Five years after the release of 2007's "SPIDER-MAN 3", Sony Pictures and Marvel Films decided to release a new SPIDER-MAN movie. The latter proved not to be a third sequel to the 2002 movie, "SPIDER-MAN". Instead, it turned out to be a franchise re-boot featuring a new actor in the lead and the first film of a new series of films.
With Andrew Garfield now portraying Peter Parker aka Spider-Man and Marc Webb directing, "THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN" commenced upon an entirely new saga about the web slinger. In this film, Peter is a geeky high school student and science major who lives with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May in a suburb of Queens, New York. At least a decade earlier, he had witnessed the mysterious disappearance of his father and mother, scientist Richard Parker and his wife, Mary. After discovering his father's old briefcase, Peter makes the acquaintance of the latter's former lab partner, Dr. Curt Connors, who is now working as a geneticist at Oscorp. Dr. Connors is working on cross-breeding experiments in order to discover a formula based on con thằn lằn, thằn lằn DNA in order to regenerate missing limbs. During his first trip to Oscorp's Manhattan offices, he discovers that the fellow Midtown High School student that he loves, Gwen Stacy, is working there as the chief intern. Peter is also bitten bởi a genetically engineered spider.
During the subway ride home, Peter becomes aware of his new abilities. He also continues his visits to Dr. Connors at Oscorp. His new powers and visits to Oscorp lead to his growing neglect of his household duties. Peter also manages to help Dr. Connors bởi giving the latter Richard Parker's "decay rate algorithm", the missing piece in the scientist's experiments. After a quarrel with Uncle Ben, Peter storms out of the house and the latter hit the streets looking for him. Unfortunately for Uncle Ben, he encounters a thief who had just robbed a convenience store and is shot dead. Determined to find his uncle's murderer, Peter decides to assume the identity of the costumed vigilante, Spider-Man. When Oscorp executive Dr. Rajit Ratha decides to ngọn lửa, chữa cháy Dr. Connors and use the latter's formula at a VA hospital under the guise of a flue shot, Connors tries the formula on himself and becomes the human/lizard hybrid, the Lizard.
Many Marvel and Spider-Man những người hâm mộ had complained about the lack of need for a Spider-Man re-boot so soon after the last Sam Rami film. What many did not know was that Sony Pictures had signed a deal, guaranteeing major control over the Spider-Man franchise as long as the studio releases a movie every five years hoặc less. Sony originally had plans for a fourth Spider-Man movie with both Rami and actor Tobey Maguire. But the plans fell through and the studio decided to re-boot the franchise with a new actor, a new director and a new trilogy.
Some những người hâm mộ and critics claimed that "THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN" was a lot closer to the original comics tale than the Rami films. I found this claim ironic, considering that the movie proved to be no thêm faithful to the comics than the films made in the last decade. Comic book những người hâm mộ know that Peter Parker's first tình yêu was Betty Brandt, whom he dated in high school and who eventually became J. Jonah Jamerson's secretary at The Daily Bugle. Peter met both Gwen Stacy (of this movie) and Mary Jane Watson (from the 2002-2007 films) in college, not high school. He was a lot younger when his parents died. But xin chào . . . I managed to enjoy both the Rami/Maguire trilogy and this film.
That is correct. I enjoyed "THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN". It had plenty of well choreographed action. The special effects team from the Pixomundo company did an excellent job with the action sequences featuring Spider-Man's battles with the Lizard. The company's efforts were ably supported bởi Marc Webb's direction and the three cinematographers - Alan Edward Bell, Michael McCusker and Pietro Scalia. One of my few complaints about "SPIDER-MAN" was that the film almost seemed like two separate stories. I could never accuse "THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN" of that flaw. Screenwriters James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent and Steve Kloves made sure that Peter's transformation into Spider-Man and Dr. Connors' transformation into the con thằn lằn, thằn lằn were connected plot-wise. After all, Peter's visit to Connor at the Oscorp labs led to his painful encounter with a genetically altered spider. And the visit, along with Peter's discovery of his father's notes, led to the creation of the formula that enabled Connors to become the Lizard.
The movie also boasted some excellent performances bởi the cast. Andrew Garfield was outstanding as Peter Parker aka Spider-Man. He did an excellent job of portraying a fatherless boy in tìm kiếm of a father figure, who is forced to grow up on his own. Emma Stone portrayed Gwen Stacy, the girl whom Peter dated during his early years in college. Stone's Gwen was a smart, witty and earthy young woman who found herself torn between Peter and her father's opinion of Spider-Man and vigilantism. Another excellent performance came from Rhys Ifan, who did an excellent job in revealing the complex man whose disappointments in life led him to utilize the formula that transformed him into the Lizard. He also managed to convey Connor's darker personality through the CGI figure of the Lizard.
