Generally speaking, we like superhero movies. Who doesn’t? But even we, fans of superheroes in general and Spiderman specifically, were a little skeptical when The Amazing Spider-Man was announced. Really? Didn’t we just have a Spiderman franchise? Is it time for another one? Also, when you have to put the word ‘Amazing’ in front of Spiderman in the title it’s a little worrying…. It is kind of like describing someone as a super Superhero. The fact that he is amazing does not have to be explicitly stated.
But despite these doubts, The Amazing Spider-Man turned out to be REALLY GOOD, you guys! We admit, we had our doubts about Andrew Garfield being a worthy Spiderman at first. Eduardo from The Social Network? As a superhero? Then we watched this:
YOU GUYS. Did you just watch that? And die of happiness? We know sometimes you don’t watch things that we say to but this one is seriously worth it. We even SQUEE’ed a little bit!! Over a SUPERHERO!!
So yeah, the movie. Once we saw Andrew Garfield talk about how much he loved Spiderman personally, it was pretty much set. We thought that he was absolutely fantastic in the movie Also this really awesome person, Emma Stone is in it. We love her.
Reasons Why This Is An Upgrade, Not a Reboot:
1.) Gwen Stacy. So like everyone else in the entire world, we absolutely love Emma Stone, and we were expecting to like her character as well. What we weren’t aware of was how much cooler she would be than Mary Jane. Gwen Stacy is smarter than Peter (she makes sure he knows that he’s number 2 in their high school class), has a family that loves her (as opposed to MJ’s weird situation and awful boyfriends), and saves the day herself multiple times (as opposed to MJ’s entire life). Gwen Stacy rocks, y’all, and we didn’t miss MJ a bit. Sorry, Kirsten Dunst.
2.) Martin Sheen!! OMG, guys. We want Uncle Ben to be our uncle! He is the best – so wise and so cool at the same time. Martin Sheen was hilarious and moving in his performance and we maybe teared up a little bit when he was killed….
3.) Andrew Garfield’s entire persona. Andrew Garfield really gets Spiderman in a way that it seems like many actors don’t understand superheroes. You can tell while watching that he’s fully immersed himself in Peter Parker’s life, and makes Peter Parker a real teenage boy in addition to being an awesome superhero–without being crazy angsty all of the time. Ahem, Tobey Maguire.
4.) Villain treatment. Instead of having like 20 plots going on, this movie sticks to one villain and one main plot. Not only is this easier for the viewer to follow, but it is also more fully developed. The villain in this movie is one that you can empathize with and understand. While still the pretty classic, ‘Mad-Scientist’ character, the writers and Rhys Ifans (previously known only to us as the unlikable character in The Five Year Engagement) added some depth to Dr. Conners and made the movie a lot better.
5.) Seeing Peter’s parents. You don’t really ever see why Peter Parker lives with his aunt and uncle in the previous Spiderman trilogy. In The Amazing Spider-Man, though, we get a whole opening with an absolutely adorable young Peter having to be left behind by his parents. Getting a complete backstory on Peter’s parents gave far more motivations to Peter, and made his feelings of abandonment (and delight in new superpowers) make way more sense.
In conclusion, we finally understood why they put ‘Amazing’ in the title. It helps people distinguish this AMAZING Spider-Man movie from the rather mediocre (but still successful) Spiderman franchise that came before it. This is definitely worth seeing, even for the 3-D price! With this movie, Andrew Garfield is becoming a real movie star, and you will definitely want to see it.
Related articles
- The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) (rantandravereviews.com)
- Tobey Maguire vs Andrew Garfield (makeverydaydday.wordpress.com)
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