The Amazing Spider-Man review
Marc Webb's at the helm of the newly rebooted Amazing Spider-Man, but is it any good? Here's Simon's review...
Rest assured, those of you who had big problems with Spider-Man 3, and complained about it loudly on the Internet. there's a studio executive somewhere who seemingly read every review, every blog post and every complaint. And, crucially, listened.
As such, for The Amazing Spider-Man, its focus is down to one villain. There are no moments of utter madness. The running time is still long, but the film zaps along as fast as it can so you don’t notice. It’s a straight three act story, constructed properly, that’s coherent from start to finish.
It’s also, by distance, the least confident superhero movie we’ve seen in some time. It tries so hard to be a full-on reboot, to avoid the mistakes of old, that it seems frightened to go anywhere near what the previous trilogy covered, outside of the material it absolutely has to.
It starts quite promisingly. It’s clear in quick time that Andrew Garfield is a great choice for the role. He can act, he’s an engaging screen presence, and he has an emotional range that serves the journey Peter Parker goes through well. It’s a good job, though, that we already knew how excellent an actress Emma Stone is, as her Gwen Stacy simply isn’t given the screen time she and her character richly deserve.
It’s Stacy, after all, who’s quickly drawn to the nerdy Peter Parker here, and it seems almost refreshing at first that their relationship doesn’t have to go through a prolonged ‘he’s a boy who could never talk to a girl like her’ phase. Instead, they’re brought together quickly, and it’s here where the choice of (500) Days Of Summer director Marc Webb proves inspired. At any point when the focus is on Peter and Gwen, or Peter’s relationship with his Uncle Ben (played in screen-gobbling style by Martin Sheen), there’s a clear sense that he knows just what he’s doing, and how best to do it. The film is at its best here.
When we eventually get to Spider-Man though, things go wrong. Not longer after the mask is pulled on, it’s as if the filmmakers have lost interest. Whereas the movie is patient when it’s dealing with human beings in a high school, when it has to take the superhero path, it loses its footing. Suddenly, it feels like we’re entering scenes as late as we can, and getting out early, rushing through to the next bit of the story.
Not that the story itself is much help. It’s utterly linear, from start to finish. If there’s a problem to solve, then there’s a helpful piece of paper with something circled never a million miles away, or a name tag, or a screen poised on a helpful, expository video. So determined is the film to prioritise coherence at any price, it sacrifices surprise, a generous dose of excitement, and a simple willingness to let us watch Spider-Man at work. The only real exception is in the early stages. It’s a standard genesis story we get, but in a scene where the newly-created webslinger apprehends a car thief, there’s a patience and sense of fun and mischief that’s all but missing from the rest of the movie.
Sadly, the no-risks policy brings with it further casualties. We were promised that this would be the film where Peter Parker finds out a lot more about his parents. That we’d get a rawer take on the character, given his younger age. These are promises that, at best, have barely been kept. Gone, too, is much of the humour. A pity, because some of the lighter lines that did make it work really well.
And we’ve not even got to The Lizard. Rhys Ifans is a really good actor, but he never stands a chance here. Buried under one of the most unconvincing, depressing CG monstrosities of recent cinema, it’s hard to know where to start. His genesis is equally brisk – Dylan Baker’s face if he ever sees the film would be a picture – and his execution is poor. That he has to spout out dialogue while buried under unconvincing computer graphics simply makes it worse.
Appreciating that this has so far been a collection of grumbles, there are positives. While most of the action is forgettable, some of the chase sequences work really well. The small snippets of Denis Leary we get are welcome, and no matter how ordinary his surroundings get, Garfield especially (and Stone, when she gets any space) really delivers. There are points where Marc Webb hits the mark, too, although you never, ultimately, get the feeling that this was his film.
Instead, The Amazing Spider-Man, sadly, feels like the kind of computer game where the characters all come alive when you enter the room, and freeze the moment you leave. There’s never a sense of a living world. Instead, it’s a place where security is breezed past, where questions aren’t asked, and where life-changing events don't feel like they have deep, ongoing emotional ramifications, outside of putting a different outfit on.
