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Amazing
So I saw The Amazing Spider-Man today. Given my agreement with the consensus that a reboot of the Spidey films was premature, and that I am not a fan of most Marvel films, I fully expected not to be impressed. To my utter surprise and delight, I loved it.
Let's get this out of the way first. The first hour drags a bit. The plot has some things that just don't add up, as seems to be case in every big budget film. We probably could have waited a few more years for a reboot. And there were moments that were just absurd.
That said, things come together quite well. The acting is superb. Andrew Garfield actually does a better job than Tobey Maguire. Dennis Leary is perfect as Captain Stacey, and Martin Sheen and Sally Field are a wonderful Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Emma Stone is very good as Gwen, though it's really hard to accept she's supposed to be 17. The cast grounds the film in a way that makes the preposterous stuff easier to accept.
The effects are great, though how often are they not? The revamped costume works. As does the arrival of webshooters in a film.
And there are the two big emotional scenes. Neither really makes a ton of sense. Spidey really shouldn't be taking his mask off and giving it to a kid no matter the situation. And you just can't line cranes up that way in Manhattan. But I don't care. Those scenes, one of Spidey finding a way to help that goes beyond just being a superhero; and average New Yorkers paying him back for one act of heroism, are emotionally and visually amazing.
Oh, and Spidey quips. Not a lot, but plenty to make the point that he is supposed to be funny. That is overdone in the movies.
This is the best of the Spidey films now. And possbly the best of the Marvel films. It doesn't quite rival the Nolan Batman films for ambition or the Hellboy films for vision, but it does everything a superhero film should do. Granted, I might be saying this because Spidey is one of the few Marvel heroes I am a big fan of. But I don't care. I had a blast, and I felt a connection to the characters. And I want to see that crane scene again.
Let's get this out of the way first. The first hour drags a bit. The plot has some things that just don't add up, as seems to be case in every big budget film. We probably could have waited a few more years for a reboot. And there were moments that were just absurd.
That said, things come together quite well. The acting is superb. Andrew Garfield actually does a better job than Tobey Maguire. Dennis Leary is perfect as Captain Stacey, and Martin Sheen and Sally Field are a wonderful Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Emma Stone is very good as Gwen, though it's really hard to accept she's supposed to be 17. The cast grounds the film in a way that makes the preposterous stuff easier to accept.
The effects are great, though how often are they not? The revamped costume works. As does the arrival of webshooters in a film.
And there are the two big emotional scenes. Neither really makes a ton of sense. Spidey really shouldn't be taking his mask off and giving it to a kid no matter the situation. And you just can't line cranes up that way in Manhattan. But I don't care. Those scenes, one of Spidey finding a way to help that goes beyond just being a superhero; and average New Yorkers paying him back for one act of heroism, are emotionally and visually amazing.
Oh, and Spidey quips. Not a lot, but plenty to make the point that he is supposed to be funny. That is overdone in the movies.
This is the best of the Spidey films now. And possbly the best of the Marvel films. It doesn't quite rival the Nolan Batman films for ambition or the Hellboy films for vision, but it does everything a superhero film should do. Granted, I might be saying this because Spidey is one of the few Marvel heroes I am a big fan of. But I don't care. I had a blast, and I felt a connection to the characters. And I want to see that crane scene again.