Movie review: The Amazing Spiderman (3D)

 Here is a classic story that many people can recognize: Once upon a time, a teenage boy was bitten by a genetically mutated spider, and he acquired the abilities of a spider! The boy domed a spandex suit of red and blue, so he started a life long career of busting criminals and genetically mutated super bad guys. He is.. Spiderman!


  Spiderman has come a long way. He is a comic book superhero created by Stan Lee, first appeared in 1962. If you do the maths, this year, Spiderman will turn 50 years old! The chances are that most people beneath the age of 60 would have heard, read or watched stuff based on Spiderman. 


  I watched Spiderman in 2002, and certainly remember the memorable theme when the tearful Peter Parker (starring Toby Maquire) was told by his dying uncle that, "with great power, comes great responsibility". What a memorable line! Following the success of the first Spiderman mvie in 2002, the movie maker produced two more sequels, both were blockbusters and commercial successes. In 2012, the movie maker has decided to reboot the Spiderman movie franchise. Initially, I wasn't too sure if I even want to watch this new movie. After all, it was only 10 years ago that the first Spiderman was made. Why are they making a reboot already? Is this a sign that Hollywood is desperately struggling for new ideas?


Two weeks after the movie's release, I decided to check this movie out during my time off work. It turned out that the movie is actually pretty good, and I am here to provide a review for those who might be interested.

Synopsis:

  Peter Parker's parents were scientists. On a dark night, when Peter was still a child, they sent him to live with his uncle and aunt. Peter's parents subsequently disappeared afterward. As Peter was growing up, the mysterious disappearance of Peter's parents have left plenty of questions to be answered in Peter's mind. 10 years later, as a teenage school boy, Peter was a bit distant from the rest of the kids at school, he is being bullied, but often step up against the bullies for those who are being bullied. He has a love interest, Gwen Stacy. Peter caught the eyes of his love interest, after he tried to protect a kid who was  being publicly humiliated by a school bully.

 One day, Peter was cleaning the basement of his uncle's house. He discovered a briefcase, where he found his father's research notes. These puzzling notes roused Peter's interest to investigate the nature of his father's works. After being informed by his uncle that, his father used to work for Osborne corp. Peter sneaked into the company building, where he met his father's co-worker, Dr. Curt Connors. He slipped into a "secret research lab", and was bitten by a curious, little spider. On the way home, he felt into a trance on the subway train. When he woke up, he found himself with some pretty bizarre abilities.

But that is only the beginning of a series of adventures to follow..

What I think about the movie:

I think the new Spiderman movie is pretty good. While there is nothing really new to this movie that can make a distinction between the 2012 version and the 2002 version, but it is still a fun, entertaining  movie based on a very good story. The main theme in this movie, is still the relationship between "power" and "responsibility". This time, the theme is told in a more subtle way. The audience get to see the journey and the transformation that Peter Parker undertook, to become a superhero known as Spiderman.

There are a few differences between the 2002 movie and the 2012 movie other than different casts, directors, and improved CGI/speical effects. In the new Spiderman movie, the story kind of explained why Peter Parker doesn't have parents, and the disappearance of his parents plays an essential role to the main story of this movie. Other minor differences, such as Peter's love interest at school is Gwen Stacy, and not Mary Jane Watson, which is a more accurate reflection to the original Spiderman comics. Also, the main villain is "The Lizard". The story of this super villain is very well knitted into the main plot, and I think the story writer of the new Spiderman movie really deserves a round of applause.

The biggest difference in the new Spiderman movie, is that this movie is a lot darker than the 2002 version. The protagonist, Peter Parker went through a lot of emotional toils in this "origin story". Also, Spiderman is portrayed more realistically, as Peter Parker is often shown to be wounded and bruised after a night of superhero action. Inevitably, the darker undertone of the new Spiderman movie also means this film is more violent than the 2002 version. In terms of CGI, the special effects are really good, but I did not really feel like I was watching a 3D movie. There are occasional scenes when things "popped out" of the screen, but other than that, I think it wasn't "3D" enough.

There are a few things, a few sentences and dialogues that really grabbed my attention, and I would like throw them at my readers, inviting you to think about them, and cross-examine the worldviews presented in this movie against the Christian worldview, and see if they hold any truth:

- Uncle Ben: "If you can do good things for other people, then you have the moral responsibility to do it".

Question: What does it mean by "good"? It seems the definition of "good" is not very clear here. Also, Uncle Ben seems to be indicating that we should only do "good things" to people who we think that deserve it. Is this what the Bible teaches us? Who is actually good?

- Uncle Ben: "You owe the world your gifts.. come on home Peter, you are my hero".

Question: Are we in debt to the "world" because of our talents, where does this idea of "in debt" coming from? Are we morally obligated to serve others because we "owe" it to the "world"? What does the Bible say on this topic? I would like to invite my readers to think about "who" actually gave us our gifts (did the world give us our gifts?), and what doe Bible say about the reason why should we serve others? I think reading God's words will reveal a very different view, when compared to what Uncle Ben is saying here.

- Peter Paker: "This is my responsibility, I have to fix it".

Question: Can we really solve our problems with our good intentions? Can we find justifications for our actions, with our good intentions?

I leave my readers to discover the answers to the questions I listed above.

Summary:

The new Spiderman movie doesn't really have a lot of new things, to distinguish it from the 2002 version. Despite this, I still enjoyed the movie immensely. I think the reason is because the story of Spiderman is good, it has always been good. The story of Peter Parker, and his struggles to do the right thing, to be responsible for his powers, at the cost of his own interests, is something we can all identify ourselves with; at work, in our families, in our every day lives.

The Amazing Spiderman is a good movie, if you don't have a chance to see it in the cinema now, it might still be worth your time to hire it from a video store, when it is released for home media. It has a compact, emotional story, good special effects and lots of action scenes at neck-breaking pace. It is also worthwhile to reflect on the worldviews presented in this movie, and compare it against the Christian worldview, and next time, you will have a conversation starter.

Rating: 8/10