It’s a disappointment. Had it been braver, and been willing to sacrifice yet more of the Spider-Man side in place of a more determined Peter Parker-centric story, then there would arguably have been a more interesting film here. That, or it could have committed to, and enjoyed, its superhero status. It doesn't do either of those things, though.
As it is, it never escapes its boardroom shackles. With a sequel just two years away, it suggests some serious challenges in the months ahead to really find the courage this movie is lacking in.
It’s not then, ultimately, comparisons to the Sam Raimi movies that damage The Amazing Spider-Man, nor the fact that it follows The Avengers into cinemas by a couple of months (although you’d imagine that if either Raimi or Joss Whedon had been sent this script, they’d have sent it straight back). It’s just that it’s scared. And for too much of the film’s running time, it simply can't hide it. A steadfast, ordinary film, then, and quite a disappointing one.
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Are we just in a bad mood at the moment DoG with your reviews for highly anticipated films? First Prometheus and now Spider-Man, both 2 stars. From what I've read in most reviews the general opinion is both films are quite strong, just not as great or perfect as we'd like.
I'm not much of a comic-book fan, so will probably wait for the Blu-ray before I see it, but I can't help but feel this is another occasion where there's been far too much hype, so its been a bit of a let down and not as great as trailers and pre-release material have made it out to be.
I haven't seen either of the movies so I can't say but most of my friends who went to see Prometheus were deeply disappointed. Visually stunning and an excellent performance by Michael Fassbender but that was pretty much it, that's the general consesus among my friends. Yes, there were people who loved it it but most called it over-hyped.
dog was spot on with prometheus, and im sure the same is true with spidey,
As soon as I saw The Lizard, I decided I wasn't going to bother seeing the film. He looks exactly like a Koopa Troopa from the Super Mario Brothers film.
Well that's my point, both films have been over-hyped and so many have been deeply disappointing. Had there not been any or as much hype then the opinions could have been very different.
As I said though, based on most reviews and the general audience, Prometheus got a fairly solid approval rating (just check out RT). It just seems to be from the core fan-base that it's a disappointment because it was so over-hyped and I have a feeling Spider-Man will be the same.
This is just another example of why I hate it when films are over-hyped, because the core fan-base almost always seem to be disappointed, even if the film isn't actually as bad as people make it out to be.
I'm saddened that ASM has got a poor reveiw on DoG but if that what deserves then so be it. As for DoG being in a bad mood Prometheus got exactly what deserved. God knows it put me in a bad mood too! However is every Super hero movie now going judged against the Avengers? Will the comparisons die down after Bat
Man or will this go on until the next Avengers movie?
I'm not surprised by this review at all - if they can't come up with a new story for Spiderman, rather than re-hashing the origin story, then they deserve every bad review they get. Hopefully, it will bomb and Sony will hand the rights back to Marvel, so we can get a decent Spiderman film for once!
Yes, I noticed the 73% freshness at RT unfortunatley, it didn't translate into a box office success. So far, it earned "only" $266 mil. worldwide. SWATH has 49% at RT and is at $308 mil. Looks like the general public doesn't care what critics say, word of mouth seems to rule there.
Well it was very successful in the UK, it was #1 for 3 or 4 weeks. I know in the US it was less of a successful, probably because Snow White had a head start there, but I wouldn't say it was unsuccessful.
Are we absolutely, totally sure that the photo at the top isn't a screenshot from the video game? If it's from the film, it's not a great sign.
I never noticed much hype for Prometheus, and I think people either enjoy a film or they don't. Prometheus is a poor cartoon in an interesting universe. Im looking forward to this new SpiderMan as I was very dissapointed with the last intro - Toby Maguire is a poor spiderman with the annoying genetic addition of "webs from wrists" and downplay of his genius. This new Peter Parker looks much closer to the comics, it will be a real shame if the story is completely by the numbers with dodgy CGI.
I don't think hype hurt Prometheus. I think it disappointed the people who paid attention to it and noticed the under developed characters that behaved strangely (particularly Rafe Spall who's character seemed like a completely different person in his final scene to those leading up to it), the underwhelming plot and the uneven tone. It's not that it's the worst film ever, it's just that it isn't good.
