"Road to No Way Home" Re-Watch: The Amazing Spider-Man

 "The Amazing Spider-Man" (2012)

After it was decided that "Spider-Man 4" wasn't going to move forward, Sony immediately started working on rebooting the franchise. And, you know, why not start at the beginning and re-tell Spider-Man's origin? We just had a movie that told his origin ten years ago. It's time for another, right?

Principal photography on "The Amazing Spider-Man" began in December 2010 and concluded in April 2011. The film stars Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, Rhys Ifans as Dr. Curt Connors/The Lizard, Denis Leary as Captain George Stacy, Campbell Scott as Richard Parker, Embeth Davidtz as Mary Parker, Irrfan Khan as Rajit Ratha, Martin Sheen as Ben Parker and Sally Field as May Parker. The film was written by James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent and Steve Kloves. It was directed by Marc Webb. "The Amazing Spider-Man" premiered on July 3, 2012.

This costume is... something.

I am going to start this off by saying something controversial but quite brave. Watching "The Amazing Spider-Man" really made me think of "Man of Steel." I am not saying they are the same quality wise, but I feel like content wise they are very, very similar. In 2012, the MCU was only four years old and while Marvel was leaning hard into what made their characters great: the colorful costumes, the over the topness of it all, other superhero movies were trying to keep things a little more grounded. Both "Man of Steel" and "The Amazing Spider-Man" take a character that is kind of known for being more light hearted and a bit earnest and make them a bit darker, a bit grittier, a bit more emo. They take an origin story that is very well known and tweak and make it a bit more unnecessarily convoluted. In a lot of ways, it is kind of a head scratcher.

Andrew Garfield takes over the role of Peter Parker from Tobey Maguire and I'm going to say, while I love Andrew Garfield as an actor, I'm not a huge fan of his take on Peter. After watching "Spider-Man: No Way Home," I have softened to it. There's just something about his mumbly, emo take that just doesn't sit well with me. And then there is the skateboarding. Oh how I hate the skateboarding. I probably have an irrational hatred of Peter Parker skateboarding in this movie and I will completely cop to it. A lot of this feels like pandering to me. I have a good friend named Jonathan who I will sometimes talk to while I'm re-watching these movies. He's a Marvel fan like me and sometimes talking to him helps me crystallize my ideas. He said that it didn't feel like pandering to him but more like what these three Hollywood screenwriters felt how a teenager in the early 2010's would behave, particularly if they were a little socially awkward and big brained. And you know, he's probably right. But I still hate that fucking skateboard.

What is missing from me from Garfield's portrayal of Peter Parker is the joy, particularly when he gains his spider powers. It makes sense that Peter is angry. The movie really leans into that anger, particularly after Ben is killed. The majority of the movie he is just sullen. He walks with his head down. He doesn't make eye contact. And I sort of understand that when he's in Peter mode. But I feel like there should be a little bit of a shift when he's Spider-Man or when he's testing out his spider powers. I miss the joy that we got from Peter in the first movie when he's doing that. 

I really expected to see this shift when Peter is Spider-Man and is taking out criminals but this movie is really like light on one liners. Jonathan (I hope he's cool with all these shoutouts) mentioned that Garfield's Spider-Man is a bit snarkier and he is. But again, for me, Spider-Man isn't snarky. He's like a joke machine that is broken. He's throwing out joke after joke because he's scared and if he's joking he can't think of the danger he's in. The only time I really feel that is when he meets the car jacker. That whole sequence feels the most like "my Spider-Man." 

Always without the mask. 

Emma Stone is delightful as Gwen Stacy. She gives me everything that I really wanted from Kirsten Dunst's, Mary Jane. Gwen is her own person. She's smart. She's sassy. She sees Peter immediately. Their love story feels much more authentic than the love story between Peter and MJ because even though Peter is being real creepy where Gwen is concerned. Seriously, what is with these Peter's taking secret pictures of girls they like and in this Peter's case, having a photo of her as his computer background. Gwen sees Peter. She knows him and this love affair between them feels inevitable. Garfield and Stone have real chemistry, which makes sense because they dated for a few years. Gwen has agency in this movie, unlike Mary Jane who was just kind of revolving around Peter's sun while she waits to get captured. Gwen is never captured! She never shrieks for her life. She makes the antidote in the third act. She could always have more agency but when you compare it to Mary Jane in the Raimi trilogy, I mean, I'll take it.

Rhys Ifans, Ser Otto Hightower himself, portrays Doctor Curt Connors. Connors was a partner of Peter's father's at Oscorp and they were working on cross species genetics. Connors is facing heavy pressure to have a breakthrough because it's heavily inferred that his research will cure a dying Norman Osborn. Connors wants the breakthrough for himself to regrow his missing arm. Ifans as great as Connors. He's a fantastic actor and I'd be shocked if this was bad. There's nothing spectacular about his portrayal. I am going to say it's serviceable which sounds worse than it is. I couldn't help thinking about Alfred Molina as Doc Ock and comparing them, probably because I just watched "Spider-Man 2" and that isn't really fair to Ifans. I was happy to see the Lizard. Finally. I just wish he'd wore his lab coat in lizard form more often. Jonathan mentioned that it's a shame that Connors family doesn't appear in this movie and he's completely right. It would have humanized him more and gave audiences the empathy for him that I think we had for Ock in "Spider-Man 2."

