, instead of saying "Spider-Man, save me!" she LIGHTS HIM ON FIRE. Then of course Spidey shoes up and the final battle begins.

Overall, very good reboot and maybe slightly better than Raimi's first Spider-Man. Definitely recommend. On a side note: BEST STAN LEE CAMEO EVER!!!