Critics Consensus: The Amazing Spider-Man Is Certified Fresh

It's probably a fair-enough assessment to not trust any critic willing to give "Part of Me" the highest grade this week. "Brightly colored". OK. (Like Skittles...) As opposed to the B/W "Truth or Dare" that it is an obvious rip-off of?

"Collaborator" looks interesting, and I plan on checking out "The Pact".

Jul 5 - 04:58 PM

Sean D

Sometimes, I go to metacritc to see the average scores, and Savages and The Amazing Spiderman are ahead in average over Katy Perry.
What this tells me is that the good reviews are barely good for it.

Jul 5 - 06:58 PM

Janson Jinnistan

"Be yourself and you can be anything". Says the girl who changed her name to escape her Christian Rock career. I think this is the kind of circular confidence that is killing these kids today. But I always thought that Katy was just such, almost like, you know, an actual person or something. Totally not a Pepsi/Citigroup model.

Jul 6 - 07:59 AM

Bradly Martin

I think you hit the nail on the head of why so many critics find the film more fascinating that it is. An inside look at a marketing process where the product is a shallowed out human being and the market is chalk full of kids in entering the age of identity crisis. Obviously the point of the film is to sell Katy Perry in her post divorce career and to stretch out that extra 15 minutes for as long as she can before she "re-defines" herself but the un-intentional under tone of how something spectacular is really a cycle of manufactured auto tuned nihilistic pan handling.

That or 3D cleavage has captured the hearts of the critic circle.

Jul 7 - 10:22 AM

Ian Fastert

Ditto. I'm still seeing Savages anyway.

Jul 7 - 03:57 AM

Bertram Krogh

The Amazing Spider-Man is a go, as all other high-profile action flicks.
Part of Me, not so much. I am not interested in Katy Perry.
Savages is definitely a go, I have been looking forward to it all year.
I might watch Collaborator and The Magic of Belle Isle, but the rest are no-go�??s.

Jul 5 - 05:24 PM

Barney Funk

Forget Spidey, I am more interested in Savages. Katy Perry is not bad either if you know what I mean.

Jul 5 - 05:47 PM

Jon Owens

so basically TAS is the same movie as the first one but with a new coat of paint.... sounds like what people were saying about the hangover part 2 ...

Jul 5 - 06:19 PM

Michael Keppy

You are missing out on a great movie... One word.... Wait for it.... AMAZING!

Jul 5 - 06:35 PM

Josh Leitzel

It's not exactly the same. It actually has a lot of new material in it. But it is a reboot and you can only change Spiderman so much.

Jul 5 - 06:41 PM

Jon Owens

not true look at the Incredible Hulk.... this movie would have been much better if they just showed the origin in the begining credit reels and than went strait into Spider-Man being Spider-Man

Jul 5 - 10:36 PM

Joshua Henderson

Yet this is higher than the TIH when it comes to the tomatometer. You act like that one is more successful critically.

Jul 6 - 07:44 AM

Jon Owens

just got back from seeing it.. I was bored to tears!! lierally nothing new was added to this movie to make it stand out from or better than the one 8 years ago... it just makes me really depressed because i would have so rather seen a fourth one...

Jul 5 - 10:31 PM

Matt Ritchey

Fully agreed. I had no problem with the idea of a reboot and I've been waiting for the Lizard to be the main villain forever - but wow, I was bored out of my mind. If you're going to tell the same origin story, make it interesting!

Jul 5 - 11:38 PM

Chip McNair

I don't agree, Jonathan. The origin was so excellently handed here (in my opinion) that I think it helped the film. We're supposed to truly feel Peter become Spider-Man by the end, and this film definitely achieves that by telling the origin.

Jul 8 - 11:05 PM

Jon Owens

I just didn't like how they dealt with different aspects of the origin in this film..like Uncle Ben dying way to fast, sees a pic of a wrestler and instantly knows what the costume is going to look like, he seemed to come up with the name spider-man in the blink of an eye with no thought, where the f was harry, the web shooters.. etc. I also did not like the stuff that seemed way to similar to the first movie like how The lizard kept talking to himself just like green goblin, rephrasing the "with great respsonsibility" line, peter forgets to do something while he was out fighting crime so uncle ben is dissapointed (picking up aunt May vs painting the kitchen), etc.. and they made the relationship between Peter and Gwen soo drawn out! it took up to much of the movies length, i would have rather scene more crime fighting or lizard shenanigans.

