The Amazing Spider-man – Spidey Reloaded!

First things first – “The Amazing Spiderman” is not really the next in the series, Spiderman 4. This one is a reboot, this movie has got nothing to do with the timeline of the other three. This movie goes back again to the beginning – the origin of Spiderman. It tells us the story in a different, more real, gritty, life-like, no-nonsense kind of way with a different set of characters and believe me, it is a lot more fun than the Toby Maguire series.. The movie is less funny, more realistic and looks almost Nolan-esque. And don’t expect all boom-boom action with cartoony villains and unreal settings. The movie tells us about how Peter Parker, clueless about himself, tries to figure out what had happened to his parents and in the process finding who he is and also becoming Spiderman. More emotion than action, still eminently watchable. You will end up watching more Andrew Garfield than Spiderman and you will be happy about it! Oh and the 3D sucks.

Why you should watch it

• Life-Like, Believable, No-Nonsense, Deep.
• Stunning Performances by the entire Cast
• Execution and Screenplay.
• Jaw dropping Action Sequences.

Why you should not watch it

• Not an action movie as a whole, drama rather.
• Garish, Obscuring Background Music.
• Gets unnecessarily melodramatic in parts.
• Bad 3D.

My Verdict and Ranking: Three and a Half out of Five

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN – Realistic, Gritty, Deep, Emotional. Less but stunning action, #WIN acting. Origin of Spiderman again. Bad 3D. 7/10

— vadakkus (@vadakkus) June 30, 2012

The Story and The Characters

Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) is still the unpopular, awkward, skinny high school character who is really confused and unsure about who he is. He is also a photographer and gets beaten up by bullies, though he stands up to them. He is above-average intelligent, but not really a nerd and lives with his uncle Ben and aunt May as his parents disappeared and later died when he was little. He carries around a lot of emotional baggage about this. He always wondering why they left him and tries to dig out details about his father and his secretive life. One day, he chances upon a paper clipping showing his dad with Dr.Cary Connors, who a geneticist at OSCORP. He sneaks in in the guise of an intern at OSCORP to meet Dr Connors and makes an impression on him. He also discovers a room full of strange spiders spinning some kind of super-strong fiber webs. One of those spiders bites him and he develops spider-powers – super strength, spider sense, adhesiveness etc. To find out what happened to him and his parents, he looks up Dr.Connors again who is trying to regenerate amputated limbs using cross species genetics research. An amputee himself, he is under a lot of pressure to develop it as fast as possible as Dr.Norman Osborn is dying. Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) works for him and also is Peter’s classmate whom he has the hots for. She really pries to know what is going on in his life, and knows early who he really is. Her dad Captain George Stacy (Denis Leary) is New York City police chief, who wants to take down both the Lizard and Spiderman. The story follows how Parker dons the Spiderman costume to find the mugger who took Uncle Ben’s life, inadvertently becoming a hero the city looks up to and to bring down the villain of the movie, The Lizard.

What is a Movie Series Reboot?

When a movie has run its course of sequels which get stale and look like repeats and have the same theme wrapped in different covers and when finally the movie bosses run out of ideas how to make the next movie more awesome than the previous one, Movie Reboots happen. The movie series will just sort of restart from the beginning or from any other intermediate point with a different setting, background, actors. It will show a totally different timeline which will dismantle the universe and traditions of the movies in the series till then. The James Bond series is the best example for a movie series reboot. The series ended with “Die Another Day” and “Casino Royale” was the reboot.

How is The Amazing Spider-man Different from those Before?

Review – Simply put, the first movie revolves completely around Spiderman, while this is more about Peter Parker. But, the Spiderman here is far better than the Spiderman in the first one. More gritty, realistic and Parker shows a purposefulness and lesser emotional confusion when he dons the Spiderman costume. There are no corny dialogues that seem to be taken out of a motivational guru speech. People talk the way people really talk. The settings are far more contemporary and realistic than those of the first one. I have always felt that the old movie series took place in a cartoon or comic book Universe, and not in ours. This is more more our Universe. The old one looks like a cartoon in comparison. The way Capt. Stacy deals with Spiderman towards the end of the movie reminded me more of Nolan and Batman. The action sequences are fast, detailed, crisp, clear and well defined, and there are no blurs and shaky cams as with most movies of today. Even Parker’s Spiderman costume he makes out of Spandex is far more realistic than the designer costume of the first one. And so is his “Spider-web shooting mechanism”. What is shown here was how it was originally in the Spiderman comics. Another thing that takes away from the old movie the reality that Spiderman really cannot keep his identity hidden from the authorities in this day and age. He is shown as a novice who really does not know how things work. The humor is more tongue-in-cheek than outright slapstick.

All characters have been portrayed handsomely by the actors, integral to the success of the film. The characters are given time to develop, and it looks like we know them. An advantage of having lesser number of characters. Again, #WIN over the older movie. Peter Parker has clear objectives in mind when he dons his Spandex jumpsuit. He wants to find the goon who killed his uncle, the man who taught him all he knew and stood up for what is right. Only once does he try to make good for the law trying to bring a car thief to justice, only to be labeled as an outlaw and vigilante by the Police. This confuses him. When the Lizard wreaks havoc, he somehow feels a moral obligation to help the people of the city, and later finds himself more engrossed in it as the realizes the real identity of the Lizard. What adds to the realism is the injuries that come to light when he removes his costume, unlike Toby Maguire’s Spiderman which was more, well, boyish. But the problem with the movie is that it goes overboard sometimes with the emotions, but only so with Parker and Stacy, the end could’ve been much more better. But it is Garfield to takes the cake with his stunning performance as a miserable high school student, passionate lover and the Amazing Spiderman.

Verdict and Conclusion

I heard someone say that the movie does more justice to the original comics. I am not much into comics, so can’t say. But the movie will surely keep you interested for its entire run, despite the absence of garish action sequences. It it were an action movie, it would have ended up as an enhanced copy of the first movie. A change is nice, a good move, and the spectacular action sequences are still the highlight of the movie, created with cutting-edge Special Effects. Go watch!