The Amazing Spider-Man

I have the Essential Spider-Man Vol 1, Ultimate Spider-Man, and go to my comic store every Wednesday, and I can tell you how Raimi's messed it up more. This movie was based on Ultimate Spider-Man mixed with 616. Someone who actually reads the comics would know. I can point several areas that were taken from Ultimate Spider-Man, as well as from 616.

Apr 15 - 12:47 PM

Cai Carney

This movie should be up in the 90s. If Raimi hadn't already made the original series, this would've ranked so much higher.

Mar 19 - 11:49 AM

Nicholas Galligan

Nope sorry. I'm just gonna copy and paste my reply to Jonathan cause I don't want to waste my time.

This movie deserved nothing. While the Peter Parker side of things was done well, it was just not who Peter Parker was. It's the Quantum of Solace of spider-man movies (while the movie may be good this just is NOT Peter Parker). Peter isn't some renegade who skateboards down the halls of his school only to get yelled at by his teacher and then scoffs at them! Peter is a diligent, hard-working kid who is bullied constantly, but still overcomes it to become a better person.
Onto what was actually wrong with the movie itself. The Writing. It was ok during the scenes where Peter was nervously flirting with Gwen, but it's EXACTLY the same thing as 500 days of summer which, mind you, is the ONLY other movie that Webb has directed. When it came to Epic scenes with extremely high stakes I was bored, the writing there was flat and devoid of experience. The cinematography followed a similar path. Fun teenage angst scenes were done well, but almost exactly like 500 days of summer. During the epic scenes was quite literally the worst cinematography I saw in 2012 and also completely devoid of experience.
Now the music on the other hand was complete shit. I'm not a huge James Horner fan in the first place cause he's been sued for plagiarism. But he has no grip, at all. What would you think is a good soundtrack for kid-peter to be playing hide-and-seek with his dad? Bombastic and heroic brass? ... That's what's in there... I felt like I was having an aneurism from the stupidity of it all. The soundtrack was SO obvious and half-assed it made me cringe. What's worse is that James Horner, through all his hackiness, is actually capable of better! Star Trek , Braveheart, Troy! James Horner's worst characteristic is how little he cares about his music or the movies he is scoring for.
The only good parts of this movie are: Emma Stone as Gwen, Peter Garfield, even though his character was screwed up in the first place, he still acted it well and Captain Stacy. Oh and Stan Lee's Cameo, that was funny.
However, overall I can't believe this movie has even a 73%. Between the complete lack of experience in several departments and the terrible scoring (oh and I'm not saying the music is bad, it's just scored terribly) The only thing that's holding this movie back from complete failure is the actors. So I would say it deserves a 60%.

Apr 13 - 12:45 PM

Jonny Claveria

You're wrong. Peter constantly got yelled at by his teachers in Ultimate Spider-Man or Marvel Earth 1610. He constantly acted with angst, and he was quite different from his 616 counterpart. The angst was also apart of Ultimate Spider-Man quite a bit, and I didn't think there was that much of a (500) Days of Summer feel.

Apr 15 - 12:51 PM

Chris Dynamo

Agreed. It was a shameless duplicate that did everything worse than the original and it was so COLD. There was no heart or warmth at all, and the whole experience was miserable and dull.

Apr 30 - 08:03 PM

hollis mills

please....call it a comic

Jan 12 - 02:46 PM

Typhon Q

Um, which book are we talking about exactly?

Jan 12 - 02:29 PM

Tom Smith

EXACTLY! This applies to all adaptations. Filmmakers, if you are adapting a book, don't change something unless it's undeniably better! I feel this way about almost all adaptations. (except Lord of the Rings)

Jan 5 - 04:58 AM

Jonathan Martin

But it was along the lines of the comic book, Webb couldn't retell the same story as Raimi or the movie would have been boring and repetitive. But some things look better on-screen when they're modified: The Bourne Trilogy
But I do understand what you are saying, that's why I was disappointed (and greatly) about the Batman Trilogy from Nolan, Superman Returns, X-men Trilogy/first class (Story wise, X-men origins is the best and truer one and IMO the best one), The other Batman movies and so on. I did enjoy watching them, but knowing the actual story and comparing them with the movies left me cheated on what I remembered from the cartoons and comic books.

Jan 6 - 04:01 PM

Nicholas Galligan

You have to understand that the movies are new universes for the superheros, that was specifically stated in the batman and x-men series and it was just obvious in the super-man one. Raimi's Spider-man didn't follow the comics either. The reason people were pissed with this one is because Webb stated that they were going to follow the comic.
But do you know what was the worst part of this one? "With Great power comes Great responsibility" This line is in EVERY spider-man universe EVER, it's also the most iconic line of all comic books, this is the turning point of the entire spider-man saga and Webb desides to paraphrase it... While he's at it he should just call Peter, jack and make his suit colors orange and green.

Apr 13 - 12:59 PM

Choocnut Nut

.. i liked Raimi's version better. even though the TRUE origins of spidey's webs are from his own invention, it's kinda lame and outrageous that a kid like peter can make that stuff. It's more " believable and feasible and it makes perfect sense that the webs are also a result of his mutation from being bitten by that R-spider.

