My Amazing Spider-Man Experience

Recently, I began reading good things about The Amazing Spider-Man (TASM), which awakened my curiosity to watch it. Also, the fact that Andrew Garfield (Peter Parker/Spider-Man) and Emma Stone (Gwen Stacy) were in it motivated me too, since I’ve enjoyed their work in other films. 


However, I haven't really been a Spider-Man fan for some reasons. To begin with, it’s no secret that I’m a Batgeek and that I've only been drawn to Batman. Since 1989, he's the only comic book hero that I’ve followed, and later on I became a Batgirl fan. This year, I’ve set myself the goal to expand my superhero horizons outside Gotham City. I started by watching The Avengers, which was pretty good and has motivated me to see the solo films of its superheroes (before The Avengers, I had only watched Iron Man). 

On the other hand, I must admit that I’ve always kind of made fun of Spidey. I thought it was ridiculous that the dude became a superhero just because a spider bit him. Now, fan boys and fan girls, don’t threat to kill me (at least for now). I’ll explain my reasons for this. Something that has kept me glued to Batman and away from other comic book heroes is the element of realism. In a way, we can all relate more to Batman than to other superheroes: he’s a human whose motivations were based on a personal tragedy and who, without any super powers (Is being a billionaire a super power?), decided to take a stand against crime. Personally, I always prefer more realistic stories when reading or watching fiction. Of course, I do like some fantasy, but I always lean more towards realism (even though I’ve always been a dreamer).

In addition to this, I also have to admit that I’ve never read a Spider-Man comic book because of the reasons I’ve already established. From the previous movie franchise, I only saw Spider-Man 3, and you don’t have to be a fan to know that the movie is terrible. I mean, I’m still trying to erase from my mind Peter Parker acting like an emo. I’ve heard that the first two movies were good. I also recognize that they helped to pave the way for making comic book films in a different light. (Note to self: Add those two to my movie queue.) With all that said, my purpose with this post is to express my feelings on TASM from the perspective of someone who's not a Spider-Man connoisseur. 

After watching TASM, my views on this superhero and his origins have changed completely. I was able to see a human side of Spider-Man that kept me interested in knowing his story and those surrounding him throughout the film. The conflicts that Peter Parker had about not knowing the whole truth about his parents absence were perfectly displayed, thanks to good dialogues and great performances. Martin Sheen and Sally Field, who played Peter’s uncles (Ben and May), were simply adorable and authoritative at the same time. The scene of uncle Ben’s death really touched me. When Peter was crying over his uncle’s dead body, my eyes filled with tears. Of the comic book movies that I’ve seen, the only ones that have evoked in me those same emotions have been Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Ben's death scene reminded me of how the death of Bruce Wayne’s parents was portrayed in Batman Begins. It had the same emotional intensity, which made me able to share the pain that Peter was going through at that moment. These emotions were felt in other scenes as well. I was glad to see that Peter's loss triggered him to fight crime. Although I'm not very clear if this is exactly what happened on Spider-Man, it's always good to see humanistic motivations in superheroes. 

The scene in which Peter gets bitten by the spider was beautifully crafted and unexpected, at least for me, since it was featured in one of the trailers but I hadn't seen it. I thought it was an unique effort to make it different from what we've seen before. Another great performance was by Denis Leary, who played Captain George Stacy. He surprised me, since I've mostly known him for his raw comedic style and for showing a lot bad-ass attitude, which I like. It was precisely that attitude that helped him portray Captain Stacy, yet that didn’t stop him from displaying a fatherly side as Gwen Stacy’s dad. The humanity of Spider-Man was also displayed in his relationship with Gwen. Both actors had great chemistry and seemed to enjoy their respective roles. They gave us romance without going into cheesy territory. However, I must confess that I think I fell in love with Peter Parker (Don’t worry, Bruce Wayne, you’re still #1 in my heart!). #SuperheroCrushes 

Awww!

I liked the complexity of Dr. Curt Connors/The Lizard, played by Rhys Ifans. Although he did terrible things (and other ones that I’m sure we’ll know in the sequel), in some occasions he seemed to care about people, but he was so blinded by his newly acquired power and his desire to be "perfect", that he ended up destroying others and himself. Of course, that doesn’t stop us from wanting him behind bars, because we don’t want creepy little lizards running around our streets, don’t we? ;)

It was cool to see actor C. Thomas Howell in a small, yet important role. For those who don’t know him, he was Ponyboy Curtis in Francis Ford Coppola’s film version of The Outsiders (a novel by S.E. Hinton). As a fact, Emilio Estevez, who’s our eternal Brat-Packer and Uncle Ben's Martin Sheen’s son, was in The Outsiders as well. Also in it was Rob Lowe, who worked with Sheen in the TV series The West Wing. #PopCultureParenthesis 

And we can't leave behind Stan Lee's cameo. Gotta love that man! He should get an Oscar for all his Marvel movie cameos. 

It’s safe to say that I’m excited to watch TASM’s sequel. I’m kind of bummed out that we won’t see Martin Sheen and Denis Leary reprising their roles (unless there are flashbacks), but I understand that it was all part of the story. It’s also good to feel this way about the characters, because it means that they were well written and well performed, thus leaving us wanting for more. Congratulations to director Marc Webb, cast, and crew for delivering a great film. If things keep heading in the right direction, I’m sure that this new franchise will be truly, erm, amazing! 

P.S.: Please, Andrew and Emma, don’t break up! We still need that chemistry. Seriously.