Marvel May - The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

          Hey guys, Chuck here. Okay, so after 2007's release of Spider-Man 3, director Sam Raimi did begin development on a sequel, Spider-Man 4, which would have seen the main cast return alongside a few new faces. However, Sony Pictures needed to have the film ready for a 2012 release date due to contracts with Marvel Entertainment requiring that Sony release a Spider-Man film at least five years after the release of the previous film, failure in doing so will result in the film rights reverting back to Marvel. Unfortunately, Sam Raimi felt he would be unable to meet the May 2012 release date, so the film was scrapped, and Sony decide to reboot the Spider-Man series with The Amazing Spider-Man. 

         The movie opens with a sequence of Peter Parker as a child, where he notices that his father's office has been ransacked. Peter's parents, Richard and Mary Parker, take Peter to the home of his Uncle Ben and Aunt May, as they are forced to flee, never to be seen again. Years later, we meet the now teenage Peter, whose hobbies include science, photography, and skateboarding. Yeah, this Peter rides a skateboard. Cool. One day, after school, Peter helps his uncle clearing out the flooded basement, where Peter finds his father's bag, finding several things such as research papers and files tying Peter's father with Oscorp Industries. 

        Peter then goes to Oscorp, where he joins a group of interns meeting with Dr. Curt Connors, who is working as a scientist at Oscorp, and is working on a revolutionary project involving cross-species genetics, particularly crossing the DNA of humans with reptiles. Peter then wanders around, entering an area showcasing Oscorp biocable, which is based on the webbing of spiders, eventually entering a room filled with spiders, one of which bites Peter on the back of the neck. On the train ride home, Peter begins to exhibit bizarre powers, many of which are identical to that of a spider. 

          Peter decides to test his new skills, and also goes to meet with Connors directly, and Peter shows him a missing part of the formula that Connors was working on with Peter's father. Said missing piece was the decay rate algorithm, which Peter was able to figure out. Connors invites Peter to stop by Oscorp tower after school to work on the project with him. At school, Peter catches a basketball, and messes with school bully Flash Thompson, and ultimately breaks a glass backboard with a slam dunk, causing the school to call Uncle Ben, who had to trade shifts at work. Ben tells Peter that he'll have to meet with Aunt May on her way home that night. 

         At Oscorp, Peter and Connors work on adding the decay rate algorithm to Connors' formula, and in spite of several simulated failures, a successful simulation finally happens, and the complete formula is created, with Connors injecting it into one of two laboratory mice, Fred and Wilma. Arriving late at night, Peter faces an enraged Uncle Ben, who tells him to apologize to Aunt May, who tells.him there's no need to apologize, and she's capable of walking home by herself. Uncle Ben gives a speech to Peter about Richard's philosophy about responsibility, and the two have a spat on the fact that Richard wasn't there to tell Peter this himself, with Peter taking off, and Ben goes after him. Peter goes to a convenience store to buy a bottle of milk, but the clerk tries to stiff him by a couple of cents, making a jackass remark in the process. A long-haired patron with a star tattoo on his left arm knocks some items off the counter, and takes a handful of cash from the register, and tosses Peter the milk he wanted. The thief gets away, but the clerk yells for someone to stop him, leading to Ben intervening, resulting in him getting shot, and dying with Peter by his side. 

          Peter then decides to go after the man who killed Uncle Ben, and after a failed attempt, decides to mask up. We then get a montage of Peter working on his attire, including buying a spandex jumpsuit online, using Oscorp biocable to create his web shooters, and finally revealing his full suit. Meanwhile, the crooks that Peter has been nabbing have been taken by him to the police, which comes at the chagrin of NYPD Captain George Stacy, whose daughter, Gwen, is a classmate of Peter's. Oh, by the way, Gwen is also Connors' assistant at Oscorp. Gwen invites Peter over for dinner, where he and George have a tense conversation about the masked superhero swinging around New York. 

         Meanwhile, Connors is about to lose his serum, as an Oscorp executive plans to test it at a local V.A. hospital on wounded soldiers, and Connors first tries it on himself, which regrows his missing arm, but eventually causes a further mutation, which fully takes hold during a cab ride over the Williamsburg Bridge. Peter suits up and goes to the bridge to help out, saving several lives, and even rescues a child to his father. When the father asks Peter who he is, he replies by introducing himself as Spider-Man. 

