Review of The Amazing Spider-man

By Jim Noonan Media, 7th Jul 2012 | Follow this author | RSS Feed | Short URL http://nut.bz/1nzn60wb/
Posted in Wikinut>Reviews>Film & TV>Action

A review of the new Spiderman film. The 4th installment in the series

Review of The Amazing Spider-man

Should you see it? Yes

Named after the original comic book series that made Spiderman a household name, The Amazing Spider-man is a completely new telling of the story. The film begins at the Parker household years ago. Peter (Andrew Garfield) was just a little boy when his house was ransacked and his parent’s skipped town. Before they left, they took him to his Aunt May (Sally Field) and Uncle Ben's (Martin Sheen) house. Once they left they were never heard from again. It is now years later and we see Peter in high school. As always, he is a nerdy outcast. In this movie they played it a little differently, giving more of a grungy and mysterious demeanor. He has a major crush on Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), a sexy classmate. In a common schoolyard encounter we see Peter protecting the weak and standing up to the strong with Flash Thompson playing the bully. After school, Peter finds his dad's old attaché case in the basement. In it are all kinds of clues for Peter’s brilliant mind to ponder. He finds out that his dad was working with a man named Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans), a doctor of genetics. They were close colleagues and friends. They were working on a genetics project at OSCORP. Peter cons his way into OSCORP to find some answers. Once there he joins a tour and finds Dr. Connors working on cross species genetics. We notice Dr. Connors is missing half of his right arm-more on that later. Peter later sees a symbol that he saw in his father's attaché case and wanders off. He finds a room where spiders are making a lightweight organic cable. During this visit we also get a little side knowledge of Norman Osborn who is dying. At the end of his visit to OSCORP Peter gets bit by one of the genetically enhanced spiders that somehow made onto his jacket. Peter is very smart but the spider bite seems to make him even smarter and of course stronger and faster. Dr. Connors has never been able to finish his lifework-the project with Peter’s father. During the tour, Peter impresses Dr. Connors. They begin a mentor/mentee relationship. With information from his dad’s attaché case, Peter helps Dr. Connors finish his formula to re-grow his arm from lizard DNA. Did Dr. Connors or OSCORP have something to do with Mr. and Mrs. Parker’s disappearance? Will Peter and Gwen get together? Who will become the true villain in this movie?

I really liked this Spiderman. Like most, I had some reservations about this movie because I liked the Tobey Maguire version and it seemed too soon for a re-launch. After the screening, I felt all worries were put to rest. This version of the story made the 2002 version seem almost goofy. This movie is a slight revision of the original history of Spiderman but it still works for me. A great cast was assembled for this movie. Andrew Garfield is a way better actor than Tobey Maguire and Dennis Leary is wonderful as Gwen's father and police chief. Peter’s transformation into Spiderman is slower than the previous films but it works. There are few winks at the original Spiderman series and this movie has the best Stan Lee cameo yet. By the way, the lizard is badass. This movie kicks way more ass than the original and is better in every way.

Favorite Line
“Secrets have a cost, they're not for free”

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Meet the author

Jim Noonan Media
I am a former military officer and am now a retired disabled veteran. I devote my life to movies. I am on a never-ending search for film greatness.