The Amazing Spider-Man Review

From the second that this movie was announced, I was flustered and confused. I became the biggest critic of it for the longest time. I was a big fan of the first two movies and although the third one was crap I didn't think one bad movie in the series was enough to reboot the whole thing. Especially not after just five years since the most previous one. My thought was that they were going to have to blow it out of the park for this to be worth it and I honestly did not think that they could do it. Then the first couple of trailers came out and I still was convinced that this movie was going to fail. However, a month or two ago a different trailer came out, trailer  #3 I think it was and after watching that I was taken aback. The trailer really impressed me and for the first time in a few years the thought came to me that this might actually be a good movie. As the days moved on, my excitement level grew and grew to the point where I was really excited to see this movie. Early reviews came out that worried me a bit, but I was still committed to opening day and as it turns out there is one word that describes the newest Spider-Man reboot movie. And it's in the title. AMAZING! Now here's the million dollar quesiton: was it better than the original Spider-Man. My answer to that is yes. Read on to learn why.

Before I get into anything else, I want discuss the characters of Spider-Man and his girlfriend. Andrew Garfield gets the job as Spider-Man and Emma Stone gets the girlfriend job which in this version of Spider-Man is Gwen Stacy. How do they compare to Toby McGuire and Kirsten Dunst? Oh my, they totally blow them out of the water. Not even a competition. I personally think Andrew Garfield was born to play Spider-Man. Now I am not a complete expert in comic books, but I got my fair share of Spider-Man growing up and there is a certain personality that Spider-Man has. He is comical. He is witty. He is also a more of a nerdy kid as Peter Parker but in a cool and classy type of way. And when he is in Spidey mode, he is awesome and down to business. Toby McGuire kinda did a passing job filling this role, enough to make me satisfied, but Garfield has it down perfectly. He plays the role like he has been a huge Spider-Man fan his whole life and knows exactly how he is supposed to act. And his girlfriend Gwen Stacy? Oh my goodness I am so in love with Emma Stone after this performance. I'm not going to say that this is the best Superhero movie ever, but I do think that Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy has to be my new favorite Superhero girlfriend. A lot of the girlfriends in Superhero movies are semi useless. They can be dumb and naive, but when they aren't a lot of them don't add much to the film. They are just there for the romance and there to be helplessly saved. Some girlfriends do try to help but get themselves stuck in bad situations and need to be rescued. Then you have girlfriends like Gwen Stacy. Not saying she is the only one that is smart and helpful, but she is definitely one of a kind. Smart, quick, fun, helpful to the plot, doesn't just get stuck in dumb situations where she needs to be rescued by her hero. She is totally awesome. And way pretty, too. It also helps that Emma Stone is only two months older than myself. Her and Andrew Garfield definitely had great chemistry. The romance isn't forced at all like it often is in movies.

So built on the foundation of great lead characters, the story line is well done. We all know the story of Spider-Man, but this movie does a great job of going back to the original story of Spider-Man. Gwen Stacy was his first love, not Mary Jane. She came in later. Reptile was also one of the first villains faced and one who often reappears through the comic book history, so the movie is very true to the comic, much more so that the original trilogy. Which I didn't have much of a problem with, but after seeing what this movie did with the story, I am very pleased. Speaking of story, it did a fantastic job of developing the characters. Some superhero movies have this idea that you need to have as much action as possible, so the story is somewhat looked over in order for them to jump into the good stuff. Not here. The movie takes a long time to develop the characters and it is done in a fantastic way so that by the time we get to the action scenes, you have become emotionally invested in these characters rather than dragged along with the fun ride. It also keeps you guessing and wondering. It throws in the story line with his dad that has you wondering the whole movie. Also, and I know it's still really early to say this for sure, but in this series, whether it be a trilogy or more, I can already tell each movie is going to be different from the others, progressing the story and keeping you guessing. That's a problem that the other trilogy had. Each movie essentially had the same basic story line, which by the time the third one rolls around we are begging for something a bit new but don't get it.

The movie was also visually pretty. I saw it in 2D and loved it, but as I was watching I definitely noticed that it would've been a great 3D movie. Some scenes where Spidey is flying through town on his webs are just beautiful. The script I thought was fine. The music was fantastic. The acting was good all around, not just with Andrew and Emma. I honestly don't have a lot to complain about with this movie. It is very well done and I look forward to the sequel. Which by the way, don't leave at the start of the credits. There is an important scene during the credits that you will miss if you do. I give The Amazing Spider-Man a 9 out 10.