The Amazing Spider-Man

The Amazing Spider-man

  1. 136 minutes. PG 13.

“Thirty-eight of New York’s finest, versus one guy in a unitard.”

After coming back to the library after a long weekend, I received a note on my desk. It said, “Please get more Spider-Man books, you only had one and my two children are fighting over it.” When people think of classic children’s literature, they think of The Secret Garden or Charlotte’s Web, but as the move for comics to be a recognized literature format continues, classic superhero stories like Superman and Spider-Man should be right there with them. There’s something timeless about these tales that enchant children and adults alike. This is why Marvel and many other movie studios can keep re-imagining these characters over and over.  With so many amazing releases from Marvel studios from TV shows on Netflix to movie crossovers, you might want to purchase some additional copies, unless you want more crying children at your library.

Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield), high school student, lives with his relatives after his parents disappearance during his childhood. While cleaning out the basement, Peter discovers secret research files his scientist father tried to hide before his death. Peter sneaks into the Oscorp lab on a tour, hosted by his crush, Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone). When he stumbles into a top secret room, he is bitten by an experimental spider and begins to develop spider-like super powers. After Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) dies trying to stop a robbery that Peter could have prevented, he devotes his life to being a hero called Spider-Man. As Spider-Man searches for Uncle Ben’s killer, he tries cleaning up the streets.

When he’s not kicking butt, Peter helps Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans), his father’s old partner, with genetic experiments. With his help, there is a breakthrough on combining DNA between humans and animals. Connors begins testing on himself and turns into a giant lizard. This becomes Spider-Man’s first adversary.

Garfield is less awkward and dorky than his predecessor, Tobey Maguire, star of three Spider-Man movies in the last decade. This new Spider-Man is smart, resourceful, and funny without falling into the trap of being labeled a stereotypical “nerd.”  He is always cute, too. He doesn’t just magically take off his glasses and develop muscles after being bitten, like Tobey MaguireThere’s even a recent article devoted to Tobey getting “fat” since his role as Spider-Man. (They must be really hurting for news out there).  With the introduction of a third new Spiderman, Tom Holland, this role seems to be almost as cursed as Batman. (Ugh, Ben Affleck..really?)

Another great cast addition was Emma Stone. She is smart and resilient.  Kirsten Dunst ruined the previous Spider-Man movies for me in her role as Spider-man’s girlfriend, Mary Jane. I hate her almost as much as I hate Kristen Stewart and for the same reasons. She doesn’t act in Spider-Man movies, she just plays herself. Many fans might not know that Gwen Stacy was actually Spider-Man’s girlfriend before Mary Jane. Gwen is a pivotal and controversial character who represents the Silver Age of Comics. This is a time where Marvel became a major contender in the comic world with realistic super hero characters who weren’t always perfect. Gwen was also used to explain a scientific concept in one of the best science books I have ever read, The Physics of Superheroes by James Kakalios.

Gwen’s father, captain of the police force (Denis Leary), considers Spider-Man a menace. Leary plays the same role he plays in every movie, including the firefighter TV series, Rescue Me. This was okay, because it was exactly what was needed.  His role gave Gwen’s character more depth and offered a small glimpse into what police felt about a masked vigilante roaming the streets (I know what you’re thinking, I just criticized Kirsten Dunst for the same thing, but he didn’t bother me as much–perhaps it was because he had less screen time). He is a very similar character to Peter Parker’s future gruff newspaper boss, J. Jonah Jameson.

There’s always a famous first kiss in these movies. Everyone remembers the upside down Kirsten Dunst/Tobey Maguire kiss for some odd reason. Special thanks to the wikihow blog for providing the picture and writing a ridiculous article about how to recreate this kiss in real life (don’t try this at home).

The kiss between Emma and Andrew (who are dating in real life) had more debonair and romance. Peter uses it to reveal to Gwen that he is Spider-Man. It was a great movie moment that the audience was caught up in, especially when the 10-year-old kids in front of me said, “EWW, YUCK!”

I loved the old Spider-Man movies, despite Dunst, until I saw this one.  Although the special effects for the old trilogy were breath taking, the deeper characterization made this one shine. Sadly, the new movie was missing James Franco, because he automatically makes any movie a little more awesome.

This movie also included my favorite guest spot by comic book god, Stan Lee, as the school librarian who listens to music on his headphones while Spider-Man duels The Lizard in the background. Librarians might want to avert their eyes as the entire library is destroyed in their wake.

All in all, everything Marvel movie studio touches is worth seeing. They take great pains to make the characters true to the heroes in books that we fell in love with. That’s all a librarian can ask for.

 

Author: Jessica

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