Gamenomics & Comicology

For those of you that do not know, going to midnight movie premiers is actually one of my all-time favorite activities.  There is always a really awesome atmosphere of fans that attend midnight showings and I can’t get enough of it.  As an avid moviegoer, so of course I went to the midnight release of The Amazing Spider-Man.  Here is my opinion of the reboot:

With the upcoming Dark Knight Rises, I somewhat put The Amazing Spiderman on the backburner.  I have been anxiously waiting for the new batman since seeing the Dark Knight, I did not focus very much on the new Spider-Man.  As I blogged earlier, I thought the original Spider-Man was good at the time.  However, looking back at the old trilogy, it does not have a very high re-watch value.  I was looking forward to the reboot, but I cannot say that my expectations were extremely high.

After seeing the film, I have to say that I was thoroughly impressed.  I thought the movie was actually really good.  I have very little complaints about the storyline and movie as a whole.  I thought that the new actor, Andrew Garfield, did a fantastic job playing Peter Parker (Spider-Man’s secret identity).  Garfield brought an aura of toughness with his character that had been absent in the Spider-Man franchise.  The Toby Maguire version was innocent and fun, but I appreciated the darkness and emotion that Garfield brought to the table.  He also could pull off the high school aged kid much better than Toby Maguire could.  I am also a huge Emma Stone fan and thought she nailed the role of Gwen Stacy.

Regarding the story, I like how superhero movies are taking on lesser-known villains to play the main antagonist in the movies.  Similar to how Bane is the new Batman villain, the Lizard was chosen as the Spider-Man villain.  This character is not usually in the spotlight, but I am happy the story brought a new character and story to the big screen.  I am actually hoping to see Mysterio grace us in a future Spider-Man movie.  I have no evidence saying that Mysterio is a possibility…I just think he would be a fun villain to see.  I thought the storyline for the new Spider-Man was pretty solid.  I liked how they left a lot of doors open and questions unanswered that they can tackle in future movies.  Sometimes by adding too much to the story, it diminishes the quality of it.  I look forward to future Spider-Man movies.

From what I have heard through the grapevine, the writers for The Amazing Spider-Man touched upon a lot of different Spider-Man variations.  You will see tidbits from multiple comic book series and different character differences combined into an all-new Spider-Man.  The supporting characters are also different (or yet to be introduced) in the film.  Mary Jane Watson and J. Jonah Jamesson have yet to be introduced, but have instead been replaced by other characters such as Gwen Stacy and Police Captain Stacy.

You should have all seen the look on my face when the infamous Stan Lee appeared in one of his infamous Marvel cameos and the girl behind me said “Who is that guy?!” as the whole theatre cheered for Stan.  To put it in the words of my brother, “Who comes to a Spider-Man midnight release not knowing who Stan Lee is?”.  But, it was great to see Stan up there!

To top it off, I got this cool Spider-Man pin for going to the premiere at an AMC theatre.  Hopefully more movies will do give-a-ways like this because I think it is pretty cool!

And as with any Marvel movie, it is always wise to stay seated and wait out the credits!

Till next time,

~Ian