Jul 9 - 06:46 PM

Chip McNair

Eh, I disagree. And as for Harry, in the comics Peter didn't even meet Harry until college, so they could be saving him for a sequel. Also in the comics, Peter developed the costume before he even became a crime fighter; he developed it when he was performing and showing off, before Uncle Ben's death. And not to sound rude, but if he has spider powers, how long would it take to come up with the name Spider-Man? And I really loved how they "drug out" the relationship between Peter and Gwen; I just really felt those two connect with each other through the course this film. I mean, I understand your complaints, but you have to forget about the first movie when you watch this film. Otherwise it's impossible to truly enjoy it.

Jul 9 - 11:09 PM

Mark Arbutina

Amazing Spiderman was okay, definitely not as good as The Avengers. At the end of the summer I think my list will be...
1) The Avengers
2) Dark Knight Rises
3) Prometheus
4) Amazing Spiderman

Jul 5 - 07:03 PM

Noah Abraham Goucher

I hope you see more than just THAT this summer.

Jul 5 - 10:58 PM

Chris Cox

says the delusional fanboy

Jul 5 - 11:43 PM

Ganesh Kumar

why amazing spider-man at 4? take out from list. it worst

Jul 6 - 05:14 AM

Bradly Martin

Is it seriously worse than Prometheus? Prometheus Broke my heart and I'm an even bigger Spidey Fan. Is this film going to kill me!

Jul 7 - 10:25 AM

Mister Vile

A good movie doesn't have to be the best. Only thing that matters: is it worth buying a ticket for?

Jul 6 - 07:42 AM

Mark Arbutina

I thought Spiderman was good, just not real good. I have seen more than the 4 movies, just giving you my top 4.

Jul 6 - 10:36 AM

Link O'Fett

My list so far this summer of movies that I've seen:

1) The Amazing Spider-Man
2) Prometheus
3) The Avengers
4) Brave
5) Ted
6) Snow White and the Huntsman
7) Men in Black III
8) Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Spidey is my favorite film of the summer so far. We'll see if TDKR beats it in a couple weeks!

Jul 6 - 05:37 PM

THGhost .

Swap the last 2 around and you've got my list.

Jul 10 - 04:14 AM

Alberto Zeeky

This Spider-Man film had a very fun vibe to it, Garfield gives a very appealing Parker performance, much more of a sarcastic personality compared to Tobey's extremely humble and sensitive ways.

I'd consider it to be as good as the first Spider-Man to enter the original trilogy, and far better than that travesty that was Spider-Man 3.

By far though the best thing about the film was the whole mystery that was enforced through Peter's parents and the fact we actually have no idea what character it was that appeared at the end of the film.

I'll gladly welcome the sequel if it can be just as fun.

Jul 5 - 07:05 PM

Michael Keppy

Indeed

Jul 5 - 07:11 PM

Jon Owens

you mean the sequel bait??? i think that was normon Osborn who else could it be??

Jul 5 - 10:33 PM

Joshua Henderson

Rhys Ifans said it was not Norman Osborn as claimed by Ain't It Cool News.

Jul 6 - 07:46 AM

Jon Owens

Maybe electro?? didn't lighting go off outside when he dissapered?

Jul 6 - 10:27 AM

Mister Vile

Spiderman is supposed to be that way, so i agree Garfield is much better.

Jul 6 - 07:43 AM

JohLoh B

This is one of those times I think the critics are completely wrong and it's actually disappointing. TASM was incredible in my opinion. It's a great superhero movie to parallel The Avengers this summer. (Avengers is still my favorite super hero movie of all time, but TASM took it back to that Iron Man/Spider-Man 2 vibe. A few characters to connect with, and one villain to have one-on-one close combat fight scenes with.)

Spider-Man 2 > The Amazing Spider-Man > Spider-Man > Spider-Man 3

The fact that I thought TASM is better then the first Raimi Spidey is huge. I loved that one. But I think TASM got everything perfect. I actually cared about Peter and Gwen's relationship, while in Raimi's trilogy, I liked Tobey, but never cared much for Kirsten (or MJ as a character... Don't even get me started on her in SM3).

