Teen Entertainment Review: The Amazing Spider-Man

It's TommyTE here with a new Teen Entertainment Review!

As part of the Summer Superhero Smash-down, I am reviewing the excellent and highly anticipated summer blockbuster 'The Amazing Spider-Man', which beats 'The Avengers' by 0.2 points!

**Spoilers**

Rating: 4.7 out of 5

Review: Well finally it is here! The Amazing Spider-Man is in theaters now, and yes it is as amazing as it is described by its title! To begin the review, I'll start of by telling a little bit about my experience. So I viewed the film Tuesday night at around 9pm and the film is 2 hours and 20 minutes, so I ended up going to bed at around 12:30 am. The theater was packed with people of all ages, from the toddlers to the teens, adults, and senior citizens. Everyone in the audience enjoyed the film and all participated in applauds and laughs which made a great time! After coming out from the film, I knew that it already had top spot on the list of my fav. films. I call it the "the best Spidey ever!" The film had few flaws, and IMO, THE BEST FILM OF THE SUMMER SO FAR! I think it deserves to gross a lot more than the previous Spider-Man films, and I think many people just need to give it a chance. Right now the film is doing great but is not making as much as the previous films domestically, but it is making a ton more internationally! I'm going to make sure I get the chance to go see it another time before The Dark Knight Rises is released, because that is when this film will drastically drop in sales. 
If you're one of those people refuse to see it because it's a reboot, I beg you to give it a chance, and I guarantee, that you will choose The Amazing Spider-Man over Spider-Man, Marc Webb over Sam Raimi, Emma Stone over Kristen Dunst, and most importantly Andrew Garfield over Tobey Maguire. I will get into the Garfield vs Maguire thing later, but first I'll start off with the review of the story. To make this review easier to read and get through, I'll separate it into different sections. Story, Characters, Action, Tone, & Post-Credit Scene. Enjoy reading!





The Story: 

The Amazing Spider-Man starts off with a young Peter Parker who is staying with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben after something comes up that causes his parents to go away leaving Peter with his aunt and uncle...so we all know the Spider-Man story...well in this one, it's a little different. Peter's spider bit is not so much of an accident, and it has a lot to do with Peter's father. I'll get into that later, because right now I'm probably confusing those who have seen the film, who are going, "I didn't pick that up." Well aside from Peter becoming Spider-Man, the villain is introduced after Peter finds a bag that belonged to his father in the basement of his home. He looks through it and finds out information about Dr. Connors. Well Dr. Connors is a scientist who works at the Oscorp Tower, owned by Norman Osborn (who we'll get a lot into in the Post-Credit Scene section). Dr. Connors and Peter's father we're going to "save the lives of millions" by creating something called "cross-species genetics", that involved a substance that would link together different species. In present day, Dr. Connors continues to work on the project with another employee at Oscorp Tower, Dr. Ratha. When Peter visits Dr. Connors, he helps him figure out a formula to the cross-species genetics project. Once Peter does figure out the correct formula, Dr. Connors tests it on an armless rat and finds the rat to be healthy again. During all of this Peter is growing a romantic relationship with Gwen Stacy played by Emma Stone, and gradually becoming the Amazing Spider-Man.
Later in the film, Dr. Connors refuses to begin human trials with the cross species cure, after being pressured by Dr. Ratha. Dr. Ratha explains that if human trials do not begin, a dying Norman Osborn won't survive. Later Connors tests the cure on himself and wakes up with a newly grown arm. Instead, the cross species cure only continues to work on Connors, turning him into the Lizard. The Lizard attacks New York searching for Dr. Ratha, and Spidey comes to the rescue.
Eventually Peter discovers The Lizard's identity and the Lizard discovers Spidey's identity. The Lizard begins to develop a different mind from Dr. Connors, and forces Connors into plotting the idea of turning every civilian in New York to Lizards. The Lizard is attacked by SWAT soldiers, and uses a gas to turn them into Lizards, then works his way up to the Oscorp Tower to launch a chemical cloud that'll spread the "cure" around the city. By the end of the film Spider-Man has stopped the Lizard and put Connors into his right mind, but winning only to have lost several close ones throughout the film.

I give the story a 3 out of 5 because it was new, different from Sam Raimi's story, and different from the comic about the Lizard. The story wasn't just new, but it was different and exciting!

