The Amazing Spiderman

I thought I'd start with that sentiment again because it's how Evan and felt about the previews before the movie this week. We both guessed that the first one would be The Dark Knight Rises, but Evan called it first when it started. I got The Bourne Legacy, Evan got Total Recall, and I got Skyfall (but only because I know that MGM pretty much sticks to Bond and does nothing else). Those were the only previews, and so I reiterate: Shut up and take my money!

Trampling on our conviction and stomping all over our principles, we went to see The Amazing Spiderman. Technically, we were stomping on Evan's principles, because I don't have any. I had to borrow his. We did go to see it on Tuesday (cheap night) without 3D, so as to deprive the filmmakers of any additional revenue. That'll teach 'em.

The movie starts off with a young Peter Parker playing Hide and Seek with his dad, played by Campbell Scott (and if you like him, you can catch him as a reclusive many-multi-millionaire on Royal Pains, which is a really good show, despite the fact that it tends to fall into cliché a bit more than its fellow USA shows Burn Notice or White Collar). Peter goes into his dad's office, and it's all messed up. The Parker's take Peter to Aunt May and Uncle Ben to have him live there for a bit (their lives are in danger or something). And then they disappear as we take a time jump forward to the current year, with Peter in high school, being beaten up by a bully named Flash. Where have we seen that before?

Oh right, in the movie released merely ten years ago. And there are enough similarities that at time it seemed they simply photocopied it. He lives with his aunt and uncle, and gets bitten by a spider that gives him its powers. That's part of the comic origin story, so I can live with those. But how uncle Ben dies? A robber robs a jerk. The jerk had been mean to Peter, so when the jerk asks Peter to stop the robber, Peter refuses and lets the robber escape. Then the robber shoots Uncle Ben. I think that part may have been part of the comics as well, because it was a fairly big deal when they released an issue where Peter finally admitted to Aunt May that he had had the opportunity to stop the robber, but didn't take it, and so Ben's death was partially his fault. By that point in the timeline, Aunt May was probably 150, so it's a testament to her health and hygiene that she didn't have a heart attack.

Other similarities are more movie-centric. Take the villain for instance. A brilliant scientist working for Oscorp, he's in danger of being kicked out. So he injects the serum he's been developing into himself before it's ready for human testing. Besides making himself much stronger, it also causes him to develop a psychopathic split personality. One side is a decent (albeit flawed) but tormented man, and the other side is a dangerous lunatic hell bent on power and destruction. And possibly on defeating Spiderman. It's almost as if the filmmakers liked Willem Dafoe's performance so much, they simply did it again.

What else? Peter has to abandon his first love to keep her safe, even after the funeral of someone they both knew. Because that works out so well in other movies. If they get back together at the end of the sequel after she runs out on her astronaut fiancée at their wedding, I'm going to hit someone. Or complain very loudly. Because I'm quite good at that.

There are a few differences, though. It's less "gee whiz" or "oh boy" and more sarcastic, which I approved of. I'm not big into 60's comic books, so I wasn't big on the "golly gee"-ness of the Sam Raimi films, where Peter Parker could've played Robin on the old Batman TVshow. Andrew Garfield is more of a skater loner instead of a nerd loner (although both of them are very smart). Garfield's hair is more artfully mussed than Tobey Maguire's.

On a different note, it's funny watching Martin Sheen in different things now that we've seen him be President Bartlett for so long. As Uncle Ben, he's supposed to be uneducated but down-to-earth, something he tries to explain to Peter with mixed results. But here was a guy who spoke fluent Latin and had a Nobel Prize in economics. "I"m not very intellectual, not like your father, Peter." Sure.

The effect are very good, but they were very good in the previous movie as well. My question is how did Peter Parker get the spiderman suit? Sure, it's easy to order spandex. But sewing on all those webs? And getting the design perfect? Both movies had an early scene of a handmade mask that wasn't very good. How did that turn into the body-hugging suit of later on? Peter is a high school student. He doesn't have a costume department.

Anyway, I'm not quite sure how to rate this movie. Should I downgrade it for the too-soon unnecessary remake factor? Would that penalty apply to the Total Recall remake as well? I mean, it's technically unnecessary as well, and it's only been 22 years since the original. I think I'll leave it as a theatre movie. Yeah, there's a bit of setup that takes a while, but there's a lot of humour in there to liven it up. The effects are good, the fighting's good, the music's good. And Emma Stone is adorable. So there's that.