I'm amused when actors with British accents take on American accents. It blows me away! Knowing that, I wait for them to slip up in their dialogue. Andrew Garfield pulled off a fabulous Bronx accent. I thought it was convincing.
Let's compare Andrew Garfield to Toby Macguire. Toby - just can't act. I've watched a number of his movies and it seems like he plays the same guy in every movie and I'm never convinced he's into the role. He just reads lines.
When he was introduced in 2002 as Peter Parker, he was ok. I thought his portrayal was a lovable, sweet kid. Garfield plays a bad-ass version which is evident by his actions - no skateboarding in school halls, which he does anyway, and referring to breaking secrets "they are the best kind". It's a different Peter Parker - and that's ok. Despite the difference in portrayal, Garfield is far more convincing than Macguire.
The best scene in the movie (photo above) is near the beginning in the subway car where Peter Parker is discovering his gifts while they are out of control. Fast-paced and funny, and you feel the experience.
The worst scene would be everything after the first hour. It's super fast-paced, non-stop action that doesn't let up. Add to it the loud audio track of crashes and thrashes and I found myself numb to the excitement because it didn't stop. Then I got tired of it. Then I just wanted the movie to end.
There's no Mary Jane. There's no newspaper storyline. His webbing super-power is created by Peter, not part of his DNA. All of that is fine. Different is good. But different without sucking in the viewer is kinda boring.
The memorable scene in Spiderman 2002 was "the kiss" - with Spiderman hanging upside down in the alley. It's become "one of the best kisses in film". I read that somewhere. In Spiderman 2012 there are no scenes that even match that.
Uncle Ben, who projected "goodness" in the first movie ("With great power comes great responsibility" - almost quoting Luke) - is watered down and to "use whatever gifts you have, wisely".
Here's the verdict:
Andrew Garfield - yes.
The CGI's - awesome.
The script - meh, ok.
The character development - poor.
Oh, and Sally Field? Oh dear... time has not been good to her.
the second half of the movie was great, the only thing that sucked about the second half was the fact you did't get to humanize the lizard. the action was fun, the character development was great i cared so much more about this ben, they took time showing the relationship a much more open and honest way that gave ben so much more life. i actually cared about ben dieing it did feel like in the first movie hey look me i am smart and will say a couple nice things then die cuz i have to.n ben felt real in amazing spider-man.
ReplyDeleteYou are almost identical to what I thought. And I confess, growing up with the 60's Spiderman I related better to first trilogy. They can never recast J Jonah Jameson. He was fabulous. I don't mind Tobey Mcguire. I wanted to give this Peter Parker Ritalin at one point. But yeah, for me it was just another episode of Spiderman with new characters and villains.
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