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Spider-Man (2012) The
Amazing Spider-Man Movie Review Emma Stone
as Gwen Stacy in The Amazing
Spider-Man This newest version of the
wall-crawling Spider-Man featuring
British actor Andrew Garfield as Peter
Parker, and the lovely doe-eyed
Emma Stone
as Gwen Stacy, the blonde girlfriend
from Peter Parker's high school days.
What this new story leaves out however,
is Mary Jane Watson, who in the comics
would appear as Peter's love interest
long after high school, and long after
Gwen Stacy was, shall we say, out of
the picture. Peter and Gwen's dorky,
yet sweetly budding teen romance is one
of the fun pleasures in this film. The
chemistry between Peter and Gwen seems
very real (and, if media stories are
true, Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone
are romantically involved IRL). Both
actors turn in superb performances. Emma
Stone as Gwen Stacy and Andrew Garfield
as a wounded Peter Parker in The
Amazing Spider-Man
Movie My only complaint about the Peter
Parker character in this film, is an
early scene (which of course is the
fault of the script writers and the
director, not the actor), where Peter
confronts bully Flash Thompson in the
school courtyard. Without giving too
much away in terms of scene details, I
feel while this scene would be accurate
for a Peter who had been playing the
hero as Spider-Man for a while and had
gained confidence and a sense of
responsibility toward others, having
him stand up to a bully like he does in
this part of the film really ignores
who Peter is supposed to be as a
non-powered science nerd/geek. One thing I really liked about this
new version of Spider-Man relates to
one of my pet peeves about the
Maguire/Raimi version of the old
web-slinger. One of the things that
always left an old-school Spidey fan
like me somewhat off-kilter, was the
plot device whereby the Toby Maguire
version of the wall-crawler developed a
natural, biological web-creating and
web-slinging ability, as opposed to the
mechanical web-shooter that Spidey
employs in this film. But these are
fairly petty points compared to the
great acting, action, and the story
itself in Amazing Spider-Man. The acting is quite good. Andrew
Garfield as Peter Parker is a credible
science geek, and making him into a
skateboarding hoodie-wearer in this
film adds a good modern touch to it
all. Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy is just
beautiful, and is also quite convincing
as the smart daughter of a top police
official. Dennis Leary plays her
father, and does a good job of being
the protective cop-father. Perhaps the
best job of acting in this movie, and
the best job of bringing an iconic
character to life belongs to the
incomparable Martin Sheen (whose acting
chops put his son Charlie Sheen to
shame). Aunt May is played by Sally
Field, and while she was clearly
outshone by her "husband" Uncle Ben,
she should be more than capable in the
next two planned Spider-Man movies. The
villain of this piece is Dr. Curtis
Connors, whose scientific discovery
turns him into the reptilian Lizard. As
a villain, this film version of The
Lizard is okay, but (SPIDEY SPOILER
HERE) he discovers Spider-Man's
identity far too easily (though the
Spidey of this movie is a relative
rookie at the superhero thing, and
mistakes do happen), and while the
Lizard is defeated by Spider-Man in the
end, the movie shows Dr. Connors
sitting in a cell, with knowledge of
who Spider-Man is in real life. This
creates possible complications in
future Spider-Man films, which could
actually help make things
interesting. The
Lizard (looking through a grate) in
Amazing
Spider-Man While some reviewers have complained
that this film spends too much time
re-telling Spider-Man's well-known
origin story, which of course was done
in the first Toby Maguire Spider-Man
film ten years ago, this reviewer sees
it as an important part of this movie's
storyline. With the added mystery of
what happened to Peter's parents, plus
the bravo performance of Martin Sheen
as Uncle Ben, and a few other fun
origin-story details, this version of
Spider-Man's origin is a fun and vital
part of this movie. Oh, and, one more
thing, Spidey-Fans: The requisite Stan
Lee cameo is belly-laugh inducingly
hilarious! I will not say any more, as
you have to experience it full volume
in person to truly enjoy the Lee cameo
as I enjoyed it! As a long-time Spider-Man fan, I can
say without reservation, that this is a
move to go see. It is worth the price
of admission. In fact, I liked it so
much, I saw it twice, once in 3D, and
the second time in 2D. Movie
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