Also, I feel like the people saying TASM even tried to be as gritty as TDK watched a different movie then I did. Theres only a few moments in TASM where it's truly gritty (which btw, are moments I actually connected with). Besides that, the movie is actually very light hearted. The comedy, specially Spidey's smartass comments are on point, and the score is a perfect heroic sound to parallel the gritty LOOK of the film (the color grading look they chose is really the only thing I find "gritty" about the film).

Really, only the first 40 minutes hit similar plot points to SM1. But if I'm not mistaken, they're important points in the comics, no? They had to implement those moments. Plus, I think they added interesting things to those moments and made them different enough. The last two thirds of the movie are all fresh material.

Oh, and one more thing... I don't want to spoil the action sequences, so let's just say... Spider-Man vs. The Lizard is prolly the best yu've ever seen Spidey on the big screen, and in IMAX... Yu might just s*** yourself!

Jul 5 - 07:12 PM

Aunt Tracy

Your comments here are bang on. I thought very much the same as you did. It exceeded my expectations and the Stone/Garfield relationship was so much more believable and real then in the previous 3 movies with Maguire and Dunst.

I don't understand how anyone could not have liked it. It was a 4.5/5 for me easily. Can't wait to see what they do with #2!

Jul 5 - 10:17 PM

dude meister

Agreed. I'm pretty disappointed with that too. I think it deserves much more acclaim than it's been getting, if you ask me. I thought it was fantastic, and Andrew Garfield was incredible. While I love Spidey 1 & 2, I feel they've become rather dated for movies than are relatively new, and can't bring myself to watch the first again. I think I'd put it on par with Spidey 2, maybe even better.

Jul 6 - 04:25 AM

JohLoh B

Glad someone agrees with me! I'm not saying it was a perfect movie, but 73%? Really? The fact that it's tomatoemeter score is close to that of the near Transformerian level of mess that was Spider-Man 3, blows my mind.

Jul 6 - 12:40 PM

Bradly Martin

I think a lot of old school critics don't like the idea of an updated Peter Parker. In all the more negative reviews I've read many a critic seems to be complaining more about how kids are these days and how Peter Parker is "suppose" to be a good guy trying to do the right thing, not a whiney emo angry Edward Cullen hair cut looking jerk who treats Aunt Mae badly.

Personally I haven't seen it, but I do agree the spider suit one-siee looks weird and it does look like this Peter Parker just stepped out of a hot topic.

I Like Emma and Andrew though so I'm hoping I'll enjoy this movie.

Jul 7 - 10:30 AM

Chip McNair

I completely agree, it is unfortunate that people can't get past the fact that it's a reboot. That's really the ONLY thing keeping more people from loving this film. I'll always be fond of Spider-Man 1 and 2 (I love 2), but this one beats them both. It perfectly captures the characters from the comics and feels more real and organic. It's like Spider-Man's version of Batman Begins, still maintaing the fun of Spider-Man.

Jul 9 - 11:33 PM

King Crunk

The Amazing Spiderman ended up about where I was expecting it to. I'm not in a rush to see it, but I'll probably catch it in a few weeks after the crowds have died down and I am in need of a decent summer blockbuster. I am surprised Savages is rated as high as it is, since it looked like utter garbage to me in all the promotional materials I have seen for it. The Katy Perry flick will appeal to teenage girls, as the only part of her most men want to see is covered up. Spidey will definitely win the weekend. Whoever decided to release Savages in the summer instead of the fall needs to be fired, because it is opening against Spiderman and two weeks away from Batman, who are both the most bankable superheroes around.

Jul 5 - 08:08 PM

Bentley Lyles

Katy Perry is fresher than Spidey? :O

I couldn't get around to seeing it on Fourth of July so I'll be catching TAS tomorrow or Saturday and I plan to see it in 3D. I've heard some say that it's a bit of a remake of the 2002 film. Grace Randolph from Beyond the Trailer said that she liked it but compared it to Superman Returns and said it was "a slave to the source material". I can't wait to formulate my own opinion.

Jul 5 - 08:15 PM

Linda Burke

I want no "part" of Katy Perry or Spider-Man. The Pact looks interesting. Maybe good for a rental.

