Marg: The Amazing Spider-Man

I've been on vacation!

And now I am back to civilization and it's too hot to think or move or type, and I would rather just be in a river please.

My fella took me out to see the new Spider-Man movie while we were away. I took him to see Moonrise Kingdom, which Matthew wrote about before and which I loved.

But Spider-Man! The Amazing one!

It was okay!

I don't know beans about Spider-Man, heads up. But aforementioned fella made me fall asleep to two of earlier incarnations some time ago. 

Mainly, I liked it much more than I liked the obviously-far-too-recent-previous Spider-Man franchise. I think Marc Webb is just a dandy director, and it was clever and entertaining. Most importantly, the leads in The Amazing Spider-Man are just so much better than the leads in 2001's Spider-Man and its sequels. 

I've genuinely liked Kristen Dunst in exactly three films - Drop Dead Gorgeous, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and a movie called Strike! which nobody else has ever seen, apparently. As a general rule of thumb however, she isn't my favourite. I have nothing against her looks, as many of her detractors do, but superficially, her voice really annoys me. And I strongly disliked her as Mary Jane in the Spider-Man films.

I hate that effin' kimono.

I dig Emma Stone a great deal, however. And her turn as Spidey's love interest Gwen Stacy is a predictable delight. Gwen got to be really involved in the action, which also impressed me.

Not a great hair-do, though.

Almost anybody could have played the titular role and I would have preferred it to Tobey Maguire. I complained about Kristen Dunst's voice above, but I am hard pressed to find any actor whose voice I despise more strongly than that total-turd Tobey Maguire's. I hate it! That anyone ever let that man do a voice over is mind boggling to me - and he is continually permitted to do so! Someone needs to intervene. As a lead actor, he is just so damn weinery!

Ugh, that guy.

Andrew Garfield on the other hand, is all kinds of wonderful. He's charismatic, and awkward, and he has a wonderful face. Again, I know beans about Spider-Man, but he made a fine Peter Parker to me.

That's my kinda face!

 The biggest issue I had with the film is that it didn't feel very "eventy" for a superhero movie. The Avengers was an event, the Dark Knight Rises sure as hell feels like an event, but it almost seemed like too small a film for its subject matter. Perhaps die-hard fans will disagree, since it's their event to have.

-Marg

@acuteinsomnia