Review: The Amazing Spider-Man (Pt. 1 of 2)

So last Friday I went to watch The Amazing Spider-Man on a special screening granted to me by the wonderful people over at Nuffnang Philippines. And while I initially had no keen interest in the abrupt reboot of the popular Marvel superhero series Spider-Man, my shallow self basically jumped on the opportunity at a free movie and some on-screen time with one of my favorite actresses to date, Emma Stone.

To start things off, I think I should say that if people came to watch this movie with the expectation of having it pick up where the last Spider-Man movie left off, they are sadly uninformed/mistaken/living under a rock. If the sudden change in the main character's love interest from a quirky freckle-faced redhead with a passion for drama to a smart scientifically oriented blonde (ooh, breaking stereotypes like a badass) wasn't enough of a clue in the trailer, I'm pretty sure the total reformulating of the way Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield)was bitten and the sudden reappearance of Uncle Ben addresses that issue (unless of course Uncle Ben's a zombie. That changes everything.)

Yes, this is a total reboot people, and I can't seem to get enough of people wondering where the heck Mary Jane went or why she dyed her hair. People, Gwen Stacy was Peter's original love interest and personally, I'm glad the writers set things straight.

Preach.

Now before I say anything else, a word of caution, there may be spoilers ahead so read on at your own discretion. 

And while I'm going to try a serious as I can whilst recounting this movie, please allow some leeway for a little sarcasm and snarky comments here and there. It's just the way I am.

So quite aptly, the movie starts off with a scene explaining the disappearance of Peter's parents. Well, not really. It doesn't actually explain a thing, like why his parents are on the run in the first place. It's basically a retelling of how Peter was essentially 'orphaned'. In the end, we don't even know if his parents are alive or not and Peter just grows up to be a stereotypical introverted geeky guy who just so happens to be awesome at skateboarding to boot. He's at the bottom of the high school food chain, pretty hipster with his old-school camera and so totally in love with the perfection that is his high school crush,  Gwen Stacy.

I'm the geeky guy all those Facebook girls say they want, but not really.

I think the first thing that I noticed whilst watching this movie was how awesome the soundtrack and the songs used for the movie were. I'm not enough of a contemporary music buff to know exactly what songs from what bands they used for the movie, but I'm totally hoping they release an album separate from the original score because really, their song choice was just that awesome.

Music aside, Peter in this story draws a parallel to the comic book in that the story starts off with him in high school as opposed to in college in the last series. In general, this movie follows the flow of the comic much better than the last installment did and you'll see more of that later.

In the mean time, can we please focus on how awesome Emma Stone is? I don't remember Gwen Stacy being as charismatic in the comic books. I don't know if its the good dialogue written or if it's just Emma Stone's natural charm, but I immediately found myself liking Gwen a lot more than I did Mary Jane of the last franchise. Sorry MJ-lovers, but it's just how I feel.

I'm single-handedly bringing wide headbands, sweater vests and knee-high socks back in. 

Eat your heart out Rachel Berry.

And then Peter confronts Flash Thompson, the typical high school jock/bully/meathead who just so happens to be played by the awesome Chris Zylka who also played Joey Donner in ABC Family's TV adaptation of 10 Things I Hate About You. He definitely seems to be typecast as bully preppy type character, meh. I'm not complaining. Needless to say, Peter's affections don't seem to be so one-sided after all. And in one of the more touching scenes in the movie, Uncle Ben gives Peter a little bit of encouragement, so far as to drive Peter to even say that Ben was 'a great dad'. Cue simultaneous 'aww's in my heart.

Peter's need for parental love seems to have quite conveniently brought him to just the thing he's needed to find after all of these years - a file containing his father's most valued work, a rate decay algorithm. Okay, so to set thing straight, apparently his father was a researcher who worked alongside Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans). This is a bit of a long shot from the comic book, but hey, I'm not complaining. At least I won't know exactly what the hell the writer's are hiding. He finds the files in a hidden compartment in his father's old suitcase (classy), along with some awesome hipster glasses which he trades his contact lenses in for.

And by the power that these hipster glasses have bestowed upon me, I become... 

MOODY MISUNDERSTOOD TEENAGER!

