The "Not so" Amazing Spiderman review

The annoucement that they were going to reboot the Spiderman franchise really did nothing for me.  The Sam Raimi Spiderman movies were still freah on my mind and it seemed like a potential disaster. The Raimi Spiderman movies were just ok in my opinion, with the highlight being Spiderman 2.  They were however  my only impression of what a Spiderman movie was.  I really wasn't excited at all for the movie but then the trailers started popping up.  I liked the look of Andrew Garfield as Spiderman and the special effects looked decent enough to peak my interest...... I should have stuck with my gut.  The Amazing Spiderman wasn't a terrible movie.  Actually there were things I enjoyed more in this movie in comparison with the Raimi Flicks.  The problem was there wasn't enough of that and after thinking about it, I still prefer the Raimi Spiderman.  This review is going to be a breakdown and comparison of the two movie incarnations of Spiderman.  I will grade each movie on several different categories with an overall grade at the end.

The Acting:  Raimi Spiderman - I never had a real problem with Tobey as Spiderman but he did seem a bit too old for the role.  The comic book always made me feel like Peter Parker was a smart ass punk kid and Tobey really never embodied that.  I absolutely hated Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane.  I really never bought into their chemistry.  The rest of the cast were great in their supporting roles.  Cliff Robertson was a pretty good Uncle Ben especially after witnessing Martin Sheen's lackluster performance in the Reboot.  I actually enjoyed Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin even though I think they dropped the ball when they killed him off.  There are so many more storylines that could have been told with him and he fell prey to the popular "Kill the main villain pattern" that so many comic movies adopt.  I even enjoyed the cameo of Macho Man Randy Savage as "BBBBBOOONNNEEESSSSAAAWW!"  The highlight of the casting was J. Jonah Jameson.  It really seemed like he was taken straight from the comic.  Overall the acting was fairly good but nothing great.  GRADE B-

 Reboot Spiderman- Andrew Garfield was a better Spiderman.  This can't be fully attributed to him(the CGI and fight sequences were closer to what Spidey is all about) but his dialoge and delivery under the mask was spot on what Spiderman should be.  Peter Parker on the other hand was not as well executed.  I found him to be a bit over emotional and perhaps he was guilty of a little over acting.  Dennis Leary was great as always as Captain Stacy and Emma Stone was perfect as Gwen Stacy.  The problem was that the rest of the cast was just flat out boring.  Martin Sheen and Sally Field were just dialing in their performances and quite frankly I could care less about the Lizard and the guy who was playing him.  The character was just flat out boring.  Sometimes and actor can overcome the role and make it memorable but the Notting Hill dude did not.  GRADE C


The Action: Raimi Spiderman- The action in the original Spiderman was just ok for me.  There were a couple of cool scenes with Spiderman and the Goblin but frankly they stuck to a full out origin story and  that kinda took away from the action.  Sam Raimi used  several quirky elements that appear in most of his films but the true action took place in the sequel with Doc Octopus.  I enjoyed the climatic battle with the Goblin but it wasnt as epic as it should have been.  This is Spidermans #1 nemesis for gods sake.  GRADE C+

Reboot Spiderman- I truly enjoyed the majority of the action sequences in the movie.  The movements of Spidey, especially his use of his web shooters were an upgrade to the Raimi movies.  I unfortunately didn't care about the villain and when that happens in a movie, the action doesnt matter as much to me.  GRADE B-


The Story: Raimi  Spiderman-  This is where the Raimi original has a clear advantage over the reboot.  Sam Raimi knew he was doing an origin story and he stuck to his guns.  Granted it was easy for him because noone had done a Spiderman movie before.   The story wasn't groundbreaking but it stuck pretty closely to the comic origin.  I enjoyed the Uncle Ben tragic death, the working at the Daily Bugle, and for the most part his interactions with the Green Goblin.  GRADE B+

Reboot Spiderman- This is why you wait longer before rebooting a franchise.  They were stuck with the predicament of whether or not to spend a considerable amount of  time with an origin story that everyone already knew.  Unfortunately they decided to rush through the origin and in doing so, they made the film seem incomplete.  I understand why they would do that but if you are going to make that decision you better have a great bad guy and an amazing story to cover up the rushing of the origin.  They did not.  I didn't care about Uncle Ben dying and I didn't buy that Peter Parker's relationship with him was that strong.  They tinkered a bit with the origin which didn't really bother me that much.  I just wished they had a great pay off at the end and it just wasn't there.  GRADE C


Overall Grades:  Raimi Spiderman B    Reboot Spiderman C

There were some other things that I could have written about (like the ridiculous use of technology and debating the webshooters) but it is late.  I will watch a sequel if one is made because there is enough there to give me some hope but unfortunately I have no desire to watch this one again anytime soon.