Bob's Quick Look - The Amazing Spiderman (2012)

(Reminder: I tend to wait a week or so, give or take depending on the hype, before I see a movie in the theater. Okay, moving on…)
By now, everybody should know the story of Spiderman. A teenager with a 180 iq is bitten by a genetically engineered spider and becomes a super hero.

*spoiler alert* In this installment we learn that Peter’s father was a scientist and his work on cross-genetic research (or whatever they called it) was a.) what made him have to leave Peter with Aunt Mae and Uncle Ben and b.) linked to what gave Spiderman his abilities. Mr. Parker’s former colleague is working on developing the cross genetic serum for Oscorp because it’s founder, Norman Osborn (nudge nudge, wink wink) is in a bad state of health and needs a cure. Dr. Connors, at the threat of being shut down, tests the serum on himself. His missing arm grows back, and he becomes a giant lizard, and it’s Spidey to the rescue in the middle of his moral conundrum. 


For the most part this was a pretty good movie. The action was done practically as much as possible instead of doing everything on a computer, which I liked. The film moves pretty well, only slowing down in a couple of places. The casting choices were all pretty much spot on with nobody trying to “steal” the scene, which has a way of killing movies for me. 
I did have one question about this movie; is it a reboot or a remake? I thought I was having deja-vu when watching this film until I realized that the story, much of overall theme, and the pacing were very similar to Sam Raimi’s 2002 Spiderman film. They are both, for the most part, coming of age tales focusing on responsibility with a bit of romance on the side. But, in my opinion, this movie does a slightly better job showing Peter Parker’s growth as a person and as a hero. 
Many of the differences between the two films are small, yet important. Many fans were put of by the fact that Peter Parker was able to spin webs naturally, which he was not able to do until much later in the comic books. This movie goes back to the original idea of Peter Parker building artificial web shooters, which shows the level of his technical expertise. Also, this movie goes to the original story lines in his love interest, ie Gwen Stacy rather than Mary Jane, who came in much later. These difference would be unimportant to the casual fan, but were much more appeasing to the die hard fans. I did like the idea of the web shooters versus natural ability. The idea of Peter falling for the daughter of the cop who is out for Spidey’s head made for good conflict, but getting down to it, Emma Stone could have played either role, and it would have been better than Kirsten Dunst (she’s done good stuff, but her performances as Mary Jane were…lacking.) 
The one thing I missed in this movie was the Daily Bugle and the character of J. Jonah Jameson, but I understand he cannot come in until Peter is out of high school and shooting for them. Maybe in the sequel?
This is a pretty good summer flick. In a lot of ways, I like this better than the 2002 version, but like I said, they are very similar.