The Human Spider

Well, now, I feel sheepish. Here I've been with a review of The Amazing Spiderman since Tuesday and it's now the week's end that I finally get around. Promptness, obviously, remains my number one priority lesson to learn. How can I possibly make it up to the unknown fans? 


Review.


Right, then. What has Marc Webb taken from cinema's emergency ward and successfully rehabilitated? Hint: not Lindsay Lohan. If you guessed Spiderman, congratulations, you pay attention to worthy matters. As of 3 July, your friendly neighborhood Spiderman webcrawled/swung back into the hearts and minds of nerds the world over. 


Starring Andrew Garfield (The Social Network; The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus), Emma Stone (Superbad, Easy A, Zombieland), and Rhys Ifans (Pirate Radio, The Replacements, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 1), this ensemble cast with supporting roles from Martin Sheen and Sally Field (Uncle Ben and Aunt May, respectively) brought the webslinger's adventures back to life. 


In a new paragraph, let's go more into details on the actors, their characters, and the script. Andrew Garfield picks up Spidey's mantle five years after Tobey Macguire swung out of the costume. His acting gave that sense of believability with Peter Parker back in the high school nerd persona. He brings the perfect combination required for Parker and Spiderman that Macguire just didn't hit. Garfield brought comedy, severity, romance, and concern over his character's intentions. 


Emma Stone worked her magic yet again on the screen. As a natural blonde, she fit like a glove as Gwen Stacy. While seeing Bryce Dallas Howard as Gwen was positively gorgeous, Stone added into the closest adaptation of the comics we've seen so far. Her history of comic relief mixed with genuine concern and dedication to a role played well to draw in more of the audience into seeing her as Parker's real love interest. 


Rhys Ifans as Dr. Curt Connors a.k.a. "The Lizard" was phenomenal. Granted, Willem Dafoe made an excellent villain as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin, I really had the feel of Ifans as the man-with-good-intentions-gone-insane after his first brush with power. Hell, I even preferred Webb's Lizard iteration. Why? This added to the humanity of the villain. What good has a villain when you can't see what he/she was before or could be again? 


As far as the script goes with just the above three actors, I could not have been happier. "You found my weakness! It's small knives!" Hilarious, catchy, and exactly something Parker/Spiderman would pull off. One high and low: Stan Lee's cameo and no Bruce Campbell cameo. Hell yes to the first and damn it to the second. Just have to hail to both kings, you know? 


Without revealing too much, the general premise laid out more backstory than Raimi could imagine doing. A glimpse of Parker's parents, what his father was working on, and the importance he played with Connors and Oscorp. Webb can surely hash out more elaboration in the future installments which I'm guessing will become a trilogy or possibly more. Whether my predictions are aces or I'm just pissing in the wind, I'm on board the Spidey Express. 


I give The Amazing Spiderman a traditional score of 8/10, 4/5, and my personal JCRS score of "Get off the f*cking couch and see this movie!" This I will say as a negative: the film felt rushed. Production value, I understand, just the belief that more could have been included if more running time was given. Oh, and one more thing. That post-credits scene........w.......t........f? Norman Osborn? Otto Octavius? Quentin Beck? Possibly the first, not likely on the other two. But, damn. Wouldn't it be awesome to start seeing some of the original villains like Vulture or Mysterio? Maybe Scorpion or Rhino? Start sending those letters, boys and girls! 


Couple more things:


1) Saw the one, the only......Smash Mouth live in Flower Mound last night at Bakersfield Park. Once I start downloading the vids, I'll work some into future posts. And yes, they were f*cking legen-wait for it............................................................................................................-DARY!!!!!! 


2) The collector's edition for Assassin's Creed III is officially announced for North America retailing at around $100-120 which includes a nine inch statue of Connor, Revolutionary War flag, Assassin logo belt buckle, and additional DLC. Pre-order at your local Gamestop where it's always power to the players. 


3) Watch The Warriors now, please. It's just too good a movie to pass up your entire life. 


And, most importantly, that ever-important question of what DO you do with a BA in English? #279- Leave your summer semester research paper until the last minute because you're damn tired from having to wake up early every morning, rush to class, then read/write until dawn only to rinse/repeat. 


I have been watching Chuck, though, so I can't really complain. 


Jonesy signing off.