Dollar Review: The Amazing Spiderman

This article contains Spoilers for “The Amazing Spider-Man”

Recently I was given the opportunity to view the new Spider-Man film. I realize that this film isn’t all that new, but since I’m cheap (and since I expected it to be bad) I waited until the film was in the dollar theater to see it. Upon reading a bit about the development of this film prior to its release, I will admit that I had the preconceived notion that this film would be bad; It had some of the classic ear marks for bad films. For example, this film was a rushed release and it featured some odd story lines. Upon viewing the film, I admit it wasn’t a bad movie. I do feel, however, like it may have been unnecessary. Let’s talk about the film in a bit more depth, like what works and what doesn’t:

What Works: Spider-Man doing everything thing a spider can

What Doesn’t: Major parts of the story and some of the character interactions

What do I mean when I say that the part that works is the Spider-Man part? Isn’t the whole movie a Spider-Man movie? To be honest with you, I don’t think so. I think this is a movie about Peter Parker, not about Spider-Man. It’s a shame, too, because it should have been a movie about Spider-Man. In the scenes in which they actually featured the super hero doing the super hero thing, I was drawn right into it. This newest interpretation of Spider-Man is, in my opinion, the best one they’ve shown on film so far. I really enjoyed the quirkiness of the character while he fought bad guys in addition to the style with which he went about doing his shenanigans. It was really fun to watch a skinny guy hop around and do crazy flips and dodges like he was some kind of crazy gymnast… or spider. In my opinion, this latest portrayal of Spider-Man was quite brilliantly done.

Now, let’s move on to what didn’t work for this film. This is a section where I nitpick this film a bit, and comment on the character portrayals as well as plot points. To start, let’s talk about Act I one the film: Peter Parker. This is a person that they went through lengths to illustrate is a nerd. For example, he’s got a complex electronic lock on his bedroom door that they make a point in showing (look, he made this himself!). He’s portrayed as being super smart in science, and he is even picked on by the bullies… it’s classic nerd. This is a theme that they made sure to convey to the viewers, but it doesn't withstand any sort of scrutiny.

Peter finds a briefcase that belonged to his deceased father, and it kicks off a legacy story where he searches for any connection to his father. They drop this search-for-father after the first act, it’s used only to introduce Peter to Curt Connors, the one-armed, almost-mad scientist. It makes me wonder why they had this in the film at all... It seemed unnecessary. They set up a world with a kid who is a science nerd, and they need some secondary device to introduce him to a preeminent scientist? It seemed sloppy. Additionally, we don’t need to know about Spider-Man’s parents, we already know something bad happened to him, we don't need to be fed some pseudo conspiracy involving his father. The appeal to a character like Spider-Man (in the comics) is that something horrible happened to him (he’s lost two father-figures, for example), yet he has never let these events ruin him. He will still make quips and jokes as Spider-Man, pretty much staying up-beat the whole time. That appeals to people, we don’t need to give him some other back story about his parents, it’s not necessary.

Act II: This is where a lot of the meat of the story comes out. Now that we’re past the introductions, we know that Peter’s uncle cares deeply for Peter, and we know that Peter is conflicted about his life with his uncle vs the legacy from his father. This is how Peter discovers there’s an opening for an internship at the same lab that Curt Connors works in (a scientist that worked with Peter's father). Peter gets in to the lab, sees Connors in the flesh… and doesn’t say anything. Peter has obsessed over meeting Connors, thus making a connection to his father, and doesn't reach out to the man at all. In fact, he immediately goes away from the group tour he is in (after he was specifically told by his love interest not to) and gets himself into trouble. How does he get himself in trouble? Peter walks into a room filled with hundreds of spiders, and immediately gets bitten. Thus, he gains the powers of the human spider. Remember earlier when I said that legacy portion of the movie wasn’t needed? Yeah, that would have actually made sense here, because what’s to stop anyone else from getting spider powers? They never once mention that Peter is special in any way, he gets bitten by one random spider in a room full of hundreds of them, and now he has spider powers. Does anyone else think this is stupid? What’s to stop these people in the lab from making hundreds of spider soldiers, especially after Connors discovers the Spider-Man's identity (yes, he figures that out)?

