The Amazing Spider-man

When Peter Parker discovers his father’s old briefcase, and within it, clues to the research he’d done before his untimely death, curiosity takes him to Ozcorp to find the scientist who worked with him. In his explorations though, he’s bitten by a genetically modified spider, and things… well, things go awry, as they usually do in that sort of instance.

My Thoughts:

Snarky Spidey is what I remember and love as a child of the 90s who watched the cartoon. I appreciate that he’s quiet and seemingly mild mannered without the suit on, but slowly comes out of his shell as the film went on. I did love the direct references and nods to the comic/cartoon. They were complete fan service and I loved every second of it.

Pony Boy! What are you doing on a bridge in NYC? (and thank you for not continuing to dye your hair blond.

The character of Flash kept confusing me, for the simple fact of his name. I kept thinking, tie in to another film, and then remembering that the Flash was from DC and so that would have been an impossible crossover. It was mildly distracting.

Denis Leary is wonderful as Captain Stacy. It felt rather removed from what I’m used to seeing him in, and that was wonderful. And I totally believed him as Emma Stone’s father – and as the daughter of a police officer, I felt like his portrayal was completely spot on.

The funniest part of the movie was when the Lizard shows up at the high school, and Spidey’s just managed to do a full wrap on him to keep him contained for a moment, and he tells Gwen he’s going to throw her out the window. Her reaction (to his words and subsequently being thrown out the window) were hilarious.

I had a problem with the fact that the quest to find Uncle Ben’s Killer is completely forgotten. It’s one of those things, where I know that in real life, you do sometimes set aside something that consumed you for something else, but it felt like a total let down when there was no mention of it after the bridge scene.

One thing that I really appricate about the Lizard as a villain is that his initial motivations are good. He wants to cure people, he wants to help them, but because of corporate greed (and perhaps a bit of inevitable mortality) he’s pushed to do something radical, and then he begins a slow spiral into madness. It’s a classic case of good guy gone bad. However, in that vein, it bothers me that after the bridge scene, the corporate guy disappears from the movie’s plot.