The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) Film Review

Sony Pictures

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

Starring Andrew Garfield (Peter Parker / Spider-Man), Emma Stone (Gwen Stacy), Rhys Ifans (Doctor Curt Connors / The Lizard), Denis Leary (NYPD Captain George Stacy), Martin Sheen (Uncle Ben), and Sally Field (Aunt May) with a special appearance by Stan Lee

Directed by Marc Webb

Produced by Laura Ziskin, Avi Arad, and Matt Tolmach

Written by James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent, and Steve Kloves

Music by James Horner

Distributed by Sony Pictures

Run Time: 2 hours and 16 minutes

World Premier: June 13, 2012, in Tokyo, Japan

Grossed $435 million in its Opening Day (Tuesday). Opening Weekend Box Office: $62 million (North America).

Independence Day Holiday Week Six-Day Gross: $137 million

Worldwide Box Office: $758 million

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 72%

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Fun The Amazing Spider-Man Facts

2012 marked the 50^th Anniversary of Spider-Man, who debuted in 1962’s Amazing Fantasy #15, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Sony Pictures decided to reboot the Spider-Man franchise with an all-new cast as opposed to moving forward with Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4, due to the overwhelming poor critical reception to his third Spider-Man film. 

According to actor Andrew Garfield, he was moved to tears the first time that he donned the Spider-Man costume. Andrew Garfield was 28-years of age when he made The Amazing Spider-Man and admits to being a lifelong fan of the character.

In The Amazing Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker / Spider-Man creates his own web shooters and web fluid. This was different from Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker in the Sam Raimi trilogy of Spider-Man films, as Tobey’s Peter boasted organic webbing. In the traditional Marvel comics, Peter Parker does create his own web fluid and web shooters and Director Marc Webb liked this approach, as it reflected Peter’s high intellect and creative genius.

In The Amazing Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker / Spider-Man was purposefully written to be mouthy and to taunt opponents while wearing the Spider-Man mask. This is a character trait that has been associated with Spider-Man in the traditional Marvel comics for years upon years and was a welcomed change in the eyes of most fans.

The Amazing Spider-Man took noticeable inspiration from Marvel Comics’ Ultimate Universe, which was launched in the Fall of 2000 under the pen of Brian Michael Bendis. Similarities include Spider-Man’s mutation being linked to Oscorp, a battle between Spider-Man and a monstrous enemy at Peter Parker’s school, and Peter Parker telling his girlfriend that he is Spider-Man.

Co-stars Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield started dating each other over the course of filming The Amazing Spider-Man.

Stan Lee makes a cameo appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man as a librarian that is lost in his music and therefore oblivious to the ongoing fight between Spider-Man and The Lizard. Lee had previously made cameo appearances in all three of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films from 2002-2007.

Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company

The Amazing Spider-Man was one of two Marvel films produced in 2012, but it was made without any input from Marvel Studios, as the working relationship between Marvel and Sony ended with 2007’s Spider-Man 3, with Marvel Entertainment promoting Kevin Feige to lead the Marvel Studios team that would birth the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel Studios produced the highest-grossing film of the year as well as the highest-grossing superhero / comic book movie of all-time in 2012 in The Avengers. The Avengers marked the first time that a film based on a Marvel property had ever finished # 1 at the worldwide box office for a given year and the first film based on a Marvel property to ever gross at least $1 billion worldwide. The Amazing Spider-Man meanwhile finished as the seventh highest-grossing film of 2012 and was the lowest-grossing Spider-Man film ever made by Sony up to that point.

On February 9, 2015, following a crippling e-mail hack and the critical failure of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures reached an agreement to bring Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with 2016’s Captain America: Civil War after which Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures would co-produce a new Spider-Man film, which would serve as another reboot. In the Summer of 2015, Tom Holland was cast to portray Peter Parker / Spider-Man within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

From 2016-2019, Tom Holland appeared as Peter Parker / Spider-Man in 5 Marvel Studios / Sony Pictures projects including Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Spider-Man: Far From Home.

In the 2021 Marvel Studios / Sony Pictures co-production Spider-Man: No Way Home, Marvel Studios’ yet-to-be titled Multiverse Saga was kicked into high gear when the events of that film saw Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker / Spider-Man enter the MCU 9-years removed from the 2012 Amazing Spider-Man film. Garfield’s Parker was brought into the MCU’s 616-Universe due to a Multiversal breach triggered by an errant magical spell that was cast by Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Stephen Strange, which involved Tom Holland’s Peter Parker. The botched spell allowed Rhys Ifans’ Curt Connors / The Lizard to crossover into the MCU 616-Universe as well and Spider-Man: No Way Home made both The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 MCU canon via the Multiverse.