If the problem is that people were expecting it to be good and it isn't, I suppose you could blame the hype. But if I didn't think a film had the potential to be good, I wouldn't go see it. I think people who weren't bothered by these problems, probably weren't expecting much and took it on a scene by scene basis. Viewed as a whole, Prometheus has problems.
To be fair, our review is comfortably the lowest-scored one I've seen. I'd also imagine lots of people will like the film. I didn't, though, and that's nothing to do with the hype or otherwise. It was simply, for me, an unambitious, routine blockbuster movie, that rarely excited. To be clear: that's nothing to do with our mood: we genuinely go into every film wanting to like it!
Most of the Prometheus hype that I saw came from DoG, who inflated it to such epic proportions that neither their own reviewer nor their regular readers could possibly feel satisfied by the end result (except, apprarently, my wife & I, who largely loved it). Leaving the script and character behaviour aside for a moment, Prometheus wasn't helped by the immediate reaction of the massively thick demographic, who quickly got the "It's crap" message out there for all the wrong reasons i.e. by not understanding that it's not set on LV-426, doesn't lead directly into Alien etc... you know, things which you'd think people would grasp from such an apparently over-promoted film.
Oh yeah, Spiderman... don't care. Feel a bit sorry for Andrew Garfield though.
It's time for DoG to split into two sites, or 'warring factions' to support the polarized views of their readers. I'll go to the site that thinks Prometheus is excellent and hates the fact that a sequel could be in jeopardy whilst we have FOUR effin' Marvel films on the slate for the next two years in addition to the twenty billion that have come out recently.
All hail The Disappointing Spider-Man
Prometheus was the epitome of a 2 star movie. Glossy, well-acted...but pompous, nonsensical and irritating. Nothing that I've seen of Spider-man so far, reassure me that this won't similarly underwhelm.
Looks like Dredd will be the sleeper genre movie of the year then!
I'm not criticizing your opinion, far from it because I respect everyone's opinions where valid and justified, just that with all the positive stuff you had going for it before release it was a bit of a shock reading your review.
I liked Prometheus, but didn't think it was as great or grand as it could have been. I just think 2 stars is a bit harsh all things considered, I would have given it 3 or 7/10.
It wasn't nonsensical or irritating. I don't think it was pompous either, actually. I don't know how a film can be pompous. I thought it was quite vicious, building up the grand idea of our origins, just to turn them into what appears to be an experiment by a violent and merciless species. Come on now, Mr Bisley, even Mr Pegg enjoyed it.
So this is rubbish too eh? Like the disappointment of Prometheus. I find I dont really care its not very good, because I always thought rebooting Spiderman already was a greedy, unwise thing to do. It just did not need a reboot so soon. The 2002 film was great, so was the second film, they should have left it alone for another 10 years at least and then done a Batman begins style reboot. Or just made another spiderman film with another actor and not done another orgin story. I hope it bombs. Part of me wants it to do well though because I like to see super hero storys on the big screen, but not at the expense of plot and character. However despite any bad reviews it may get I am sure lots of people will still go and see it. I hope Batman 3 is a good film! Otherwise that will be three hyped films that have not been very good in one year!
This site is dumb......such an amazing Film....n only 2 stars.....shame on uh....close this site....:-(
Don't Go with this Review.....the film earns 4stars....it's a musst watch.....this site is just#######...........MUSST WATCHHH!!!
Spidey Rockzzz
Revise ur review......first go n watch the film...ok......srry fr my cmmnts below:-)
It was pompous because, as you say it was built on "grand ideas" but with little substance to back this up. If this film had appeared in 1978 would people be remotely interested in sequels, prequels and spin-offs? I doubt it.
And who's this Mr Pegg fellow?
Yeah, it's not like that Avengers movie was even popular or made any money, was it? Oh...wait....
Based on the video game comparison in the interview, I think the use of a video game Spider-Man pic is intentional.
Agreed. It's a fascinating modern phenomena I've seen. When "fans" of any type hype something up in their head, and it turns out to be a disappointment, then a lot of them bend over backwards somehow trying to realign reality with their predetermined expectations. Oh god, how many STAR WARS fans freaked out trying to defend the Phantom Menace. To this day, I'm still stunned by those types of fans. PROMETHEUS was just another in a long line of Lindelof-fueled quasi-philosophical, insta-depth stories that never tackle anything with substantial insight, glossed up in Scott's expensively aimless ALIENS universe.