Other first-rate performances came from Denis Leary, who portrayed Gwen's father - NYPD Captain George Stacy. The latter role seemed a slight cry from Leary's usual roles. Although he managed to utilize his usual rapid ngọn lửa, chữa cháy wit, Leary also conveyed the image of a stern and responsible man, who harbored concerns not only for his daughter, but also the citizens of New York City. Martin Sheen and Sally Field created excellent chemistry as Ben and May Parker, the couple left to raise Peter after his parents' death. It is a crime that the pair never worked together before, because I thought they really crackled with chemistry. I could say that both had great chemistry with Garfield, as well. But I feel that Sheen had thêm interesting scenes with the young actor than Field. Irrfan Khan had to be convinced bởi his children to take the role of Oscorp executive, Dr. Rajit Ratha (a character created for the movie). I am glad they did, for he proved to be very effective as a shadowy representative for the corporation's reclusive CEO, Norman Oscorp. The movie also boasted solid performances from Chris Zylka as Flash Thompson; and from Campbell Scott and Embeth Davidtz as Richard and Mary Parker, Peter's parents.
I will not deny that "THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN" was a very entertaining movie for me. But it had its flaws. One, there seemed to be a minor lack of originality in the script. A good deal of the story seemed to be borrowed from the trước đó SPIDER-MAN movies. As with Maguire's Peter, Garfield's Peter started out with an unrequited crush with the leading female character. And Dr. Connors' career faced extinction, just as Dr. Otto Octavius did in "SPIDER-MAN 2". However, the movie also borrowed a subplot from the 2000 movie, "X-MEN". Just as Erik Lensherr plotted to transform the world's population into mutants via a machine, the con thằn lằn, thằn lằn in this movie, plotted to transform New York City's population into reptilian/human hybrids. In fact, his scheme struck me as lame. The problem for me laid in the fact that Connors did not transform into the Lizard, until the một giây half of the movie.
Speaking of the Lizard, as much as I had admired Ifans' performance, I was not that impressed bởi the villain's role as Spider-Man's foe. I mean, honestly . . . the idea of Spider-Man facing a giant con thằn lằn, thằn lằn rampaging all over Manhattan did not do anything for me. Frankly, I saw dealing with the problem of the con thằn lằn, thằn lằn as a job for the Men in Black, not Spider-Man. Everyone seemed to be filled with praise for Emma Stone's portrayal of Gwen Stacy . . . including me. However, I had a problem with the screenwriters' portrayal of Gwen in this movie. Frankly, she seemed too perfect . . . too ideal. She lacked any real personal demons that could have made her interesting to me. I could never say the same about the comic book Gwen - even if she had a tendency to be a crybaby.
Could someone explain why Peter suddenly decided to end his tìm kiếm for the thief who had killed his Uncle Ben? It seemed as if the entire subplot had been dropped. And what happened to Dr. Ratha after Peter saved him on the Williamsburg Bridge? I have one last complaint . . . and it has to do with C. Thomas Howell's character, a construction worker named Ray. In the Williamsburg Bridge sequence, Spider-Man saved Ray's son from falling into the East River. cá đuối, ray reciprocated Spider-Man's actions during the latter's final battle with the con thằn lằn, thằn lằn bởi using several cranes to help convey the web slinger (who had been shot in the leg bởi the NYPD) to Oscorp's tower, in order to stop the con thằn lằn, thằn lằn from using the formula on New Yorkers. I found that minor scene so incredibly cheesy that I practically cringed with embarrassment. It seemed as if the screenwriters were trying to re-create those moments from two of Sam Rami's films in which New Yorkers came to Spider-Man's aid. Only in this movie, I found Ray's actions embarrassing, not inspirational.
"THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN" had much for me to admire. It had excellent performances from the cast led bởi Andrew Garfield. Marc Webb's direction in the action sequences and intimate scenes was first-rate. And the screenwriters managed to avoid the mistake from the Sam Rami 2002 film of creating a fragmented plot. Unfortunately, I believe that "THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN" had other flaws - including a lack of originality - that made it difficult for me to embrace the idea that it was the best SPIDER-MAN movie ever made, let alone better than any of the Maguire/Rami films.