But there were elements that I think should have made the cut but did not, which I will discuss very soon. I also think that the part in the film where the Lizard gasses a few of the SWAT soldiers who attack him was an opportunity to bring in more Lizards and action. Something that was under-done and under-used.
What bothers me the most are the story elements that were not included in the film...or rumored to not be included in the film...

Now there are things that are left out of the film, that are rumored to have revealed the "Untold Story" about Peter's parents. Lines that were not in the movie are, "If you want the truth about your parents Peter, come and get it", "Do you really think what happened to you was an accident", "This life is not an easy one...". All of these quotes would have lead us to the truth about Peter's parents and his spider bite.

It's rumored that his spider bite was not an accident, and Dr. Ratha was the person who opened the door that lead to the room filled with radioactive spiders. Dr. Ratha, Connors, and Peter's father may have planned it. Well not him becoming a superhero, but him having these abilities. They were most likely testing the "cure" on him after Richard Parker tempered with young Peter. The reason behind this is because Peter's father tweaked with Peter's genetics when he was very young, which is why we see the spider in the glass in the beginning of the film when Peter's parents are fleeing. It's rumored that a few deleted scenes contained a lot of this information, (and the quotes) but they were cut from the final film due to Sony executives not liking the idea. It's all a rumor though. I do believe that the spider bite was not an accident though. How else would Peter have survived the spider bite? He would've turned into a giant spider like how Connors turned into a giant Lizard. It's because there is something that is in Peter's blood, from his father tempering with him at a very young age. 
I don't believe that the scenes and idea were deleted from the film due to the Sony executives, but I believe that the producers decided to hold on with the idea, so they'd have more plots for the sequels to come. It was around June when they announced that the film would have a sequel, and the writers of Star Trek would pen the script. I think the writers decided to cut it out of the first film, to have more of a story in the second film. Also, in a scene where Peter's truth is revealed, Dr. Ratha is supposedly killed. In the video game (which is set after the film) it is said that the Lizard killed Dr. Ratha.

I think a reason why the decided to cut Ratha's death from the film, was to keep him for future films. In the comics, he becomes Proto-goblin, who is the goblin before Norman Osborn (the Green Goblin). I find it hard to see Ratha as a villain, but it all makes sense.

Either a director's cut will be released, the deleted scenes will come with the Blu-ray, or we won't ever see the deleted scenes due to the idea being carried over into a sequel. I personally think that we won't ever see the deleted scenes (only the four that don't affect the story), and the idea will be carried over into a sequel. To back this up, the producers did confirm that Peter's truth about his parents will be revealed through the trilogy (it has also been confirmed to have at least three films.)

Characters:


I don't have to say much about the characters because every actor played and portrayed their character perfectly. Andrew Garfield...he defies Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man. Everything Andrew did was what you'd expect from Peter Parker. He's a nerd, underdog, he's confident, he's obsessed with science, etc. There's nothing else to it. Andrew Garfield is 100% Peter Parker and Spider-Man. He plays Spider-Man a lot more realistically than Tobey Maguire, and he plays Peter Parker perfectly! Andrew had the laughs, the comedic part of Spidey and was very fit for the part. Tobey Maguire had none of that (in the third film he was very fat.)
Emma Stone also did an awesome job as Gwen Stacy. Gwen Stacy is a high school nerd like Peter and she works at Oscorp Tower along with Dr. Connors. Emma Stone does a great job as Spider-Man's love interest, and I think that the relationship Peter and Gwen is perfectly paced with the film.
I love Emma's performance a lot because unlike Kristen Dunst, she wasn't a damsel on distress at all. Emma Stone played a very strong and intelligent Gwen Stacy, whereas Kristen Dunst played a Mary Jane who (in Spider-Man 2 and 3) was captured by the end of the movie. I can only think, Give me a break, when I hear Dunst scream for help. Gwen Stacy actually did something. She wasn't just a love interest, she helped Peter cook an antidote, and she knew when to get out of the way, whereas Mary Jane just got in the way! And I don't think anybody else could play Gwen Stacy better than Emma Stone.