One thing all the different iterations of the "Spider-Man" films have in common is that they really get the perfect actors to portray Aunt May and Uncle Ben. For the Garfield films we get Martin Sheen and Sally Field. I had completely forgotten that Martin Sheen played Uncle Ben. Sheen and Field don't get a lot to do. They dispense some sage wisdom. Support Peter. Ben dies. It's pretty much what you expect, but they of course smash it. I'm contractually obligated to say that it's criminal how underused Sally Field is in this movie. Even in the few scenes she has, she murders it and you just want more.

Why is Killer Croc wearing a lab coat?

"The Amazing Spider-Man" is a full reboot and so we get to see Peter's origin all over again, but tweaked a bit. In this case, a lot of focus is put on Peter's father, Richard Parker. The movie opens in flashback with young Peter finding his dad's office trashed during a game of hide and seek. This alarms the Parkers and so they take off leaving Peter with Ben and May. They are soon after killed in a plane crash. It seems that the Parkers were killed due to the advancement that Richard was making in the field of cross species genetics. It's clear that Norman Osborn had Peter's folks killed to get the formula that Richard was hiding and that Connors knew. And that the spider that bites Peter that gives him his powers is the product of his father's research. 

This is all fine, I guess, except that it is completely unnecessary. Spider-Man's origin is classic. As I've said before, it's one of those origins that has permeated the pop culture sphere to the point where almost everyone knows it. I understand they are trying to tweak it because there was just a Spider-Man origin on film ten years ago, but if the tweaks don't add anything, then why do them? If you take this away, it really doesn't change anything. It's not adding in a good or bad way. I feel like this focus on Richard Parker is kind of a detriment. Ben Parker's big thing is bestowing on Peter the mantra, "with great power, comes great responsibility." This is never uttered in this movie, though Ben does say that Richard always said that if you had the ability to help people then you have a responsibility to do that. I just don't understand the point of kind of robbing Uncle Ben of this moment. I feel like I would like this movie more if it started with Peter in college, he's been Spider-Man for a few years, Uncle Ben has been dead for a few years. I feel like that is kind of how Garfield was playing Peter which would make sense since he was 29 when this movie came out.

The pacing of this movie is kind of all over the place. I feel like we spend way too much time on the set up. We don't see Peter suit up for the first hour of the movie. That is too long. There's so much time spent in the first hour than the back half feels jam packed. We don't get a chance to catch our breath. It's pacing whiplash. 

No upside down kiss here...

I like "The Amazing Spider-Man" the best when it gets back to it's comic book roots. I love that Lizard's plan is to release a gas on to NYC that will turn every one into a lizard creature just like him. It's so wonderful and basic and feels like it was pulled directly from a Spider-Man comic book, which it very well could be. 

I like that Peter has web shooters in this movie. I get the reasoning behind the organic webbing and it's fine, but there's something about the mechanical web shooters. It adds something to the proceedings. There is the possibility that maybe Spider-Man will run out of webbing or they will get broken, both of which happen in this movie. It handicaps Spider-Man in a great way and makes his battles a little more unpredictable. One thing I will say, I'm not buying that Oscorp just sells that cable to just anyone or that Peter could afford it, but again, I'm willing to suspend disbelief here. We are talking about a teenager crimefighter with spider powers.

I love that Peter reveals his identity as Spider-Man to Gwen pretty much immediately. I definitely didn't need a whole movie and a half of him hiding it. That would have been so tiring. It's just another example of the Peter/Gwen relationship being better than the Peter/Mary Jane relationship. And it allows Gwen to do more than just be a victim.

The action scenes in "The Amazing Spider-Man" are all top notch. We get a classic Spider-Man fighting on a bridge sequence. I don't think I realized how commonplace those are but after watching these movies one right after another there is one in like every film. I liked how in this one Spider-Man suspends the cars from the side of the bridge. 

My favorite scene in the movie is the fight between Spider-Man and the Lizard at Midtown High. It's so cool. It's original. We haven't seen a fight like this really before in this kind of environment. I love how both the Lizard and Spider-Man use their surroundings to their advantage. Lizard quickly mixing up an explosive in the chemistry lab. Spider-Man telling Gwen he's going to throw her out the window. The Lizard's tail coming off and then it regrowing. "The Amazing Spider-Man" has my all-time favorite Stan Lee cameo. Lee is in the school library loudly listening to music on noise cancelling headphones while the Lizard and Spidey trade blows right behind him. He doesn't even realize he's almost crushed by a table. 

I love when the people of New York rally behind Spider-Man and we get a great scene of that. It turns out the dad of the boy that Spider-Man saved on the bridge is a crane operator and he rallies his fellow operators to use them to help Spider-Man cross town to get to the Oscorp building. 

The climactic battle between the Lizard, Spider-Man and Captain Stacy is kind of a let down. It feels very similar to the battle with Venom from "Spider-Man 3," which is not a great thing to be thinking about. The Lizard impales Captain Stacy with his claws and the Captain makes Peter promise he'll stay away from Gwen. Sure, dude. The death of Captain Stacy is sad and an homage to the comics, but outside of him being Gwen's dad, it's difficult to care about him because the movie hasn't done much to elevate him above plot device.

We get a mid credits scene of a shadowy man known as the Gentleman confronting Connors about Peter in his jail cell. Apparently, there's more secrets regarding Richard Parker. Oh joy.

I remember being "meh" on this movie when I first see it, but I honestly enjoyed it. 

Next up, Electro threatens Spidey in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2."

What do you all think? I know you Andrew Garfield defenders are out there. Please, let me know how I'm wrong in the comments.