Jul 5 - 08:39 PM

Janson Jinnistan

If only I had some fava beans and a nice Chianti.

Jul 6 - 08:02 AM

George Patchell

Saw Spiderman here a few nights ago in Oz and I have to say its a bit disappointing. The movie is kinda all over the place and a bit messy.

*****SPOILER ALERT******

Well only sorta but when one important character meets there end it is kinda glossed over and forgotten quickly which seemed odd. The tonal shifts are too jarring and nothing is delved into deeply. There are too many strands running at the same time and nothing much is tied up. Overall its still fun and the casting is good but it didn't feel like epic film it should have being an even earlier origin story to Raimi's. Also it isn't as gritty as was advertised. Mainly just filmed at night. Whether or not that is a good or bad thing is up to the individual viewer. For me it wasn't a problem coz I know spidey isn't really as dark or gritty as Batman, though I think it could have benefitted from being a bit more like those films.

Jul 5 - 08:48 PM

Tams Bagaturia

Poor Taylor, another rotten film. Well at least it's on the green side on metacritic.

Jul 5 - 11:42 PM

Chris Cox

I can't believe people would spend money on the same Spider man film. Sony is ripping off the world lmao

idiots

Jul 5 - 11:44 PM

Jon Owens

i want my money back!

Jul 6 - 12:26 AM

Mister Vile

yep, everyone who enjoyed a movie which includes 72% of critics is an idiot. My sarcasm beeper is going off, 1 sec.

Jul 6 - 07:46 AM

Chris Cox

yup. all of them are idiots

Jul 6 - 11:16 AM

Joshua Henderson

Well that's like your opinion, man.

Jul 7 - 07:48 AM

King Simba

Have you even seen it?

Just to see how they would compare, I decided to watch the first Spiderman on the night prior to seeing The Amazing Spiderman. Regarding the former, I gotta say that despite some outdated CGI and the terrible Green Goblin suit I think the film has held up pretty well. In fact I seriously doubted that I would enjoy the reboot as much, and walked into expecting a strong sense of Deja Vu.

That didn't happen. Yeah, the films cover a few similair plot points (though even then they handled them in their own different ways. For example, the bully actually had depth in this one, though I'll admit I thought Uncle Ben's death was handled better in the first), but other than that it's completely different.

Even the performances managed to stand out in their own way. I still have a soft spot for Maguire, but there's no doubt about it Andrew Garfield was a much better Spiderman than Maguire. Even their Peters were handled differently. Maguire played him as a lovable awkward nerd. Garfield also nailed the awkward bit, and yet he also portrayed Peter as more of an outcast, someone much more coflicted due to the events of his childhood. Emma Stone, meanwhile, made Gwen Stacy the best love interest in a superhero movie since....I don't know....maybe Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns. The Lizard, meanwhile, was the second best villain in the franchise behind only Doc Oc. You really felt the tragedy of his story (though I must admit - minor spoilers - as soon as the device that could shoot particles in the air was introduced, you could kind of guess the climax of the film).

In all honesty I'm surprised why everyone want the rights of Amazing Spiderman to go back to Marvel. It's like everyone seems sure that Marvel Studios would make a better film, which kind of baffles me given that out of their six films so far, only two I'd rank higher than Amazing Spiderman (Iron Man and Avengers, heck I'm still not sure which I prefer TASM or Iron Man). As for it's ranking in the Spiderman films, I still love the first and have a higher opinion of the third than most, but Amazing Spiderman in my opinion is the second best Spiderman film behind only Spiderman 2.

Jul 7 - 10:07 PM

Ariel Rosenberg

TASM was surprisingly good. Although the film doesn't answer any of the questions/mysteries that it brings up, it opens the door for them to explore some interesting ideas later on in the trilogy. The CGI looked better than it did in the commercials, and I would recommend seeing it in 3d if you get the chance. The climax was somewhat underwhelming, but the characters and visuals made up for it.