Flash Thompson certainly had a more important and major role than he did in the 2002's Spider-Man. It's very interesting to see Flash and Peter start off as high school enemies (in this case Flash is the bully) and by the end of the film become buds. Chris Zylka did a great performance as Flash Thompson and I hope to see him the sequels. Speaking of Flash and Norman Osborn, they're gonna have to introduce Harry in the sequel since they continuously mention Norman's name, which obviously means the Green Goblin is going to appear in the upcoming films. Maybe Pete, Harry, and Flash could be a trio.

Anyway, I think Martin Sheen did an outstanding job as Ben Parker. Honestly, I can't imagine a better Uncle Ben than Martin Sheen. The relationship between Peter and Uncle Ben is very realistic and many people of the audiences can relate to it. Denis Leary also did a better job than James Cromwell as portraying Captain Stacy, along with Rhys Ifans playing Curt Connors/The Lizard better than Dylan Baker.

The acting receives a 4.7 out of 5 because the actors did a near perfect job of playing the characters. I feel that nobody can play Peter Parker, Gwen Stacy, and Ben Parker, better than Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, and Martin Sheen.

Action:


As you all know, I am a huge action film fan! For this movie, the action was very outstanding. I would say it beats the Avengers. The Avengers isn't a perfect film like everyone thinks it is. Now wait, I say this because the action looked very realistic and un-choreographed, and it made for a very believable action film. In the Avengers, everything looks too choreographed and planned out, where it looks fake. For example, in the scene where the Lizard breaks into the school through the bathroom, the action doesn't look planned out or rehearsed at all. Spider-Man swinging from the Lizards punches and hopping onto ceilings. It all looks so real. I mean we know it isn't real, but it just looks very real.

The action isn't just spectacular because it looks very realistic, it's spectacular because you feel like your in the action. The idea of following Spider-Man and watching the action from his POV is a very swift idea. Marc Webb knows when those shots should happen and when they shouldn't. He knows when to shoot a scene away from Spider-Man and follow Spider-Man. He also knows when to bring thrills and laughs that go perfectly paced with the action...cough...Stan Lee's cameo...cough.

This film's action beats the action in Spider-Man 1, 2, and 3 and I'd say it's one of the best action films of the year. I do believe that the action is the best out of all the films in the franchise, because it's very realistic, thrilling, exciting, and at times breath-taking!

The actions gets a 5 out of 5!

Tone:


The tone of the film was very dark at times, which is something I was anticipating. The dark tone is something I love from this film because it helps present the film to be very realistic and mature. I think the tone of the film was perfect and I think it matches the story, reboot, and sequels perfectly.
I also think the score went very well with the tone. At first I was disappointed after listening to a preview of the score, but after watching the film, the score has really grown on me, and I love it a lot more than I did the other films' scores.

So I give the entire film a 4.7 out of 5 and I believe it is "the best Spidey ever!"
If you refuse to see this film because you won't accept that it's a reboot, I beg you to give it a chance, and I guarantee, that you will choose The Amazing Spider-Man over Spider-Man, Marc Webb over Sam Raimi, Emma Stone over Kristen Dunst, and most importantly Andrew Garfield over Tobey Maguire. I recommend it and think it's the best summer blockbuster so far! I'm very satisfied with the film and I demand a sequel, haha!


Post your review or opinions below! (Stay tuned after the jump for the Post Credit Scene review).


-Thanks, TommyTE!

Post Credit Scene-->>

Post Credit Scene:


In the Post Credit Scene, we see Dr. Connors arriving to a secured jail. While he is in jail, lightning flashes and a man wearing a coat and holding a hat (titled as Man in Shadows) arrives. The man asks Connors if he told the boy (Peter) about his father. Connors replies no, (hints at plot for sequel) and lightning strikes, then the man disappears.
In an interview with director Marc Webb, Webb was asked who the "Man in Shadows" is. He was asked if it is Norman Osborn, and Webb didn't answer, instead he simply said he "invites speculation."
Well we obviously know its Norman Osborn because one, he is mentioned throughout the film, two Marc Webb didn't say "yes" or "no" which means "yes", and three the "Man in Shadows" is wearing a trench coat and a hat. Thanks to Youtube user Spiderman2o29 we have speculation about Norman Osborn that tells us about his persona. Norman Osborn hides in shadows in the comics, in the comics he disguised himself wearing a coat and a hat, and in the end what is he wearing?

What do you think?

Comment below and check out Spiderman2o29's (great channel BTW) video for more info on the Post-Credit Scene.