So like the curious kid Peter is, he goes ahead and investigates and at the same time he gets to spend a little bit of one on one time with Gwen Stacy who just so conveniently had to be an intern at the very company Dr. Connors works at, Oscorp. Sounds familiar? Yep, it's the same company from the last installment and it seems we'll be seeing more of the Green Goblin in subsequent movies (if there will be any)

Getting back on track though we get some background on the actual research Dr. Connors (and presumably his father) used to work on: Interspecies Genetics.

NerdMode Activate. 

(Skip if you aren't a nerd)

Interspecies genetics seems like such an unthinkable thing to a lot of people, so much so that they dismiss the fact that it's actually something that is being done IRL and confine it to the world of comics/movies/fiction. And while the research conducted in interspecies gene expression isn't as far out as enabling superhuman strength proportional to that of an arachnid's, successful interspecies splices have already been done, but the ethics of using the same methods in humans, much like that of in this film, are a heated topic of debate.

The scientific implications aside, apparently, Peter's father spent a majority of his life research on an algorithm, or sequence of equations, pertaining to exponential decay. It's actually quite an underwhelming feat  considering all the other barriers to successful gene integration around, but hey, this is the movie-verse were talking about. In the context of Peter's father's research, the rate exponential decay seems to have something to do with how long the genetic expression of a gene can be expressed and retained in the body. But I'll go ahead and say it - THIS MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL. If I were a molecular geneticist/biologist who wanted to express a gene that allowed immediate regeneration of limbs, a rate decay equation would be the least of my worries, because in all honesty, exponential decay has more application chemistry than molecular bio. What determines whether or not a gene can be expressed properly is PROTEINS. If your DNA can make mRNA that is successfully translated into proteins with whatever you're trying to achieve, then you're set.  This of course takes a lot of work, but I still have no idea how the heck rate decay factors into all of this. Side effects like horrible mutation or unpleasant reactions happen because of incorrect transcription, translation, glycosylation, maybe even improper targeting of the drug or some kind of adverse immune response, not because of anything decaying. Someone, PLEASE ENLIGHTEN ME because this part of the movie's plot is NOWHERE in the comic books and doesn't even make sense in modern times contextually D: Of course, I may be wrong in my assumption and maybe decay has EVERYTHING TO DO with why Dr. Connors can't get the damn serum right, but because I'm still in my third year of undergraduate studies in Molecular Biology and I don't actually know, I won't let this ruin the movie for me. I won't. I definitely wont. I hope. Grah.

EDIT: (from a helpful MBB student. Thanks! :3)
"Since the introduction of a foreign gene can either result to transient or permanent gene expression. The rate decay equation probably tells us about how long the recepient species can express and integrate the foreign gene before its effects wear out. However, I can't really say how a corrective effort towards an equation could help out with the successful execution of a human cell transformation."

And still, the rate decay equation doesn't seem to factor in correctly with that being said either.

Dr. Curt Connors: Still Trolling real Molecular Biologists since 2012

NerdMode Deactivate

Okay, nerdy rant over. Now onto the pivotal point in Peter Parker's life, next to his parents abandoning him of course, his radioactive spider bite. Except now, the spider isn't radioactive, it's genetically enhanced instead. Why does it feel like my childhood was shot down in an instant? Owell. I guess it's just the passing of the times. When Spider-Man was originally created, it was Nuclear Energy and Radioactive exposure that was the big thing. Now it's GMO's and genetic enhancements. It says a lot about the current trends in science if you ask me.

Let me take some time to complain now about the CG, as it was a recurring observation I had throughout the film. The CG Sucks and is mediocre at best. The spiders look fake, the other animals look fake, heck, even Spider-Man swinging from his web later on looks fake. It's like production was rushed and we're faced with the bad CG of X-Men Origins Wolverine all over again.

And in possibly one of the funniest superhero ability discovery montages ever created, Peter finds out that the bite wasn't just any old bite when his reflexes start getting the best of him and he ends up knocking out all the men who so much as literally lift a finger at him on the subway, in the process of doing so, unintentionally sexually harassing a poor woman at the same time. It's like the awkward pubescent changes we all go through all over again, except more awesome and badass and a hundred times more hilarious to watch than those health documentaries that we were forced to view at some point in our life. And instead of zits, B.O. and hair in unsightly places, Peter gets a whole slew of awesome superpowers and spidey senses. But it's still just as awkward though. Really awkward.

Oops. Sorry! I didn't mean to dropkick you in the face. My bad.

