Not bad.

Actually... quite good.

I've never been a Spider-Man fan. Only saw one of the movies from the previous franchise: "Spider-Man 2" with Dock Ock. But this new one, "The Amazing Spider-Man", has won me over.

I found it to be a well-crafted and genuinely entertaining movie. Didn't see any plot problems here for a change. If there are any glaring problems with the script, I either didn't notice or didn't care. I must admit, I did find myself caught up in the sweeping narrative and likable characters. Very different from my usual detached movie-watching experiences. The pacing here is very good... excellent, even... presenting us with a story that keeps itself focused on its primary goals without getting bogged down in extraneous stuff that doesn't need to be there.

One of the film's strengths is its even handling of each of its storytelling elements. We have a new origin story for Spider-Man, his love interest, his relationship with his extended family, and the villain, Mr. Lizard. None of these elements is over-played to an extent where it overshadows the rest. The love interest, for example, is present and accounted for, but it doesn't cast a shadow over the rest of the proceedings like I remember in the Dock Ock film. There is a balance here, and it's very welcome. Spider-Man gets to do some early vigilante stuff before moving on to engage and track down the villain while working out his new crime-fighting identity and the issues that come along with it (I feel his inner struggle while he's trying to tell his girlfriend that he's the vigilante who's been making headlines). I think the Lizard turned out to be a great villain. He's tough, not too goofy, not too vulnerable, and he's a guy I can sympathize with.

Which brings me back to the star of the show. Spider-Man is bad-ass here. He isn't a wimp like he was in that other film. He does falter a bit as he uses his new-found powers to mess with the school bully, but... who wouldn't do that kinda thing with new-found super-powers? Peter Parker is just... really likable here. I liked him a lot. While he does have vulnerabilities, I think they aren't over-played. Again, there's a balance. He's vulnerable and working on his personal issues, but he's also a bad-ass dude who rises to the occasion when the Lizard goes on the rampage. They have some genuinely entertaining brawls. And importantly, at the end Spider-Man does defeat the Lizard (as opposed to what happened in that other Spider-Man film I saw).

There was only one LOL moment. It was during Stan Lee's cameo, where he's wearing the headphones and is completely oblivious to a room-wrecking brawl going on right behind him. I understand it's supposed to be funny, but it's ridiculous and momentarily took me out of the action.

Anyway, thumbs up! I really liked this movie. Lots of web-slinging, lots of action, likable characters, and a balanced narrative. Good stuff.

Seen this movie a couple more times, and here's what comes to mind...

The Questionable Morality Of The Amazing Spider-Man

In the beginning, Peter Parker wants to visit Oscorp and meet Dr. Curt Connors, who worked with Peter's father on cross-species genetics. So... Peter just walks in. The lady at the front desk mistakes him for an intern, and Peter just goes along with it. He steals a name-tag that belongs to a guy named... Rodriguez? Rodrigo Guevera, or something like that. Then he joins the group of interns on a tour. The real Rodrigo shows up and is hauled off by two security guys while insisting emphatically that he's the real Rodrigo Guevera. Peter sees this while it's happening, and all he does is just kinda smirk.

So did Peter Parker just ruin this poor guy's career? What's gonna happen the next day when Rodrigo is supposed to show up for work and he doesn't show because some irresponsible kid impersonated him? I'm not an expert on law, but impersonating an intern to gain access to classified areas in a corporate building seems like the kind of thing that might be worth some big trouble. Especially if Rodrigo is able to show someone his ID or other evidence of who he is.

Speaking of which, the lady at the desk doesn't ask Peter for an ID. She just shows him where the name-tags are, and he grabs the first one he sees. I guess all the other interns could have been imposters as well. If you want a new career doing cool sciency stuff at Oscorp, just show up and pretend to be an intern. You can fudge the rest later by using big sciency words. No one's gonna notice or care.

So then we discover that Gwen Stefani--I mean, Stacy--is leading the tour. She's a hot girl from school, and she's already working at a major company that does cross-species genetics and other top secret science stuff? Eh, whatever. Peter tries to hide amongst the crowd so she doesn't recognize him. Then the tour group is introduced to Dr. Connors, who begins babbling about his work and posing science questions and stuff, and Peter steps up to answer by mentioning cross-species genetics stuff, which he read in his father's secret files. Dr. Connors is impressed, and Gwen Stefani now knows that Peter Parker from school has impersonated an intern. She takes him aside and looks at his name-tag while the rest of the tour group moves on. And then she does nothing about this breach of security because she likes Peter... or something. "Okay, you can stay, but you have to behave. And stay with the tour group."

So what does Peter do? He wanders off into an off-limits area, where he covertly observes a guy enter a pass-code to open a door. The guy meets with some scientists who emerge from the door, they talk, and leave. Peter enters the pass-code and gets into the top-secret area where the spiders are. He does what any teen would do (disturb the web), the spiders fall on him, he brushes them off, and one remains to later bite him and give him spidey powers.

I realize that Peter Parker has to get bitten by that spider so that we can have Spider-Man, but this sequence of events bothers me for its breaches of morality. I'm not an expert, but was a crime perhaps committed here?



Later, Peter is at a convenience store trying to purchase some milk, and he's short two pennies. The cashier won't let him take two pennies from the penny jar. Store policy; you gotta spend $10 to take a penny. So then the next guy in line knocks over some stuff. While the cashier is picking up the stuff, the guy grabs all the cash from the open register, tosses Peter his milk, and takes off. The cashier realizes what has happened and runs out shouting "Stop thief!" Peter does nothing to help and actually seems kinda pleased that the store owner got his comeuppance for quibbling over two pennies. Peter's uncle is out looking for him (because they had an argument earlier). His uncle tries to stop the thief, they grapple, and he's shot and dies. Peter learns this lesson the hard way, by losing his uncle. And by the mid-way point in the film he is talking to Gwen Stefani about his responsibility to confront the Lizard and deal with him (because Peter gave Dr. Connors the equation that helped him become the Lizard). What I like here is that he does step up to the plate and start becoming responsible. He learns from his mistakes.

Well, some of them, at least.



I think there was another questionable morality situation, but it'll hafta wait for another time, as I can't remember it at the moment.

Still a good movie, and still one that I like very much.