Just got back from watching 'The Amazing Spider-Man' with Kelvin and KT at Vivo, and right now I am overflowing with all these feelings. How hard it is to find words to express one's deepest feelings (at 1:09).
I love Spider-Man, I really do. He's one of my favourite superheroes and possibly my favourite character in the Marvel universes, and I hold him very dearly in my heart, and I was a bit afraid people wouldn't like it. Or that I wouldn't like it.
But yes, I liked it. One thing I admire about the Marvel universes and the Spider-Man story (or the story of all its other characters, actually) is that it's so versatile. As long as you hold true to your characters and certain story lines and conflicts that you want to convey, you can pull off movies very nicely. And with The Amazing Spider-Man it was done pretty well.
They've gone a step back from the 2001 adaptation with Tobey Maguire and instead of showing the Peter Parker who's a man but is not yet a man because he's a loser, they focused much more on the boy. The boy who lost his parents mysteriously at an early age with questions unanswered, the boy who stands up for others even though he gets beaten up for it, the boy who fetches eggs for his aunt at home after school. I love this side of Peter Parker, really.
Ben Parker's death gets to me every time. Whenever I read it or watch it it makes me want to slap Peter across the face, but this is one of the most important lessons Peter ever learns, and I like that they did it quite well. Spider-Man's hunt for his murderer isn't resolved in the movie, but I'd have liked to see how they handled that (but he learns the lesson of restraint in his later scenes with Flash Thompson).
Gwen Stacy had a little less swag than in the comics, but Emma Stone did a good job anyway, because what's important is that the audience loves her. And they do, unlike when everyone thought Mary Jane Watson was a complete indecisive b*tch when Kirsten Dunst portrayed her. Hopefully they don't kill her off too soon. If they do.
It was also a bit strange seeing Peter Parker without Harry Osborn, but I suppose that can't be helped. It wouldn't be good for people to be able to draw too many parallels between this adaptation and the last. And I thoroughly enjoyed how they put in so much effort to avoid anyone saying the famous "With great power comes great responsibility" line. They managed it well.
I still don't like Curt Connors as a bad guy because he's really a mentor-figure towards Peter, but oh well. Random inner conflicts and stuff. Maybe it's a side-effect of turning into a giant lizard thing. I hope they'll incorporate the actual Venom storyline into future movies (because the Venom in Spider-Man 3 was an alien symbiote and not a Parker-Connors creation) because they definitely hinted at a second movie (this being a Marvel movie, there was no surprise when the after-credits scene appeared). It sucks that Dr Connors was turning into some kind of Norman Osborn wannabe though.
Okay, that's it. I feel glad I saw this movie and that it didn't suck and that there were moments for laughs and moments for feeling extremely touched and moments for hopeless romantics to sigh about Peter and Gwen. Yeah.
Good going, Marc Webb (so aptly named, too).
Okay see you.
P.S. Oh and if you look closely you'll see that Peter Parker and Curt Connors glasses had absolutely no degree because his image wasn't refracted through the glasses, and that there was this technique they used which blurred out the periphery of the frame and gave its centre a brighter colour, like the human eye does. Nice.
P.P.S. And went out to for a sushi buffet yesterday to celebrate MJ's birthday. Om nom.
P.P.P.S. Best Stan Lee cameo yet, hands down.
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