I find it even more hilarious that when he gets home, you can't help but speculate that he's on some type of drugs, probably marijuana (Mary Jane, get it? get it? AHAHAHA), or some other hunger-inducing drug because he manages to clear out his aunt and uncle's entire fridge because of his new-found appetite. And then there's a scene where he ends up waking up to an alarm clock not knowing his own strength and smashing it to bits instead. I'm sure we've all wished we could smash our alarm clocks against the table with such prowess and grace as Peter Parker had in the movie.

Drugs. It definitely has to be drugs.

Worried about whether or not these side effects would have an adverse effect on his being, he takes the matter straight to the only person he knows can help - Dr. Connors himself. At first, the Dr. meets him with animosity, but upon finding out he's the son of his former colleague, you can see his hardened exterior melt into something that almost seems like concern and genuine care for the boy. At the prospect of having some semblance of a connection to his estranged parents, as well as through a little flattery on Conners' part, Peter ends up foolishly handing the Dr. the equation his father spent years working on just like that. Peter, for someone made out to be such a smart boy, you can be really daft sometimes. Doesn't make it better that he practically took all the credit for it as well - that's PLAGIARISM Peter, PLAGIARISM!

Meanwhile, Peter finds better things to do with his new found powers, including mastering some awesome skateboard tricks, climbing walls and beating bullies in a manner reminiscent of the basketball scene from 17 Again.

In the abridged immortal words of Zac Effron: People are bullies because they have small wieners.

After Flash's public humiliation by the hands of a more confident (and thus more attractive) Peter, Gwen takes an even more heightened interest in our protagonist. Too bad that at the same time, Uncle Ben is all over Peter for being a bully himself. But Peter's not having any of it. Like any other rebellious teenager out there, he storms off, but to his credit quite politely, and instead spends the rest of the day helping out Dr. Connors with his new serum, all the while forgetting the errand of picking up his Aunt that Uncle Ben had left for him. So not surprisingly, Uncle Ben lays the smackdown on in his lack of priorities.

And then the movie throws in a typical father-son fight about responsibility and your heart starts beating really hard because you realize that the inevitable scene is coming and you're not sure if you can deal with it on the big screen for the second time in your life. While Uncle Ben doesn't blurt outright the iconic words that become Spider-Man's mantra int he last franchise as well as in the comicbooks (With great power comes great responsibility), the point's made clear and you can tell a chord's been struck in Peter, which causes him to bring out a guilt-trip card of his own. If responsibility was such a noble thing why didn't his father think it was his responsibility to be there for him? Basically, he slapped the fact that Uncle Ben wasn't his real father right before running away like how all hollywood orphans do when confronted with issues on their real parents. Low Blow, Peter, low blow.

And of course, Uncle Ben just has to go after him and at this point your heart starts to wrench because you know what's going to happen soon.

In a convenience store, Peter gets into an altercation with the cashier when the rather douche-y employee refuses to let a measly 2 cents go and refuses to sell Peter his milk. In a scene we're all familiar with, after this little encounter, the cashier is robbed and the robber throws Peter his milk, sort of a thank you for not calling the cops or anything and like the bitter teenager Peter is, he lets the thief go in spite. In your head you're screaming WHY PETER, WHY!?!?!?!? And just like you all expected, the thief ends up being the very guy who kills Uncle Ben when like the good man he is, he tries to stop the thief from reaching out for his gun, but instead gets himself shot.

It never gets any easier. T_T

You know what makes this scene a hundred times more powerful than the last installment's version? It's the fact that Uncle Ben had to die over Peter's spite for a measly 2 cents. That and a combination of identity crisis, abandonment issues and a rough day at school is the recipe for one of my favorite characters' death. It's so sad and I'll be honest. I was in tears at this scene. Ssorry about the picture - it doesn't do the scene justice but I couldn't find a good screencap so until then, you guys'll have to wait or see the movie yourself to experience the same heart-shattering pain.

Oh God this is far too emotional for me to handle. Should I just cut it off here? Yeah, I probably should. It's getting late anyway.

We're halfway through the movie, and I can say with confidence that judging by the length of this review, The Amazing Spider-Man was a whole lot better than the last movie I saw.

You can read Part 2 of my review/recap of The Amazing Spider-Man by clicking here.

Ada, Signing out.