The Amazing Spider-Man

I know I know. Spiderman opened in this side of the world weeks and weeks ago but I only got the chance to see it this afternoon when I was half-suicidal about the state of the world economy...

Okay to be honest, I was a bit reserved about watching Spiderman's reboot. I mean, why re-create another superhero movie when the last of the 3 films wrapped up merely 5 years ago? Is Hollywood running out of big budget films to produce that re-creating Spiderman headlined by an all new cast is the only thing they could think of releasing 6 months before the end of the world? (uhm, that's according to the Mayan calendar)

Why not resurrect Titanic (that one came out in a remastered 3D version last April) or Back to the Future (there's talk about a remake which Daniel Radcliffe would love to star in) or better yet, ET which by the way scared the 5 year old me when I watched it in Betamax (Betamax what?) back in the 80s. ET is no cutey excuse me.

So after much delaying, procrastinating, dilly-dallying and delaying (oh I already said that), I decided to spend my afternoon in my favorite cinema after being depressed by the Euro debt crisis and its overspill to our precarious economy (believe me, I was really depressed). Booked the 3:05PM screening I did and bought a liter of C2 Green Tea (to keep me awake just in case) and buttered popcorn (to munch if I get bored) and pretend that I'm watching this film for the sake of making an entry on my blog which dear Lord, has only 3 followers and an average of 10 daily pageviews (I think I'm really depressed now).

The verdict ?

Pleasantly surprise is all I can say after I emerged from the cinema having enjoyed 136 minutes of webslinging, wall crawling, spider bite, teenage romance and that skin tight red and blue Lycra suit worn by fresh face Andrew Garfield (I love the smile, bro).

Spiderman became human in that film and all his flaws were stripped naked like a Calvin Klein underwear commercial. I love the awkwardness of the teenage Peter Parker and in some way, he became one of us: ordinary guys who once upon a time, were bullied by a really cute bully. Even with the mask on, it feels like he's not Spiderman but Peter Parker in disguise.

It was a plus for me that Spiderman was reduced to a mere alter ego of the very human Peter Parker. As compared to Tobey Maguire's, Andrew Garfield's Spiderman is fearfully vulnerable which makes him all the more human. I also love the fact that they finally became faithful to the comic book by deciding Spiderman's web to shoot from his self-made artificial web-shooter; unlike Tobey Maguire's organic web-shooter which by the way, is terribly terribly ecky. Yikes! I have spiderwebs coming out of my wrist!


Another plus for me is Gwen Stacy played by the wide-eyed Emma Stone. Sorry but I can't help but compare the incredible chemistry between Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield versus the barely-there chemical reaction between Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. Stone's Gwen Stacy and Garfield's Peter Parker look real good together. Way better than Bella and Edward or Beavis and Butthead (the latter is not a pair in a romantic sense by the way). I felt for Peter when he asks Gwen for a date. Actually he didn't ask. It was just hilariously awkward and when they finally kiss... oh boy, I can't believe I'm writing this but I'm sounding like my teenage cousin. But when they kiss, my toes  actually curled (I wonder why up till now, maybe it's the C2 Green Tea).

Aww! Don't they look good together?

Let's not forget to mention the stellar cast of support from Martin Sheen playing Uncle Ben and dark-haired Sally Field as Aunt May to Rhys Ifans (remember him in Notting Hill?) as The Lizard as well as Denis Leary as Captain Stacy, Gwen's over-protective dad who towards the end of the film played a crucial role in the demise of the Peter-Gwen romance (argh, I hate you ol' man)

"I'm going to throw you out of the window now." Very funny line from Spidey to Gwen.

But the demise of Peter and Gwen's budding romance is only a tool for Peter to grow into his alter ego's demanding character. Remember, he wasn't born a superhero unlike Thor or Superman. And unlike Tony Stark who donned the iron suit for some unknown egotistic reason, Peter chose to wear that tight Lycra suit to fill the void in him after Uncle Ben's death.


Darn, can hardly wait for the sequel. I wish the world won't end 5 months from now as I still need to watch the sequel to this hands down reboot of our favorite action hero: The Amazing Spider Man.


Now lemme go get some sleep.