Later in this act, Peter and his Uncle get in an argument. Peter has been spending more time away from the house than he usually does in order to explore his powers and figure out how they work. As an aside, there’s a scene where Peter literally destroys his bathroom because he can’t control his super strength, and neither of his caretakers mention anything to him… I’m guessing that sink is still spewing water everywhere. Anyway, Uncle Ben is concerned about the path Peter is taking… he’s breaking things at school and humiliating bullies. Eventually, Peter plays the “where’s my real dad” card (totally below the belt, by the way), and leaves the house. Uncle Ben, being a concerned parent, goes out to find him, and becomes the victim of a shooting and dies. This event is why Peter decides to fight crime on his own; he feels the police can’t do it themselves.

Peter basically says as much to the father of his girlfriend, Gwen Stacy. Oh, I’ve jumped ahead a bit. So Peter and Gwen have started dating. I guess she finds his rakish charm attractive? As I’ve stated, they went through some lengths to show Peter was a nerd… There is one scene that does a great job at showing how nerdy and awkward Peter and Gwen are together. One of the problems with this scene is that it keeps going on… and on… and on. Yes, I get it that you like each other, and yes, I get it that you’re awkward. Enough is enough (ironically, the awkward scene had an awkward length, hah). In contrast to this, Peter’s first date with Gwen is a dinner with her entire family, including her father, a police captain (a little fast for nerds, don't you think?). This is where Peter gets into an argument with his girlfriend's father about how Spider-Man is just trying to help. After Peter gets excused from the table for fighting with his girlfriend’s father, he meets Gwen on the roof of the apartment building. Peter talks to Gwen for a while (it’s really awkward and annoying) then suddenly he turns into Joe Cool from Smooth-town who lives on Suave Street. He performs this move... It's really difficult to explain... but when did he become so suave and smooth? What nerd is this forward and smooth?

In the final act of the film, Spider-Man finally meets up with the mutated Connors, who has become the Lizard, and they have their showdown for the fate of New York. There isn’t a lot I had a problem with from this portion of the film, but there are certainly some issues that I have with it. Essentially, I agree with the review from the “How It Should Have Ended” people here. I found much of this final showdown enjoyable, it was more of Spider-Man doing his Spider-Man thing. However, it did bother me that Captain Stacy showed up to fight the Lizard alone with a gun when his officers had already shown such weapons to be ineffective. Apparently in this world, one guy with a shotgun trumps a dozen guys with assault rifles… who knew.

I realize that a lot of my criticisms of this film are nitpicks about the film... such as continuity problems. Some people may criticize me for this, but let me try to defend my opinion: I think nitpicking can be important. The movie makers for this film have gone through great lengths to establish a fictional world for us to get lost in, in the hopes that we will escape reality for a while (a great reason to watch movies). Studios will spend a bunch of money on things like props, graphics, sound effects... All of these things serve to build this bubble in which the world exists. When I watch a film and see something illogical, and that strikes me as unnatural for this world, the bubble breaks. It can be difficult to re-immerse myself in the world. As a result of this, it will harm my opinion of the film.

To conclude with what I think of this movie: it wasn't bad. I will definitely not say that this was a good movie, not by a long shot. Admittedly, I think it was better than the Tobey McGuire interpretation of Spider-Man. Many of the scenes involving Spider-Man were quite enjoyable, and they helped develop an infectious energy in the film. However, the movie was slow to get going, the buildup to Spider-Man was too drawn out to justify the slow scenes in the middle of the crazy fun spider scenes, and there were a couple of side story lines that I feel could have been eliminated. Ultimately, my verdict is this: good dollar theater movie, bad true theater movie. It would have been annoying to see this film after paying $10, but I was entertained enough by it to ignore sticky floors and a $1.50 price tag. I realize there is much more in this review that paints the film as a bad one, even though I feel that the movie isn't bad. The portrayal of Curt Connors was brilliant, and I truly enjoyed the actor who played him. Portions of the film were drawn-out and unnecessary, but for the majority of the film I was entertained... just not for all of it.

- Jack

Nitpicks Section!

- Why was Aunt May in this film? She didn't do anything, and she certainly didn't add to this film... she could have been totally removed from the film and nothing would have changed.

-Why did they have the homage to Spider-Man's luchadore days and do nothing with it?

-What kind of research lab allows their employees to wear mini-skirts, and allows visiting people to wear no safety equipment? They weren't even wearing safety glasses!

-Why would a system that wasn't intended to be a weapon have a vocal countdown that includes the phrase "xx seconds until detonation?"

-What kind of biological engineering or genetic manipulation involves complex mathematical functions?

-When Spider-Man shows up at the end with the crap beaten out of him, why does Aunt May forgive him suddenly because he hands her eggs?

-When Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy were standing in the hall talking to each other acting nerdy, there was no point in that where I believed people that good-looking could be nerds.