Spiderman Begins

Rating: 7/10 (5 June 2019)

Following the release of Spiderman 3, which was a major box office hit but was seen as a high letdown by most of the fan base, Sony Pictures and director Sam Raimi sent to work on making a fourth Spiderman film that would conclude Peter Parker's story arch as Sam felt he could right the wrongs of the previous film and give the fans the proper finale they wanted. However, Sony's meddling would sadly continue as producer Avi Arad and the other studio executives continued to pester Raimi with their own suggestions such as filming the movie in 3D and insisting on having Carriage in the movie. Things were made worse as Raimi hated every draft of the script that was given to him but that wasn't the only problem he had to deal with. Besides the non-stop meddling from Sony, another issue was the fact that the film's production was shaping up to be a mess despite the amount of talent involved as the film was being rushed for a 2011 release date with a lousy screenplay featuring a bleak story that would have divided audiences and the with the film being shot in 3D, that meant that Sam would have had to start shooting sooner in order for the film to be finished on time. With mounting pressure from the studio and the amount of work increasing on the film, Sam Raimi finally decided to jump ship and with no director, Spiderman 4 was canceled soon after. However, a plan was in place at Sony that would allow them to hold on to the Spiderman property until 2015. Screenwriter James Vanderbilt had already begun writing a treatment for a reboot of the character as Avi Arad wanted to do something akin to Batman Begins for Spiderman. Later on, Sony chairwoman Amy Pascal hired indie director Marc Webb to direct the film but Avi would insist that the film was an interquel likely dreading the hostile implications the term reboot had. Nevertheless, it appeared that Sony's reboot of the webhead paid off when the film was released in July of 2012. Despite some people complaining that the plot of The Amazing Spiderman was a carbon copy of the first Spiderman film from 2002, the film still did well with critics, audiences and the box-office.
Now, my experience with The Amazing Spiderman is limited as I never saw the film in the theater when it first came out and given how I wasn't a big fan of comic book movies at the time, the film simply didn't interest me. However, a few years back, I decided to watch it in preparation for seeing Spiderman Homecoming and upon thinking back on The Amazing Spiderman, while there are things that I did enjoy about the movie such as the acting and the musical score, other elements like the story and characters left a lot to be desired in my eyes.
The story opens with a young Peter Parker stumbling upon his father's research and seeing it burgled. Alarmed, Richard and Mary Parker gather up critical documents and take Peter to the home of his Aunt May and Uncle Ben and then depart. Years pass, and Peter now goes to high school where he catches the eye of Gwen Stacy. While at home, Peter uncovers his father's old documents and finds out that his father used to work with Dr. Curt Connors at a company known as Oscorp. Sneaking his way into the building, Peter creeps into a laboratory where he is bitten by a radioactive spider. On his way home, Peter gets into a fight with some thugs and discovers that he now has increased agility and strength. Now, with these newfound powers, Peter Parker dons a new identity to protect the city of New York as the hero Spiderman.
The Amazing Spiderman feels like a mess of different ingredients into a pot, stir for 2 hours and yet it never comes close to other superhero films that came before it. While there are moments in the film that are great, they still pale in comparison to what Sam Raimi already did so perfectly with the first two Spiderman movies. No matter how hard Webb tries to make The Amazing Spiderman work as a film, there is just too much going on here for the story to find its' own footing. With the movie clocking in at 2-and-a-half hours, the movie feels like a superhero origins story and a separate adventure movie that isn't sure if it should tell Peter Parker's origin or just hustle through all the story points of one of the most recognizable superhero backstories in comics or if it's attempting to bring something much deeper to the table. When The Amazing Spiderman does get moving, it becomes a mildly entertaining film that tries to bring something new to the Spiderman mythos, but it still encounters the same identity crisis as Peter Parker and fails to find its' own style.