The sad truth is, no one wants to face the reality they should have stopped with ALIENS. Everything after has been various Hollywood methods of trying to squeeze more blood from this one-note stone.
IMO, of course. ;)
"As it is, it never escapes its boardroom shackles." As readily apparent by the incredibly average trailers. I also love the insinuation that Peter is portrayed as a "loner" by the fact that he rides a skateboard in various scenes. Naturally, this would be what someone in a boardroom thinks of as "rebellious" and a "loner". I can just hear the conversation now... "Hey, let's put him in a hoodie! That way, everyone will know he's emo as well and feels their pain! BOX OFFICE GOLD! $$$$$ !"
LOL! ;)
Yes he does. And this film insults him.
Learn to spell and then they might close this site for you. ;)
I saw this film last week and I absolutely loved it, much more than any of the Sam Raimi films...
It kind of seems like lately this site just falls away from hype on purpose. Especially seeing how this film has hardly gotten negative reviews. It's almost as if they want to hate the movie before seeing it.
Another summer tentpole movie scoring 2 out of 5.Shit.Sounds like they should have ditched the origin reboot and just had a straight up adventure.I mean surely Spiderman has some good stories up his sleeve(ahem) that don't involve being bitten by a spider.
Totally agree, the Alien series should have ended with ALIENS.I was hoping Prometheus would have been good so there would have been a good trilogy in the series and delete everything from Alien3 onwards.
From the review, 2 stars sounds a little harsh? I was expecting a 3 at worst when reading
If you liked the muddled mess that is Prometheus and hate The Avengers, I think you should get your own site too. Now get back to watching Battlefield Earth or your prequel marathon...
That would make sense if they didn't rate avengers highly but they did, I guess it must just be a bad film from a greedy studio that didn't want the spiderman rights to expire!
Ill take this review with a pinch of salt me thinks... as Simon Brew's articles often have an air of "I'm holier than you" about them. All other reviews have been very positive so far in other places.
Never saw the Avengers, so can't have said I hated it can I? Seen a few Marvel films in the last decade though and they were all banal and dull. Never seen Battlefield Earth either, for that matter. You should get over to the Daily Mail website, where commenters similarly like to extrapolate facts about other commenters purely from their own minds. It really is meaningless.
Yep, one massive hit justifies all the lesser films, that's just the way it is. But it irks me that Prometheus opened a week later in the US than the UK, and has under-performed over there, relatively speaking. I would put some of that down to all those "It's crap" reviews from people who didn't understand it. "It's crap" reviews from people who didn't like it are fair enough, but an awful lot of the early comments that I saw were from people who didn't understand why it didn't set up Alien, therefore didn't like it.
i was never going to see this anyway! i was boycotting it from the moment it was announced! not that my £9 would do a lot anyway but its worth a try! why couldn't they make spiderman 4 with different actors?
I'm pretty happy with the extended cut of Alien 3. I stop short of including Alien Resurrection, written by the esteemed Mr Joss "Avengers" Whedon. He did say that nothing much was changed, that it just wasn't made right. Well Mr Whedon, that means you wrote those awful lines, ricocheting bullets, super-Ripley, and the Newborn... and dusted of your well-worn template for a ragtag, wise-cracking bunch of 'kewl' characters.
I'll happily include Prometheus in the Alien series, pending sequels which complete the arc. No reality realigning was necessary, and I'm happy to reject films from a series... no T3 or Matrix 2 & 3 for me.
Can I just add, no Phantom Menace either, if I have to watch the prequels it's via the Machete order. Sorry Darth Maul, you've been erased from history.
That's a shame but I guess it might be a good thing in the long run as seeing Spider-man go to Disney-Marvel will be really awesome.
but what about a site for the people who like superhero movies and flawed sci-fi movies? can't we just all get along? :D
i enjoyed a lot about Prometheus and will always support ambitious sci-fi, whether it is executed well or not. but to be fair, the people who were angry at Prometheus had more than legitimate cause.
ah, but there are so many "realities". I like most of the Alien movies, the only one i don't care for, despite my being a cameron cheerleader, is Aliens. I would argue it is the only alien sequel that was trying to squeeze profit. the other two tried to tell interesting challenging stories.
i would add to the "to be fair" argument, what can a spiderman movie be except a routine blockbuster? what exactly is the audience expecting?