Now for savages. I was not going ballstothewall crazy in anticipation for this film, but I had somewhat high hopes/expectations. To be perfectly honest, this movie fucking sucked. Absolutely sucked. The acting? Sucked. The characters? Trash. The editing? Awful. The ending? Possibly the worst final 10 minutes of any movie since...I dunno...I was gonna say Indy 4, but I'm kind of softening up to that movie...
DO NOT SEE THIS FUCKING MOVIE. That is my humble opinion. Very rarely do I feel so passionate about hating a movie, but seriously, I cannot understand how this crap could be passed off as anything more than crap. At the midnight showing, half the theater was asleep halfway through, and I became entranced for 10 minutes over a large bug that had scurried onto the screen.
That is all. Oh and Magic Mike was good. So there's that.

Jul 6 - 12:17 AM

Daniel Raimondi

i think the new spidey will be a decent movie just not as memorable as the first two

Jul 6 - 06:02 AM

Cole Ruster

The Amazing Spiderman is better than pt 1, almost as good as pt 2, and in a totally different league as pt 3. Was very surprised by how much I enjoyed it!

Jul 6 - 01:43 AM

Aunt Tracy

Agree with you 100%!

Jul 6 - 11:26 AM

Ganesh Kumar

The amazing spider-man not good as spiderman 2002.

Jul 6 - 05:11 AM

Joshua Henderson

I don't expect it to be. But I still expect to enjoy this one. I don't feel like bothering not liking one because of the other.

Jul 6 - 07:55 AM

Aunt Tracy

It was alot better than the first Spidey. Maguire sucked as Parker, and the cgi from the first one looks so bad when you watch it now. Dunst was not a good MJ, and I hated the Goblin's costume. This new movie is how it should be done! Close to the comics, Garfield nailed the Parker role, and his relationship with Stone is believable and you care about them. Far better than the original trilogy, although part 2 was pretty good. :)

Jul 6 - 11:31 AM

Joshua Henderson

I do agree that Garfield looks like a better Peter Parker. But I still like the Raimi films and I really didn't think Tobey was that bad of a Spider-Man/Peter Parker except in the third one.

Jul 6 - 11:54 AM

scifi mark

Joshua, i know you have been in the reviews seeing what people think. I saw this yesterday and i thought it was worth seeing. Garfield was really good as parker and i actually found the origin story the best part of the movie. Once he became spiderman the script was all over the place. I thought garfield's delivery with sarcastic jokes as spiderman was not good at all which in turn made the film darker than i expected. I also didnt like the treatment they gave dr connors. They made dr connors/lizard way too much like the green goblin in the original.

Jul 6 - 11:31 AM

Joshua Henderson

Definitely sounds like it's got its ups and downs. Sounds important to make the sequel even better than this one.

Jul 6 - 11:51 AM

scifi mark

Jul 6 - 11:31 AM

BLaCKWoLF .

I agree with the sentiment shared by others on this board.

The Amazing Spider-Man was a good film. It was better and far different than many critics have made it out to be.

With the criticisms being thrown at it you would be forgiven for assuming that it was nothing more than a mere imitation of the Raimi pictures instead of appreciating the film for what it is and what it does well.

Whilst I always had my own reservations about the film prior to seeing it, I never doubted Garfield. He delivers. I enjoyed his interpretation of Peter and found his performance far more accessible or believable than Maguire's. I always felt that Maguire's (& Raimi's) Peter was more of a caricature and too much of a departure of the comic character. I found this to be much improved and I am sure others may feel the same.

Jul 6 - 05:50 AM

scifi mark

i really enjoyed garfield as parker and i think that is where this movie excelled. I also dont feel this movie is a carbon copy like some people suggest although i have problem with the movie for other reasons

Jul 6 - 11:36 AM

BLaCKWoLF .

Fair enough too. The supporting cast were good even though they were given a limited amount to work with. Sheen, Fields and Stone were solid. I hope a little more attention is given to characterize Gwen. We all know how important she is.

Fingers crossed Orci and Kurtzman deliver a better script and the pacing is improved (this was up and down at times - or it could just be me?). It had great moments that were handled quite well but it was also marked with uneven moments. I just hope that Webb is encouraged to return because I think he has what it takes to move the film up another few levels.

Jul 6 - 05:22 PM

Link O'Fett

I think Maguire's and Garfield's portrayals of Peter Parker/Spidey are both great in their own ways.

Jul 6 - 05:32 PM

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