♣ The Amazing Spider-Man, what part of "amazing" escapes your understanding?

Not too long ago, I have expressed my bittersweet anticipation towards Spider-Man's 2012 reboot movie "The Amazing Spider-Man", more bitter than sweet though, basically complains about the movie even before it came out. Because of that, I feel the obligation now to (try to) objectively present my opinion after actually seeing it.

Like I've stated on my previous post,

1) I am indeed a fan of Sam Raimi's franchise, and

2) I don't read the comics nor watch the cartoons, I simply love the previous movies very much to the point that the Spider-Man character himself has grown to be my favorite superhero of all time, and

3) despite all that, I was still very eager to see "The Amazing Spider-Man" in the big screen anyway.

So basically while reading this you will get

1) unavoidable endless comparison to Sam Raimi's trilogy, and

2) whether this movie is more accurate or inaccurate to the comics is beyond my knowledge, and finally

3) boy did I set my expectation high. Too high. I mean, how could I not? Everybody keeps buzzing about it.

Is it really that great? Oh I am completely ready to move on at some point. R.I.P. Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man, then? Or maybe not? Because apparently Maguire kept haunting me during those two hours I spent in the theatre.

Really, the first feeling I felt right after watching this movie was the urge to rewatch the 2002 Spider-Man movie, simply to look for what's been missing in this new one. I gave it a chance, you certainly can't say I didn't, but but but… just but. "It's supposed to be great but...". There is a lot of 'but' here. I honestly don't know what's wrong with this movie. It really feels like "The Amazing Spider-Man" is trying too hard to be just different but the result is this movie lacking everything. It started with a big idea but that idea didn't go that big. It attempts to be darker, but not dark enough. It tries to be fun, but not fun enough. Every single good thing comes in halfway, they never live up to their full potential.

The new approach of Peter Parker's characterization is interesting at first, BUT his conflict is not going anywhere clear

The drama is presented to be more brooding. Peter's character as an awkward geeky teenager is pictured to be more complicated  with his teenage angst going on, compared with the simple approach of shy-nerd-who's-trying-to-fit-into-the-world 2002 Peter Parker, here you can really see the struggles inside Peter for growing up without his parents. But the conflict is sadly going no where since the main message of this movie is unclear, too. Is it about finding who you really are? Is it about starting to take responsibility growing up? Is it about putting revenge aside and saving people instead? Is it about keeping or not keeping promise? It can be about all of the above, or none at all. Seriously, I personally don't feel like Peter has actually learned something in the end of the movie.

A more positive note of Peter is how over the course of the film, we can actually see him bruised, cut, and beaten. He limps, he looks sore, he bleeds just like the rest of us. He's no Superman, he's just a teenager with a new found superpower. Every hit he takes makes you cringe, because you cannot only see it hurt, you can also feel it hurt. Another positive note is that the subtle comedic element surrounding Peter Parker in this movie is on top notch. It's something you can't get in Raimi's first trilogy.

Gwen Stacy is a strong character as a love interest for Peter, BUT the romance between them is lacking a little bit of something

Unlike the previous Mary Jane, Gwen is not just a damsel in distress, this blonde girl actually can do something to help Peter out in time of crisis. But again, their romance looks lacking of something. I'm not talking about their chemistry, more about how their love story was written. It is implied that they are suddenly in love, the movie doesn't established a realistic enough human-to-human moment between them to develop their romance. Actually what has Peter done to win over Gwen's heart till she falls head over heels for him all of a sudden? Because he is smart and dark and mysterious and all? And then Peter goes to her house and tells this girl, who he's just gotten to know in person, that he is Spider-Man? Okay I GET it, they're 17 years old teenagers...

The  Spider-Man’s POV web swing scene is an absolute treat, BUT that alone cannot save it from the lack of intense action sequence the entire movie

Like, really, where is the good action? Most of the action scenes are short and not that exciting to watch. The amusing part about the action was the old man listening to his music while we see Spider-Man and The Lizard fight behind him.

Every movie storyline has flaws, BUT for a film that carries a franchise name as big as "Spider-Man" this is just too distracting

There were some loose ends and missing links in the story. Like the story of Peter's parents was dropped after the spider bite and Peter stopped caring about finding the truth and became too focused with learning to manage his superpower. Maybe they intend to keep it for the sequel, but an explisit open closure regarding that topic would have been nice. No, they didn't go there. In some parts, the story paces way too quickly, it feels rushed. While the other time, some insignificant scenes are dragged on too long. The whole storyline is so predictable, no twists. Basically I knew *that* thing will happen when *this* thing happened before *that*. Most of the sub plots didn't work well for me.

While I enjoy seeing C. Thomas Howell again after such a long time, his appearance leads to the cheesiest plot of the entire film: the crane scene. Why all of a sudden we see crane people work in the middle of the night, during a city evacuation, risking their lives to help Spider-Man reach the Oscorp building in time, because a fellow crane operator has a friend whose son was saved by Spider-Man, who a minute before was hunted down by the policemen and accused as a criminal… I can go on and on. This scene could have worked in one way or another, but in this movie it certainly just didn't.

It's a 'reboot', BUT it basically brings along the similar plot points as the 2002 Spider-Man

Eventually, this is my biggest problem and the root of all other problems. It uses some elements that were also presented in the 2002 movie, but in a much less clever and memorable way. Like how they poorly re-write the detail of how Uncle Ben died, that most important plot point that will change Peter's character forever, if they wanted to re-write that, they should've done that better or never have done that at all. There's no other option. It's a reboot. What's the point of a reboot if it's just presenting the same old same old things that are not even better than the original? The villain storyline is not refreshing as well. A morally conflicted scientist, we basically "been there done that". Even Willem Dafoe's Norman Osbourne is more menacing. Dr. Connors' motives to act evil are distorted somehow as the film progresses, it was so random. He wanted to turn the whole citizen into monstrous lizards, why again?

It lacks of memorable moments, no BUT

Last but not least, where is the iconic element that this movie should've provided so that we the audiences, once we got home from theater, can totally forget about "with a great power, comes great responsibility" shout-out? Nope. Nothing. The script, the dialogues and the closing lines are all lacking of all aspects that has succeeded to make the famous Maguire's voice-over "This is my gift, my curse. Who am I? I'm Spider-Man" still feels so thrilling even after ten years later.

So, is it a successful reboot? I don't think so. But then again, we still have to look forward of how the whole trilogy will pan out in the future. Once it turns out to be great, I'm going to say it's great, then this long rants will become irrelevant, then I will be ready to take all these words back. In the mean time, let me mourn over the absence of the "heart" of Spider-Man film that is clearly missed here.