Dec 8 - 11:33 AM

Jonathan Martin

Wow, you have an underrated point of view of teenagers. At that time, the 60s, kids had to be smart because they did not have the technology we have today. So it's completely comic book plausible for him to invent his own web shooters.
Just to make it clear: Just because you question the intelligence of a fiction character questions your own intelligence. The story was made almost 50 years ago and it's not going to change, get over it...

Dec 8 - 12:59 PM

Choocnut Nut

.. what are you so mad about ?? you get over it, the spiderman movies won't affect my life or maybe that's why you're so uptight is because you're a comic geek. You have been readin comics, right ?? then you should know that the comics, just like the movies have authors which have different takes on the character. On the Spidey movies, I preferred Raimi's Spiderman. If you get affected with my opinion, then you need some psychia help or get out of your house to see the Real World and stop showing your opinions down our throats.

Dec 9 - 04:10 AM

Jonathan Martin

LOL!!! You clearly missed my point, CLEARLY!!! hahaha I was referring to the fact that you think that kids/teenagers are stupid and can't be innovators of some sorts. I don't care if you liked it or not. Your opinions are your own... for the movie that is. I just feel sad that you based your opinion on simple prejudice...

Dec 9 - 07:26 PM

Alex Maverick

If they were trying to be more believable, wouldn't Spider-Man shoots the webs out of his ass like real spiders?

Dec 21 - 10:02 PM

Rishi Arora

stomach* but agreed :P

Dec 23 - 09:58 AM

Alex Maverick

That's what i meant to say. *wink wink*

Jan 8 - 04:30 PM

sam varma

stomach..ass...dick...who cares

Mar 21 - 06:14 AM

Jonathan Martin

Raimi's trilogy was far worst than this movie, I assure you! Webb tried to rectify everything that misled who or what Spiderman was. He actually pulled it off. Every actor portrayed their respective roles close to perfection because they prepared for them. The story line was actually the closest to the actual source material, although some changes were made to refrain from being redundant and repetitive (to the 2002 version) even though it was an origin story.
Please, if you don't know what you are complaining about, get your facts right and then write a valuable argument. Thank you!

Dec 3 - 08:16 PM

John Tyler

One of the best comments ever. I fucking commend you.

Mar 18 - 12:34 PM

Jonathan Martin

Thank you! :)

Mar 19 - 10:18 PM

sam varma

raimi triliogy was great but quite boring... this bought new smiles and a better romance plot ... andrew garfield was also great

Mar 21 - 06:15 AM

Nicholas Galligan

Okay a couple things. I really feel like you haven't read the comics. Raimi didn't "change" anything about what spider-man was. If anything that was the fundamental element of Spider-man (2002).
This movie deserved nothing. While the Peter Parker side of things was done well, it was just not who Peter Parker was. It's the Quantum of Solace of spider-man movies (while the movie may be good this just is NOT Peter Parker). Peter isn't some renegade who skateboards down the halls of his school only to get yelled at by his teacher and then scoffs at them! Peter is a diligent, hard-working kid who is bullied constantly, but still overcomes it to become a better person.
Onto what was actually wrong with the movie itself. The Writing. It was ok during the scenes where Peter was nervously flirting with Gwen, but it's EXACTLY the same thing as 500 days of summer which, mind you, is the ONLY other movie that Webb has directed. When it came to Epic scenes with extremely high stakes I was bored, the writing there was flat and devoid of experience. The cinematography followed a similar path. Fun teenage angst scenes were done well, but almost exactly like 500 days of summer. During the epic scenes was quite literally the worst cinematography I saw in 2012 and also completely devoid of experience.
Now the music on the other hand was complete shit. I'm not a huge James Horner fan in the first place cause he's been sued for plagiarism. But he has no grip, at all. What would you think is a good soundtrack for kid-peter to be playing hide-and-seek with his dad? Bombastic and heroic brass? ... That's what's in there... I felt like I was having an aneurism from the stupidity of it all. The soundtrack was SO obvious and half-assed it made me cringe. What's worse is that James Horner, through all his hackiness, is actually capable of better! Star Trek , Braveheart, Troy! James Horner's worst characteristic is how little he cares about his music or the movies he is scoring for.
The only good parts of this movie are: Emma Stone as Gwen, Peter Garfield, even though his character was screwed up in the first place, he still acted it well and Captain Stacy. Oh and Stan Lee's Cameo, that was funny.
However, overall I can't believe this movie has even a 73%. Between the complete lack of experience in several departments and the terrible scoring (oh and I'm not saying the music is bad, it's just scored terribly) The only thing that's holding this movie back from complete failure is the actors. So I would say it deserves a 60%.

Apr 13 - 12:40 PM

Cody Halpert

Every superhero movie is somewhat different from the source material. With the first Spider-Man trilogy, Sam Raimi did it almost completely wrong and no one seemed to care.

Dec 3 - 02:45 PM