Spider-man truly is "Amazing"

Rating: 10/10 (5 May 2007)

I saw this on opening day with a huge crowd of fellow Spidey fans. Some were adults were spider-man shirts, some women wearing Spider-man hats, a pre-movie contest from the theater staff, and of course, the little adorable munchkins with their die-hard Spider-man dolls and toys. The crowd was ecstatic and the feeling was that of a football game! I had chills! But on to the movie.... Folks it was nothing less than AMAZING! To me, it was worlds of a difference from Spider-man 2 and yet, it was still the same. If that doesn't make sense, then it will when you see the film. But what I mean by that is that you can still sense the same amount of passion and conflict between the characters. But it's different in that, Spider-man 2 (to me) seemed like such a bright, lighthearted, and glorious film especially at the end. Yet, this one seems to make the audience think "well, the glory days of Spidey 2 are over, this is the real gritty part of life. It's not all sunshine and rainbows." I'll give one non-spoiler example.... when tensions are high between Parker and MJ, Parker hears a police call from his scanner in his apartment. Parker turns to a depressed and upset MJ and says "uh, go get em tiger?... OK just kidding..." Kind of throws the whole glorious ending of Spidey 2 out the window. I felt there was a real sense of evil inside the "black-suited Spidey". I will admit there were some cheesy parts in it, but it only enhanced the story and really displayed Tobey Maguire's ability to pull some of these things off. I won't reveal any spoilers or give anything away for anyone but I will just tell you that the final fight scene had every single person, man, woman, and child in the theater standing up, clapping, and cheering. I haven't seen anything like that since I was at a football game! It was unbelievable! However, in the end, I guarantee there won't be a single dry eye. I'm not much of a crier but wow... what an ending. Now I have read countless reviews both professional and amateur. Most are very positive however I have to say that it does get a little bit old when people say that it was "too much", "too cheesy", or "lacked character development." Maybe there were too many villains, who knows, but in the end it will all fall into place. And yes it can get somewhat campy in certain scenes, but it never got too ridiculous to th point where it was in every minute of the movie. I think people can get obsessed with "dark" and "gritty" films and although this film is MUCH darker than it's predecessors, it's still somewhat uplifting in the very end. I would like to think that in such dark times that we live in, people would want to see movies that inspires them even if it's from a fictional superhero. Rather than something that makes you depressed and vengeful... All in all, a GREAT movie and the Best Spidey yet!