A careful study of the information given in Spider-Man: No Way Home reveals that while appearing to have been cured in The Amazing Spider-Man, Curt Connors figured out a way to transform himself into a lizard once again and then reverted back to his villainous ways, as Doctor Strange deduces that each Multiversal Visitor in No Way Home both knew Spider-Man’s secret identity as Peter Parker and died while fighting Spider-Man. This suggests that there was much more history between Spidey and The Lizard in the years following The Amazing Spider-Man that we never saw on film.

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My The Amazing Spider-Man Review

Flashback 10-years, and the release of The Amazing Spider-Man came at a time when Marvel Studios was taking over Hollywood. It had been five-years since a Spider-Man film had been released and during those five-years, Marvel Studios launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe, producing Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk in 2008, Iron Man 2 in 2009, and Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger in 2011. Marvel Entertainment had furthermore been acquired by The Walt Disney Company in a deal that was finalized in 2009, and a couple of months before the release of The Amazing Spider-Man, Marvel Studios produced the revolutionary superhero team-up film The Avengers, which shattered box office records and ultimately emerged as the highest-grossing motion picture of 2012, and the third highest-grossing movie of all-time.

After working in varying degrees of closeness with Sony Pictures during the Sam Raimi trilogy of Spider-Man films, the Marvel Studios team were not involved with The Amazing Spider-Man. Kevin Feige essentially took over Marvel Studios in 2007, and though Producer Avi Arad no longer had any say in the MCU upon Kevin Feige’s promotion, he was still very hands-on with Spider-Man for Sony Pictures and perceived as a valuable asset by the Sony team.

The groundbreaking success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe had left many production companies scrambling for ideas in an effort to emulate that success back in 2012, and The Amazing Spider-Man was a franchise reboot that was intended by Sony Pictures to jump-start a Spider-Man Shared Cinematic Universe akin to the MCU.

I loved The Amazing Spider-Man! For me, this was my favorite Spider-Man film of all-time until the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home last year, and Andrew Garfield was my favorite Spider-Man until Tom Holland claimed that spot. With Tobey Maguire, I thought he was a great Peter Parker (in the first two films anyway), but with Andrew Garfield, I thought he was a great Spider-Man! I loved the childlike wonder Andrew brought to his performance as he worked to manage his new abilities and I loved the swagger that he carried himself with while under the mask. He was witty and funny, and he sounded like someone from Queens, New York, and I thought all of that was wonderful.

As for Andrew’s Peter Parker, his greatest strength in this area was Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy. I loved their romance! Andrew and Emma had incredible chemistry and you can almost see the sparks between the two of them every time they’re on-screen together, whether they’re kissing, speaking to each other, or even just looking at each other. It’s easy to buy-in as a viewer on the premise that these two are completely smitten with one another and when you’re rooting for everything to work out for a couple, it raises the stakes of the whole film.

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The Amazing Spider-Man does take the time to retell Peter Parker’s origin story. That was necessary here, because the filmmakers were doing several things differently than how the Sam Raimi trilogy had done them. The basics are the same though: Peter Parker gets bitten by a radioactive spider after sneaking into Oscorp and he receives sensational spider-like abilities from it, including the ability to stick to walls and ceilings and leap over rooftops, etc. Aside from that though, The Amazing Spider-Man takes a much different approach to Peter Parker’s parents, with a distinct mystery established surrounding their deaths. We actually see young Peter’s mom and dad in this film, including the moment when Peter was handed over to the custody of Aunt May and Uncle Ben. From there, long before Uncle Ben’s tragic death, Peter Parker is established as a character that has struggled with the loss of his parents for years. He loves his Aunt May and Uncle Ben as if they were his parents, but he is forever haunted by the bizarre circumstances surrounding his parents’ deaths and the hole that their absence left in his heart and soul. The filmmakers are also sure to point out that Peter’s father was a very brilliant man, and that the proverbial apple did not fall far from the tree.

After getting bitten by the spider, Peter struggles tremendously with balance and responsibility. Though his new abilities are cool, this film takes the time to show Peter’s struggle with controlling them. He is too sticky and too strong, and all of his senses have been heightened. There is a solid sequence of Peter simply freaking out that was really well filmed! On top of all of that, Peter gets himself wrapped-up with one of his father’s old colleagues Doctor Curt Connors, helping Connors finish research theories that he thought had been long lost with the disappearances of the Parker’s. Peter is swept up into a world where he has remarkable new abilities, he has solved a genetic riddle, and he is quickly falling for Gwen, and this leaves Peter distracted to say the least. Peter carelessly forgets to pick Aunt May up as Uncle Ben had requested, and that leads to Ben angrily lashing out at his nephew.