        Connors eventually reverts back to normal, and the next day, Peter visits him during a free track. Peter and Connors have a chat, with Connors warning of a new reptilian species that, if threatened, can become aggressive, which Peter implies means that Connors IS the Lizard creature from the previous night. Peter then goes to warn George about Connors, and he puts an APB on Connors, and has an officer take Peter back to school. Peter suits up, heads into the sewers, and has photos taken of the Lizard as the two fight. After the fight, Peter goes to Gwen to get patched up, and Connors realizes that Peter is Spider-Man. Peter and Gwen work to create an antiserum to cure Dr. Connors, who plans to use an Oscorp dispersal unit to spread his serum across the city, turning all of New York into lizards. 

          After a fight through the school, which includes possibly one of the best Stan Lee cameos in the history of Marvel movies, Peter and Connors' fight spills out to the streets where George tries to arrest Peter, but decides to let him help stop Connors instead. Peter, who got shot in the leg, shows signs of being unable to make it, but the guy whose son Peter saved earlier get in touch with some other guys he works with to use some cranes to help get Peter to Oscorp a lot faster. Peter finally makes it, and he and Connos have their fight, which George helps out with as well, giving Peter the cure that Gwen finished for him. The cure is released, Connors and some of his lizards mutations are cured, and George dies of his wounds, telling Peter the city needs him, but to leave Gwen out of it. Connors goes to prison, and Peter and Gwen out their relationship on hold for the time being, but hinting that such a thing won't last, as Peter protect the city of New York as Spider-Man. 

       Okay, so one thing that is different about Sony's approach with The Amazing Spider-Man is that they wanted to make the film feel more grounded and based in legitimate science, similarly to how Christopher Nolan approached the character of Batman with The Dark Knight trilogy. And in that respect, I think that writer James Vanderbilt and director Marc Webb did an excellent job with this movie, as it feels more like a movie and less like a comic book adaptation. However, I think where audiences had issues with that at the time is that Spider-Man is supposed to be a bright and colorful comic book character, and the idea of going darker and taking a similar approach to Batman sounded a bit odd to mainstream audiences. 

        The cast for this movie was terrific. Andrew Garfield definitely embodies all of the quippy, smartass qualities of being Spider-Man, and is pretty decent as Peter Parker. I really loved Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, and I bought the two of them as a couple more than I did with Maguire and Dunst as Peter and Mary Jane in the earlier films. Rhys Ifans is definitely threatening and terrifying as the Lizard, and is definitely entertaining as Dr. Connors. But the biggest improvement for me was with Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Martin Sheen and Sally Field are excellent in these roles, and definitely feel more like who these characters were in the comics, and because we got a lot more of Uncle Ben in this movie, his death comes off as more tragic. I also really enjoyed Denis Leary as Captain George Stacy, and his performance and mannerisms definitely come off as a hardened New York City Police captain. I also enjoyed other cast members like Chris Zylka, Irrfan Khan and C. Thomas Howell. 

       The suit design for Spider-Man is definitely unique, and definitely fits the darker, more grounded time of this movie. However, even after seeing the return of the Lizard in No Way Home, I still feel a little split over the design, as it feels more humanoid than reptilian. I dunno, even ten years later, it feels off to me. I do like, however, that we get some focus on Peter's parents, Richard and Mary. Both Campbell Scott and Embeth Davidtz did a great job here, and the idea that Peter's father had ties to Oscorp was brilliant. I like the idea that Oscorp is the through line of the movie, and that Oscorp is what ties a lot of the main characters together. Cool. 

        Overall, I enjoyed The Amazing Spider-Man. It's just different enough that it can stand on its own without being compared to the earlier trilogy of Spider-Man movies. While definitely a bit too much on the dark side, I still had fun seeing it in IMAX ten years ago. I'm giving The Amazing Spider-Man a rating of 4.85/5. This is Chuck signing off, and join me on Wednesday as Marvel May finishes out the Spider-Man movies with The Amazing Spider-Man 2.