Anyone Going To Watch The Amazing Spiderman

[key2win]

Is anyone going to see The Amazing Spiderman when it comes out on July 3. I am still annoyed that Sony decided to reboot the movie franchise instead of making Spiderman 4 when they had it all ready to go. I personally loved the original Spiderman movies, except the third one. I dont want to see a rehashed Spiderman 1 all over again.

[leiber88]

I agree, but Sony is in it to make money and it is easier to make a new 3 part series than a 4,5,6

[ocanseco55]

it sucks they reboot it but its looks amazing I cant wait to see it!

[leiber88]

Looks good from the promos, although the new batman should be the tops for the summer

[key2win]

Here is the review from IGN. Doesnt look good.

The Amazing Spider-Man Movie Review - IGN

This isn't right. As I sit down to review The Amazing Spider-Man, I find that I am not terribly moved by the film in any way. As a longtime comic-book fan and Spidey enthusiast, how can I be so blasé about his latest big-screen incarnation?

Perhaps the problem -- and there most definitely is a problem here -- lies in the fact that Sony and director Marc Webb's reboot of old Webhead feels so samey. The Amazing Spider-Man relies on many of the character and plot beats from Sam Raimi's original 2002 film, meshes them with a "real-world" Dark Knight vibe, and unevenly tries to balance these elements with Webb's (500) Days of Summer style of meet-cute.

It's now clear that the core concept of the film is fundamentally flawed: Redoing the origin story of Peter Parker is a mistake. The return of kindly Uncle Ben and his great responsibility spiel (the words of which are oddly never actually spoken), the bullying in high school, the acquiring/discovering/mastering of Peter's powers, the villain who in a bid for the greater good turns into a monster… you can recite this script in your spider-sleep, but it most certainly won't make your spider-sense tingle.

The good news is Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone really spark to one another in their scenes together, which are mainly of the Peter/Gwen variety rather than the Spidey/Gwen type. Stone is impossible not to adore, and while Garfield pours his heart into the hard-knock role of Peter -- and seriously, this version of the character really cannot catch a break -- his often mopey, teary-eyed riff on Queens' greatest geek doesn't always feel like the wise-cracking Peter Parker we know and love. (Even Spidey's wise-cracks themselves are off, either falling flat or oddly playing as more mean-spirited than fun.)

The Amazing Spider-Man is almost like a retconned version of Raimi's first film, where the first 30 minutes of origin have been stretched into a two-hour-plus picture, fleshing out details of little consequence, expanding on plot points that the audience has trouble caring about, and not bothering to answer lots of questions that are set up. I won't get into those questions here for fear of spoiling things, but suffice to say this film shares a certain sensibility with another of this summer's disappointments, Prometheus.

Rhys Ifans plays father figure to Peter and his soon to be enemy Dr. Curt Connors/the Lizard as alternately sympathetic and detestable; at times we're led to believe that he had a hand in the death of Peter's parents years earlier (played by Campbell Scott and Embeth Davidtz in a much-ado-about-nothing flashback that feels like something got left on the editing room floor) while at others it's almost as if he and Pete should be opening up their own science lab together. The fully formed Lizard, achieved through CGI, is a workmanlike if not terribly convincing effect, and Connors' late-game tendency to talk to himself feels terribly similar to Willem Dafoe's Norman Osborn/Green Goblin.

Speaking of father figures, Peter has no lack of them. In addition to his absent dad, Martin Sheen's Uncle Ben, and the malignant Connors, there's also Gwen Stacy's father George Stacy (Denis Leary), who happens to be the NYPD captain heading up the search for the vigilante Spider-Man. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Captain Stacy, actually, and the character feels like he has one of the more fully formed arcs in the film. Leary's turn as a dad protective of the teenage scoundrel sniffing around his daughter is a lot of fun, and it's telling that this is one of the elements of the plot that is not a redo from the Raimi era (and no, James Cromwell's bit part as Stacy in Spidey 3 doesn't count).

Webb has said that he wanted to keep Garfield in the Spider-Man suit as much as possible, in order to convey the feel of an actual kid in the tights as opposed to a stuntman. It's an interesting proposition but it doesn't always work here. Perhaps this is due to the nature of Spidey himself, whose antics by their very nature belie what a regular person could do. As a result, the Garfield Spider-Man on the ground doesn't match very well with the one in the sky, and the set pieces involving web-spinning never quite rise to the, ahem, heights of previous Spidey films. The POV shots are cool, but there's not a ton of them. And one of the big action moments near the film's finale -- involving a bunch of warm-hearted construction workers led by C. Thomas Howell -- evokes giggles rather than cheers.

That said, the film does feature some striking imagery, such as Spidey splayed out on a full web in the sewers, or the tiny figure of Peter standing atop a skyscraper, truly giving us the scope of what a man who climbs 80-story buildings would look like. And yet, the darker, grittier approach often feels off, as in an early sequence when Peter faces a gang of gotta-dance thugs who could almost be members of the Jets and the Sharks. Or possibly refugees from Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. (The 3D is present mostly in the action scenes, and when it's there it's solid.)

The Amazing Spider-Man stands as a lesson for all reboots. Audiences don't need to go back to Origin Story 101 with these characters, no matter how much spit and polish filmmakers put on such a tale. And simply copying the success of other pictures -- let's go dark like Chris Nolan! -- isn't the key to super-success either. Undiscerning audiences might be mildly diverted by Webb's film, but alas it won't have the lasting impact of many of its superhero peers.

Overall - 6 Out Of 10 Stars - Okay

[key2win]

Movie came out today. If anyone watches it, let me know what you think about it.

[key2win]

'Amazing Spider-Man' Sets Tuesday Record - Box Office Mojo

Any concerns that audiences wouldn't turn out for another Spider-Man origin story were put to rest on Tuesday, as The Amazing Spider-Man earned a nearly-amazing $35 million in its opening day. That's the highest Tuesday gross ever ahead of the first Transformers movie, which debuted on the exact same day back in 2007.

Transformers did burn off some demand with shows from late Monday shows, though, and adding those grosses ($8.8 million) to its Tuesday gross ($27.9 million) puts it slightly ahead of Spider-Man. Also, The Amazing Spider-Man had the lowest opening day yet in the franchise behind Spider-Man 3 ($59.8 million), Spider-Man 2 ($40.4 million) and the original Spider-Man ($39.4 million).

[key2win]

Weekend Report: 'Spider-Man' Swings High But Falls Short of Predecessors - Box Office Mojo

The Amazing Spider-Man got off to a very good start over the past six days, though it didn't perform at the same level as the previous series entries.

The Spider-Man reboot earned an estimated $65 million for the three-day weekend. Adding in its previous three days of grosses, the new version of the webslinger's story had a $140 million six-day opening.

[key2win]

Weekend Report: 'Ice Age' Doesn't Melt in Fourth Outing - Box Office Mojo

In its second weekend, The Amazing Spider-Man fell 44 percent to an estimated $35 million. That's a fine hold for a comic book movie, and suggests that it's being greeted with good word-of-mouth. However, that second weekend tally is substantially less than that of any of the previous Spider-Man movies. On Sunday, The Amazing Spider-Man is expected to pass $200 million.