As opposed to ALIENS 3, ALIEN RESURRECTION, and ALIENS vs PREDATOR I & II ?? You're kidding, right?
No!
Your posts are meaningless.
I don't disagree at all there chief. My key, on-going gripe with the Prometheus situation is that it got a lot of stick early on for ridiculous reasons... people who didn't know where it was set despite being told on the screen... who complained that the Space Jockey was in the wrong position at the end to lead into Alien. I separate that from people who had a problem with the script, which is fair enough. But the message was out there within days that it was rubbish and confusing, and some (but not all) of that criticism was from people who couldn't take in basic facts. I fear that some viewers in the US may have been put off going because of the 'stupid' criticism, as well as the 'valid' criticism.
Hello anybody in?!Don't care for Aliens?!How embarrassing for you.
thank you Oz, you demonstrate my point that there are differing opinions. i am not actually familiar with the predator films so i have no comment. i did however enjoy the two alien sequels that were made by visionary auters, one exploring an exestential story about personal meaning in life, and the other being a streioght up, for the first time with the Alien franchise, sci-fi story.
I realize how offensive this opinion is to Alien fanboys. a horror movie was ok, and an action gunfest movie was ok, but branching out from that was terribly distressing to the core fanbase. i totally get that and have heard the message. i am simply stating that there are a variety of opinions on these films. i guess i would be niggling too if i brought up box office receipts or dvd sales as data that some people liked those films.
man, you are no fun to bring to a party. i think you may have to stay at home and pontificate at your action figures.
i don't hate Aliens, i just recognize it as a bland, generic action movie. you can cum on it as many times as you like, and it will still remain just that.
I loved Aliens as a teenager, but when I finally got round to watching the Quadrilogy earlier this year I felt a bit like you do about it. Enjoyable, but mostly just as a big, dumb action romp.
It performed badly in the US because of bad reviews from UK cinema-goers or critics who weren't smart enough to understand the film. Have I got that right?
So anyone who didn't like Prometheus isn't smart enough to understand it?Have I got that right?
LOL Sorry mate.Prometheus is a strong feelings kidney no matter which way you slice it.
That's blown my mind, you've done me up a treat there, old sport.
You're pushing against an open door here. I liked it a lot. I couldn't believe the trashing it got. I disagree with the people who said it was rubbish, but if it's a matter of taste then fine. Some of the criticism was pure stupidity about facts, rather than opinions, which was frustrating and ridiculous. I'm sure that some of the unjustified criticism must have impacted ticket sales somewhat.
That's quite literally not what I said. You've taken a partial element of my comment and enlarged it, as well you know.
6 dislikes but no replies. I suppose it's because I took his holiness's name in vain. There's 6 hungry mouths willing to smooch your bone, Mr Whedon.
6 dislikes and no replies:Guess we ain't feelin ya posts dawg.
There's 6 hungry mouths willing to smooch your bone, Mr Whedon.
Don't worry Rhodes DKR is going to score high.
Cant wait for that.Apparently ASM is doing big business at the box office so a sequel is a virtually guaranteed.Not seen this yet.Despite Dens review ,I'm still a bit excited about this coz the trailers look great on my new TV : )
One can only hope
Vic Armstrong was gushing on Aint it Cool about real stunt work in this picture and I've not read an Interview anywhere that has mentioned anything but CGI.
I'm not a Spidey fan but I find a reboot after just 5 years extremely lazy and uninspiring. I hope Warners learn from this and give us an older more grizzled Bruce Wayne when they reboot Batman.
My dream casting would be Treat "The Substitute II,III and IV" Williams.
