Reviews for this film from our members:
- [New – 1/24] | Dragan Antulov @ Draxblog VI [Croatian]
- Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Cafe Texan
- Jason Bailey @ DVD Talk
- Excerpt: Seldom has a major summer blockbuster been as pungent with the odor of being assembled by committee as ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’.
- Luke Bonanno @ DVDizzy.com
- Excerpt: While “The Amazing Spider-Man” doesn’t live up to its titular adjective, reach the heights of Sam Raimi’s trilogy, or lay a promising foundation for a distinctive new series, it is a perfectly adequate, if overly familiar, superhero movie.
- Tim Brayton @ Antagony & Ecstasy
- Excerpt: Not that it’s made at any particular level of incompetence, but that it’s made with absolutely no inspiration whatsoever.
- Daniel Carlson @ Pajiba
- Kevin Carr @ 7M Pictures
- Excerpt: The biggest problem with “The Amazing Spider-Man” is that the entire first hour of the film is achingly familiar.
- Stephen Carty @ Flix Capacitor
- Stephen Carty @ Flix Capacitor
- Samuel Castro @ Ochoymedio.info [Spanish]
- Excerpt: As new versions of old songs, the new Spider-Man feels like a well done cover
- Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Rich Cline @ Shadows on the Wall
- Excerpt: It’s impossible to engage in a story that can’t surprise us. Fortunately, the rom-com subplot is thoroughly involving
- Edwin Davies @ A Mighty Fine Blog
- Excerpt: It would be unfair to review The Amazing Spider-Man by comparing it to Spider-Man (2002), since any new version of the Peter Parker saga was always going to struggle to live up to the reputation of its damn near iconic forebear. However, [Marc] Webb’s film does so little to differentiate itself from Raimi’s that it’s hard not to draw parallels, especially since almost every change ends up being for the worse.
- David Dayoub @ Cinema Viewfinder
- Excerpt: The Amazing Spider-Man features a strong cast and some interesting motivations driving its lead character. Its cinematography, score and setting are a distinct improvement on Raimi’s less self-important trilogy. There’s no Mary Jane, no Harry, not even J. Jonah Jameson (although we do see a cover of his newspaper, the Daily Bugle), wisely avoiding cramming in too much of Spidey’s supporting cast and leaving itself room for inevitable sequels to fill in the blanks. And I didn’t even get to the gloriously kinetic point-of-view shots that are sprinkled throughout Spider-Man’s heroics. But faint praise isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement. If you sense I’m on the fence about this iteration of Spider-Man, then you are correct.
- Jim Dixon @ Examiner.com
- Excerpt: Darker, edgier and funnier than the Sam Raimi iterations, “The Amazing Spider-Man” is a superior version in just about every way. While naysayers continue to predict the demise of the comic book adaptation, the superhero movie is clearly emerging as a genre unto itself, like the western or the film noir, with identifiable conventions the moviemakers can either exploit or play against, but must in any case recognize. Comic books take place in their own universe, with their own peculiar logic. Filmmakers are starting to get that. Director Mark Webb, and this very smart script, certainly do. Of course teenagers can walk in and out of a high security research facility at will. “The Amazing Spider-Man” does a remarkable job of delivering the requisite thrills, while adroitly sidestepping the cliches.
- Mark Dujsik @ Mark Reviews Movies
- Excerpt: [I]t’s almost as if director Marc Webb is himself bored with the material.
- Cynthia Fuchs @ PopMatters
- Excerpt: Corporate regeneration.
- Kimberly Gadette @ doddle
- Susan Granger @ www.susangranger.com
- Vadym Grygoriev @ kinoblog.com [Ukrainian]
- Roderick Heath @ This Island Rod
- Excerpt: The first mumblecore superhero flick.
- MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: The “Amazing” Spider-Man? That’s a stretch. More like the Halfhearted Spider-Man. The Just-Sorta-There Spider-Man. The Familiar Spider-Man…
- Daniel Kelly @ eFilmCritic
- Kevin Laforest Laforest @ Montreal Film Journal
- Mathieu Li-Goyette @ Panorama-cinéma [French]
- Wesley Lovell @ Cinema Sight
- Excerpt: A better cast makes this reboot outshine the original
- Joe Lozito @ Big Picture Big Sound
- Piers Marchant @ Sweet Smell of Success
- Excerpt: The return of a guest who hadn’t even left yet.
- Mike McGranaghan @ The Aisle Seat
- Excerpt: This longtime Spidey fan was disappointed by the sluggish pace and sloppy storytelling.
- Jason McKiernan @ Next Projection
- Excerpt: It is with great respect and fond memory of that great original Spider-Man franchise that I submit that The Amazing Spider-Man, in very different ways, is every bit its equal, a sparkling new franchise-in-the-making and the most wholly engaging of this summer’s blockbuster hero spectacles.
- Nell Minow @ The Movie Mom
- Excerpt: Exhilaratingly vertiginous!
- Simon Miraudo @ Quickflix
- Excerpt: I can think of no reason to be angry at the existence of Marc Webb‘s The Amazing Spider-Man, even if it does come a mere ten years after Sam Raimi‘s original. There is cause, however, to be mildly disappointed.
- Scott Nye @ Battleship Pretension
- Excerpt: Since Sony announced they’d be abandoning Sam Raimi’s interpretation of the webslinger in favor of a newer, leaner, meaner, teener version, a lot of talk has taken place about the film’s “necessity.” Leaving aside the issue of whether ANY superhero film is, indeed, “necessary,” I generally expect any given film of any given genre will make the case for its existence. So no, The Amazing Spider-Man is not, in fact, “necessary,” but not because we just saw this story ten years ago; it’s just not a very good movie.
- Jamie S. Rich @ DVD Talk
- Jerry Roberts @ Armchair Cinema
- Excerpt: Didn’t have much anticipation walking in, but what a nice surprise.
- Diego Salgado @ FanDigital [Spanish]
- Dennis Schwartz @ Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews
- Amir Siregar @ Flick Magazine [Indonesian]
- Cole Smithey Smithey @ ColeSmithey.com
- Excerpt: Spidey 2.0 has some very good things going for it — 3D effects, sadly are not among them.
- Frank Swietek @ One Guy’s Opinion
- Phil Villarreal @ OK Magazine
- Excerpt: By the way, how perfect is it that the Spider-Man director’s last name is Webb? It’s like having a Super-Man movie directed by a guy named Cape or a Ghost Rider movie made by someone named Crap.
