Tobey Maguire who was supposed to play the Spiderman character
for the 4th time, as well as former director Sam Raimi and movie
co-star Kirsten Dunst who played Mary Jane Watson (Peter Parker’s love interest)
all backed out a few days before filming was supposed to start. Because of
this, the movie got backtracked and a new set of actors were chosen which lead
to the final product that premiered on June 29.
After watching the movie on its first night, here are some
of my thoughts about it:
The Good
- The best thing that I liked about this Spiderman movie was that its story was the closest to the original comic book and to some extent the cartoon version.
- The graphics was as expected, spectacular. Especially their fight scene with the lizard and the scene where all the cranes in the city line up to help him web sling his way to OSCORP tower.
- The cast selection was impressive, sporting seasoned actors like Martin Sheen, Sally Field and Dennis Leary to name a few.
- The web slinging gadget was resurrected. Unlike the previous versions of the movie wherein Spiderman was able to naturally produce webs out of his wrists, this version explained that the web fibers were actually from capsules ejected through a device that Peter Parker himself created, which was the closest to the original story.
The Not so Good
- Some important events in Peter Parker’s life were missing or misinterpreted, like his wrestling career and how his uncle ben died.
- The movie also didn’t follow the original story of Spiderman on when and where Peter Parker got his powers. Unlike the comic and the cartoon wherein Parker was bitten by a spider on a science exhibit that featured the super spiders, Parker got his power when he snuck inside an experimentation lab that harbored the super spiders.
- The movie had overlaps with the previous three Spiderman movies. Although that is not quite the fault of the directors and writers as this is a reboot version, but nevertheless, it split the crowd on which version/s was the best.
- There were some dull moments in the story. It’s not the type of movie that will get you glued to your seats. It was also quite serious compared to another Marvel movie that was released two months ago – The Avengers.
- Peter Parker’s personality also got an overhaul. The overall look of Parker was no longer that of a science geek with nerdy glasses. But instead, it was a nerdy skater geek who wore contact lenses.
The
Amazing Spiderman was a major turnaround in the Spiderman franchise. The story
as well as the characters were greatly redefined by the writers and directors
who re-imagined the iconic Spiderman but also the actors who played the
characters of the movie.
In contrast to the original work of Stan Lee,
The Amazing Spiderman, although not a perfect interpretation, is as close as it
can get compared to the three movies before it. The story was polished and well
written that it made me like the movie even when the familiar face of Toby
Maguire is no longer in sight. At the end of the day, it was a great movie to
watch and the only question that remains is, Will the people want more?