I really liked the confrontation scene between Uncle Ben and Peter. It was built to gradually over the course of the first act as Peter became less and less reliable and Ben became more and more fed-up. Uncle Ben always strived to understand and to say the right things, but Peter had pushed him too far this time and Peter, who is juggling so much in that moment, fires back and leaves in a haste. Ben of course goes out to look for Peter, but Peter wants none of it.

Soon, Peter finds himself as a witness to a robbery of a convenience store. Peter doesn’t so much as lift a finger to stop it due to how much of a jerk the clerk had been to him moments earlier, and wouldn’t you just know it that this robber ends up getting into a scuffle with Uncle Ben and Uncle Ben ends up getting killed by this guy that Peter could have manhandled with ease. We never hear the “With Great Power There Must Also Come Great Responsibility” thing here, but the message is driven home, and Peter Parker’s life will never be the same.

Peter becomes consumed for a time with hunting down his Uncle Ben’s murderer, and it is for this purpose that he evolves into Spider-Man, realizing he needs weapons at his disposal and an outfit that will conceal his identity. Peter puts together a suit that he is pleased with and becomes notorious throughout New York City for his antics as Spider-Man, drawing the adulation of the public and the ire of the Police Captain, who just so happens to be Gwen’s father.

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Peter and Gwen finally share a date, as he visits her at her home for dinner. This is a great sequence that not only sees Peter get into a debate over Spider-Man with Gwen’s father, but actually sees Peter tell Gwen that he is Spider-Man, and that gave this film a strong boost that differentiated it immensely from the Raimi films! Peter’s blunt honesty with Gwen and her reaction to his reveal made their romance all the more fun and put a nice twist on the good girl liking the bad boy thing, because this boy wasn’t actually bad at all!

While all of these things are going on, Doctor Curt Connors (thanks to Peter) has figured out a way to turn himself into a giant Lizard. The film does give some nice technical terms to make this sound much more scientific, but the fact that he wants to turn himself (and everyone else for the better of mankind) into a Lizard pretty much sums it up. So, he goes from Peter’s mentor to Peter’s monstrous adversary.

If I’m being honest, there isn’t a whole lot to love about The Lizard. He doesn’t look very cool physically speaking, he is difficult to understand when he talks throughout the film, and his master plan is supervillain-101 kind of stuff. Where I will defend The Lizard though is in the area of horror. The Lizard being in this movie allows this film to play around with some horror tropes, and that was pretty cool. In the end, The Lizard makes this a monster movie, and that makes for some good scares and great suspense, and even a scene where a sweet little mouse devours another mouse after being injected with Connors’ formula, which is for some reason, one of the most disturbing things that I have ever seen.

Once The Lizard appears though, everything is of course leading to Spider-Man battling The Lizard atop Oscorp Tower, but there are a lot of little moments sprinkled in with the combat that were really well done. The bridge scene where Spider-Man saves the little boy from a burning car was very touching. The Lizard’s attack on Peter’s school was a fun sequence. I also enjoyed Peter trying to get photos of The Lizard in the sewers.

From there, we got the fantastic moment of Captain Stacy unmasking Peter and then begrudgingly allowing him to go rescue Gwen. That of course leads to tragedy, as any Spider-Man fan could tell you, for Captain Stacy suffers a mortal wound at the hands of The Lizard and with his dying breath, makes Peter promise him that he will stay away from Gwen.

It is here where I take most issue with this film. I was all-in with everything including The Lizard, up to Captain Stacy’s funeral (and Andrew is phenomenal during the Captain’s death scene by the way), but I have to admit to hating how this movie ended. The Lizard was conquered, and Connors was (seemingly) cured and incarcerated, but Peter decides not to be seen attending Captain Stacy’s funeral, leaving Gwen completely alone and coming off as a huge jackass in the process, promise or no promise. Gwen of course seeks Peter out at home after the funeral, but he gives her a cold shoulder and refuses to give her any reason for why he can no longer see her. The filmmakers did all of that just to then at the end of the movie have Peter respond to a throwaway line from his teacher, insisting that the best promises are the ones that you can’t keep. Just terrible writing and execution with all of that stuff, but again, overall, I adored this film, and felt just about everything about it was an upgrade over the Raimi trilogy (with the exception of the glaring omission of one J. Jonah Jameson of course).

Sony Pictures

Highlights of The Amazing Spider-Man:

Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man

Chemistry Between Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield

Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy

Denis Leary as Captain Stacy

James Horner Musical Score

Gwen Finds Out that Peter is Spider-Man

The Death of Captain Stacy

Martin Sheen as Uncle Ben

Chris Zylka as Flash Thompson

Monster Movie Elements

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Notable MCU Concepts and Characters Introduced:

The Amazing Spider-Man serves as an origin story for two characters that were formally introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home: Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker / Spider-Man and Rhys Ifans’ Doctor Curt Connors / The Lizard.