The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

 

This movie came out while I was in residency and thus was completely off my radar until recently when I started watching the MCU. It's a good movie, and I think Andrew Garfield is a good actor. It's considered a reboot of the series, which I guess makes sense considering it came out 10 years after the original Tobey Maguire/Sam Raimi Spider-Man film. However, watching it in the context of just watching the original Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy, it's difficult to understand the purpose of this movie because it is nearly the exact same movie as 2002's Spider-Man. It's a similar situation to 2015's Fantastic Four, which was nearly identical to the original Fantastic Four.  The Amazing Spider-Man goes a bit more into the background of Peter's parent's story, but otherwise tells the same story of a geeky high school kid who gets bit by a spider and develops super powers. He lets a criminal go, who subsequently kills his uncle. He feels guilty and fights crime. I've seen this movie before.

Garfield's Spider-Man is funnier than Maguire's. I actually laughed out loud during a couple of scenes, especially when he captures the car jacker. It reminded me a bit of Deadpool. Maguire's Spider-Man villains are better. I love Dafoe's Green Goblin. The Lizard character was just OK. Similar to the Sandman, he was somewhat forgettable. I thought they could have something interesting develop with Norman Osborn being mentioned as alive, but they never really developed that storyline beyond mentioning. Maybe he will appear in the next movie?

Another big difference was the absence of MJ.  She was nowhere to be found in this movie, not even being mentioned. Instead, Gwen Stacy was the main female character. This, despite telling essentially the same story as 2002's Spider-Man where MJ was the main female character. In the original Raimi trilogy, Gwen wasn't introduced until the third movie. I rather enjoyed the friction between Gwen and MJ as Peter was taken over by Venom in that movie. Substituting MJ for Gwen isn't a big deal, it's just an odd choice since the original story featured MJ. Maybe the comics influenced the decision? The big question is who is the better Gwen: Emma Stone or BDH?