The Amazing Spiderman (TAS) review. (with Spoilers)
Rebooting the superhero movie that has been so familiar is exceedingly risky. "With great power, comes great responsibility" was the main theme of the first film while the new one tells about having the ability to be committed to your responsibilities. These lessons kind of stayed with you after every film. Seriously, the first has more impact for me than the latter.
The new Peter here is genius with an ability to solve equations and invent cool stuffs instantly yet in school seems to be an average guy. He got his powers the same way Tobey had it then. Tobey had MJ, Andrew has Gwen.
In the case of storytelling, the first film did a very solid way of connecting the dots while TAS forgets how to bring the puzzles back together. It’s hard to explain how I never seem to appreciate his life story here. I was never rooting from him. It’s like he’s not fighting for a really worthy cause. Tobey’s reason to protect his loved ones has become his driving force, while Andrew’s aim to kill the Lizard has no sense of passion in it. Tobey saves lives because of his Uncle’s resounding last words, while Andrew’s reason to be a hero isn’t that clear here.
The first film tackled friendship while the new one didn’t, while the romance is kinda more expressed well by Andrew and Emma than by Tobey and Kirsten. TAS tried to be emotional and serious, which made it, I think, unfit for a superhero film. It has its emotional tearjerker moments where the actors really pulled it off better than the original.
The Lizard is scarier than Green Goblin but is less dangerous. Green Goblin’s bombs kill dozens while the Lizard is only after his agenda to make everybody looks like him, a lizard. GG wants power, L wants equality. GG’s son, which is Pete’s bestfriend, has even made the story even more interesting for the first film while Lizard’s connection to Pete’s original father wasn’t so special here. The director could have pulled a more villain concept of the Lizard.
The web actions in TAS are fantastic! It’s as if you’re with Spiderman in every jump he makes. But the fight scenes between him and Lizard weren’t satisfying. He never had enough bruises the way a hero should have. In the former films, I like Spiderman 2, with Peter fighting Dr Octopus’ scenes, than him stopping Green Goblin in part 1.
All in all, TAS was never better than Spiderman, but is equaled with X-Men First Class. It tries to be Dark Knight but failed to give enough dark moods in it. The comical antics is a bit funny but not as funny as the first film and Avengers. Stunts and acting here are better.