Hey folks, TREAT gotta Eat!
ummm wasnt this supposed to be our year, 2012 the year that delivered geek centric film after another, what apart from the avengers has delivered on the massive marketing hype surrounding them???
this is the problem with critics, you are being to overly critical. this is the problem with movies. you cant please everyone. i thought avengers was good entertainment but you can find a lot of flaws in it as well. but then again it doesn't matter. what matters is you walk out of the movie and you feel good about it.
quoting your words "It’s a disappointment. Had it been braver, and been willing to sacrifice
yet more of the Spider-Man side in place of a more determined Peter
Parker-centric story". what do you mean by being braver? go and make your own movie!
simon, you're review is the worst ever. i loved the movie and i think it's quite good. its a good decision to reboot it.
this movie was release in asia. The amazing spiderman is a 2 thumbs up movie.
a real spiderman attitude. lizard they make a bit change of lizard. but maybe they make lizard look like that because the comic base lizard is quite far from realistic..
but still i love this new spiderman
From what I've seen the design is similar to the original Ditko one.
Like Marvel did a great job with the new Spider-Man cartoon?!
Why is a screenshot from the game attached to this film review?
damn lizard looks a lot like them koopa troopas from 80's the movie
It was a genuine question - didn't mean to misconstrue. FWIW I think the makers have to take a portion of blame for the is it / isn't it a prequel confusion.
in DoG nobody can hear you scream
It's going to be a trilogy.. have a bit of patience maybe?
This film did not deserve a mere 2 stars..
After all the garbage I've been having to put up with from Raimi, this was a refreshign change to see Spider-Man done properly. Was t he film flawless? No, and it did feel rushed in some parts. But the CGI wasn't -the- worst thing I've seen. Certainly better than Raimi's The Plastic Goblin.
All in all I'd give this 3 and a half out of 5, 7 and a half out of 10.
'Most of the action is forgettable' - completely untrue, the action is spectacular, I liked the Raimi films too but the fight sequences in this version really show how far effects have progressed, they were astonishing. Yes the plot isn't overly ambitious, it's a standard Spidey-fest, but it has the same feel as the comics. Also remember it has to cater for kids - anyone going in expecting Nolan-esque depth of plot is an idiot, this is one the whole family can enjoy. Saying that, some of the Lizard scenes are genuinely jumpy. I thought it was brilliant fun, a must for Spider-man fans who're up for some web-slinging excitement.
This reviewer is needlessly harsh, I was also very disappointed with Prometheus but it's painfully obvious that 'Amazing Spider-Man' and 'Prometheus' are at least 3 Star films. You're review doesn't read like a 2 star review, if you are going to give something 2 stars write a review that reflects that score.
I thought it was awesome, you expect way too much from a superhero movie. You said it lacked humour? If anything there was too much comedy! And the action scenes were far from forgettable but they still didn't compare to the doc ock fights. Nothing ever will. In life. Harsh review mate. Way too harsh.
You're an idiot. You probably didn't like the avengers because there wasn't enough romance or you didn't get to see thor's dick. Queer.
I saw this last night - and I have to say this review is spot on. The Sam Raimi movies, in particular the first 2, pretty much nailed the Spider Man story in my opinion. This one seemed to miss the mark in several areas. Peter Parker was too cocky and moody for my liking, not 'geeky' enough. There was never any sense of impact with any of the big scenes - what do the public think about Spider-man, are people scared to go out because of the Lizard sightings, are the criminals of the city terrified? Who knows, we never get to find out. On the plus side, Emma Stone is fantastic. I can't help feeling this remake is way way too early. I'll give the sequel a chance though.
Just saw it: loved it! Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are awesome. A bit
slow at the beginning with the origin story but the webslinging,
Parker/Ben and romance scenes were great. Better than SM1 & SM2. Not quite at SM2 level yet but fingers crossed for the sequel. 3D was also really good in places.
I disagree. I really enjoyed it. It rattled along at great pace and I think Andrew Garfield carried the film excellently. I feel that there were a lot of things bubbling under the surface unsaid and unconfronted all between the lines, and it was made glaring and tense with its non existence. I love that this Spiderman is so *young* and angry and a teenager. I love that he goes around with a backpack. I found it wry and yeah it was a bit more serious than the Sam Raimi films but I'm alright with that and I found I loved this version of Spiderman. So there.
Oh, this site so dumb and stupid for having a different opinion than me, ohhhh.