The Amazing Spider-Man

I am pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed the film. The only thing that interested me from the trailers was his new fangled compact web shooters.  It was not a perfect film but it gave me a more authentic Peter Parker than the previous films.

What I Loved:

1. Garfield’s Peter Parker… he gave the character a soul. He made the audience empathize with Peter’s joy and pain.
2. The scientifically gifted Peter Parker: the film clearly and smoothly demonstrated throughout the film.
3. Eugene “Flash” Thompson had some depth… he wasn’t another generic one dimensional bully. He offered Peter a proverbial shoulder to cry on after his uncle died and he reacted gently to Pete’s outburst. He even went the extra step of checking up on Pete some time after.  These acts of kindness redeemed Flash in my eyes.
4. The introduction of Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker’s true love and intellectual equal: Emma Stone was a better fit in this role than Kirsten Dunst was as MJ.
5. The compact web shooters: I loved this design. It makes sense and wouldn’t mind if the comic Peter Parker refined his classics to this model.
6. The chemistry that Garfield and Stone had on screen, it didn’t feel wooden or forced like some other super hero romances.
7. Captain Stacy centering Peter by telling him that Spider-Man’s blind vendetta put innocent people’s lives at stake. He prevented this film from going to the dark places that the previous films have traversed.
8. I loved Sally Field and Martin Sheen as May and Ben Parker.  I was visibly shaken when Ben wrestled the crook and was shocked. I don’t recall being emotionally moved in the Raimi films.
9. The animal motiff, like Peter hunting like a spider and using his web to track his prey.

What Irked Me:

1. Curt Connors wasn’t a very interesting or compelling villain. He lacked a certain spark and his motivation wasn’t believable either. I felt that depriving Connors of his family weakened his overall potency in addition to lumping him with Norman Osborne. His passion would have been more believable if he wanted to be whole for the sake of his family, especially his young son.  I would have loved if the Lizard was a separate personality instead of an uninhibited and unhinged Connors.  If they fleshed out the Lizard as Golem to Connor’s Smeagol would have added some depth but I guess time constraints prevented this.  The mysterious guest at the end was more interesting that Connors… I will end my rant now… forgive me for exposing my geek.
2. The web fluids: I disliked the fact that Peter didn’t invent it.  He just lifted it from OsCorps. It takes something away from his overall brilliance IMO.
3. The lack of accelerated healing (well not quite Wolverine but faster than the average human’s).
4. The loose ends like the people on the Q train that saw Pete display his powers or the first thug & his gang who got their collective arses kicked by Pete. Wouldn’t they have gone to the police or tabloids after Spider-Man debuted. How come only one spider escaped? It would be interesting if some more escaped and we ended up with some more Spider-People.