Non-spoilery review of The Amazing Spider-Man

[tawg]

It's good! I honestly wasn't sold on Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker before I saw the film, but he does a really great job of playing Peter as this awkward, adorable kid who is full of all of this mixed-up energy. Emma Stone does a really great job as Gwen Stacy, and my one quibble there is that Gwen didn't have a bigger, active role in the movie.

Comments

[wallmakerrelict]

Let me guess. The scene that made you cry. Did it involve... cranes? (If so, I totally cried then too, don't worry).

spoilers ahead, for anyone reading the comments...

I really liked this movie. Especially the fact that they didn't bash you over the head with Peter's character development. And at least one of those plotlines that was dropped (finding Uncle Ben's killer) really needed to be dropped. Going after him was turning Peter into a vigilante with a personal agenda, which we saw really eerily when he came close to torturing that carjacker. Then he turned it around and realized that he needed to drop his vendetta if he was going to truly follow Uncle Ben's legacy and, you know, help people. It might have been nice if that plotline had been brought up again and given some closure, but I think if he had actually caught the guy in the end it would have undone that whole turning point of his character.

[tawg]

Yup, that's the one. I was this close to gross sobbing in the cinema.

And I agree entirely. I think that the story of the killer could be dropped because the PLOT of Peter's growth steered away from plain and clear revenge. Rather than focussing his life on the negative point of Ben's death, Peter instead turned to the positive point of Ben's manifesto - that we have a moral obligation to help others. The hunt for Ben's killer was shown to not help anyone - it wasn't helping Peter, it's drive in Peter was hurting Aunt May, it was damaging a lot of relationships in Peter's life. There's also the argument with Gwen's dad, which sent the message that there are larger plans at work, which I think also justified the plot veering away from the revenge motif. Or do I mean 'avenge' instead of 'revenge'? The Avengers has just changed the meaning of that word for me...

[wallmakerrelict]

Exactly! Especially that bit about Chief Stacy pointing out that Peter didn't actually know what the hell he was doing, so where did he get off looking down on cops? It would have been so easy to turn is character into the stereotypical idiot who gets in the way and doesn't understand the importance of Spiderman, but instead he comes across as abrasive but, well, right. Which in the end is much more interesting and gives Peter a lot more room for growth.

Haha, my boyfriend and I talked a solid stream of meta about this movie on the way back from the theater. I wish I had taped us, because I have so many feels about it and now I'm having trouble organizing my thoughts.

(I think "revenge motif" is correct. Peter was going to get revenge by avenging Uncle Ben? Is that how you words?)

[dave_baker]

Apparently the building in Spiderman was supposed to be in background shots in Avengers (because apparently the people at Marvel at least want hints they're in the same universe) but post production didn't line up and the building wasn't designed in time to be included. Dang.

I like the theory that the masses of cranes are because of repairs made to the damage caused during the Avengers.