One of the core ideas that dominate the story of The Amazing Spiderman is the concept of genetics being spliced together from different species to create something entirely new. In a way, the film feels like a gene splice of other movies as it seems that the writers and Avi Arad just took the gritty and grounded world of Batman Begins and the romance of Twilight and threw the two elements into the world that Sam Raimi had already built. Sure, The Amazing Spiderman does escape from a lot of the problems that the Twilight films had and replaces them with a slightly more cultured mindset. Now, comparing The Amazing Spiderman to Nolan's Batman Begins is an obvious flaw that the film has as Avi, Amy, and the other Sony executives clearly thought that making the film more dark and gritty would be beneficial to the story and their own coffers. However, it seems that they learned the wrong lessons from Nolan's Batman films as dark and gritty simply doesn't work for a character like Spiderman and the film's version of New York City reflects that. Sure, the three Spiderman films that Sam Raimi directed took place in New York too, but they were never set in a realistic version of the city. The first three Spiderman movies took place in a color-saturated version of New York that felt like a four-color painting brought to life. In contrast, The Amazing Spiderman's version of New York is ugly to look at. All the lighting has been turned way down and Spiderman now swings around at night. What is he, Batman now?! There's tons of polished glass and this version of New York City looks less like a thriving metropolitan area and more like an isolated place that has been disconnected from the rest of the world. It's a city of thieves and muggers, not street singers belting out catchy songs. Yeah, and people whined about Man of Steel being too much like Batman Begins in terms of tone.
What's even darker is the character of Peter Parker. Now, I'm aware that in the comics, Peter was always portrayed as an orphan much like Bruce Wayne before him. Not that it's that big of a deal but the idea of Peter losing his parents at a young age means that he doesn't take the murder of Uncle Ben as personally as Bruce Wayne does as Peter just learned a lesson that he sometimes takes far too seriously. In The Amazing Spiderman, Peter is so distracted with finding out about his parents, uncovering his secret origin and attempt to find what happened to his mother and father. I've heard some people say this subplot does a decent job setting up his parents but I feel that since we never truly learn what Peter's parents are even doing and why they have to leave so suddenly, it does nothing for the overall story and just comes across as another meaningless subplot. The other issue with this plot point is that it weakens a lot of what Peter takes for granted. When people generally think about Spiderman, they think about a teenager taking care of his ill aunt, trying to pay his rent, continually gets kicked around by the world as he attempts to find his place in it. Unlike some other superheroes, Peter Parker is a blue-collar kid gifted with extraordinary abilities who has to juggle all the issues in his life, something that we saw in Spiderman: Homecoming that was done perfectly but here, we never really see this Peter Parker do that as he doesn't seem to have any motivations in the film. At first, it appears that he is attempting to find out what happened to his parents which doesn't go anywhere then half an hour later, he's now trying to control his new abilities in an ultimately pointless scene that does nothing for the story or the character. In the first Sam Raimi Spiderman film, Peter learned how to use and control his powers in a secure environment, not by beating the piss out of a few random thugs on a subway train. It's good to know that not one person even bothered to report that some teenager beat up 5 random hoodlums while climbing up a wall, but having Peter learn how to use his powers isn't enough as the film has to throw Uncle Ben getting shot in our faces again. However, this time, the film fails to make me care about Peter or Ben because Parker lets the felon go simply because he couldn't get chocolate milk. To get that angry all because he didn't have enough money for chocolate milk that Peter would allow a criminal to rob the store and get away is nothing short of the plan of three writers and a studio executive who simply do not understand the characters of Spiderman and Peter Parker and another reason why this incarnation of Peter Parker is unlikable and not worthy of any sympathy from me. So, ten minutes later, we see Peter looking for the criminal and trying to bring him to justice rather than allow the police to handle this and then after a while, the film loses interest in that subplot and jumps over to Dr. Curt Connors who has now become The Lizard. Does he have any character, any motivations, any personality? The writers, Arad, and Webb don't seem to know or care so why should I. The plot is such a disjointed mess that it's a miracle that I was able to even enjoy watching this movie but then again, at least The Amazing Spiderman wasn't boring like Batman V Superman or Frant4sic.
Another big issue that the film makes is having Peter's powers become a gift. He gets bitten by a spider bearing a blueprint