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The Amazing Spider-Man film
- Alternate Character Interpretation:
- Do the words we hear when Connors is alone in his lair mean the Lizard has taken on a mind of its own and is Talking to Themself? Or are we hearing Connors' Inner Monologue as he prepares his attack? Or is he really talking to someone else, namely the Man In The Shadows? Likewise, is the Lizard a full-on Split Personality, or is it always Connors but in a mentally unhinged state? The sequel does bring in the Shadow Man again, which further brings up the point if he's real or someone who mentally disturbed people such as Curt and Harry see.
- A fairly minor example can be found towards the thief who killed Uncle Ben. Was his decision to throw Peter his milk a small Pet the Dog moment, or was he simply trying to bribe Peter into silence while he stole money from the register?
- Uncle Ben himself. Was his death via confronting the thief a result of him heroically living up to the message of responsibility he earlier told Peter (as this version emphasizes that "one has to help others if they're able to", instead of "don't just look out for oneself"), or did he just recklessly get himself killed when it could have been easily avoided?
- Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: In a deleted scene concerning Lizard's rampage through Peter's high school, there's a scene where he almost licks a teenage girl's face. Neither Connors or his alter-ego are ever established as having that sort of attraction.
- Condemned by History: While the choice to reboot the character rather than create a fourth film in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man series was certainly controversial even at the time, critical and audience reviews of the first Amazing Spider-Man were generally quite positive on release, citing the film as a breezy and faithful take on the character and praising Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone's charisma and on-screen chemistry. Over time however, the film's reputation has become more negative due to a number of factors. The flaws and clunky universe-building of its sequel seemed to taint the public's perception of Garfield's Spider-Man in general and retroactively hurt the first film's reputation by association. Opinions sank even further when Marvel Studios announced that they had struck a deal with Sony to create a new version of Spider-Man for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and it seemed that the still-unresolved plot threads from this film, such as what really happened with Peter's parents, would never be resolved. When the MCU version finally debuted to great acclaim in Captain America: Civil War and Spider-Man: Homecoming proved to be wildly popular as MCU Peter's first outing, Amazing Spider-Man's reputation had hit its nadir and both Amazing films were written off as a misguided failure and a "Shaggy Dog" Story with no closure.
- This process may be reversing however, with the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home, as Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man became an Ensemble Dark Horse of that film, leading many people to revisit the film with a fresh appreciation for Garfield's take on Peter. It helps that the film also resolved some (but not all) of the plot threads that this series left hanging and gave Garfield's Peter satisfying emotional closure, and that various executives at Sony and Marvel have expressed interest in creating further adventures for both the Garfield and Maguire versions of Spider-Man.
- Ensemble Dark Horse:
- The film's portrayal of Captain Stacy was very well-received among fans. He's vastly different from the comics, but is just so cool that fans don't tend to mind.
- Flash, for being closer to his Jerk with a Heart of Gold characterization than his usual pure Jerk Jock behavior seen in other media.
- Foe Yay Shipping: For some reason, Peter Parker/Curt Connors has a small fanbase, even though Curt is old enough to be Peter’s father and he’s more fatherly towards Peter.
- Genius Bonus: In addition to being a Shout-Out and some Foreshadowing, Peter's room has a poster for Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, a film about another photographer that fights (or rather solves) crime and has a beautiful girlfriend.
- Harsher in Hindsight:
- During the fight with the Lizard at the school, Peter throws Gwen out of a window and webs her so she doesn't hit the ground, which is Played for Laughs. Unfortunately, Peter wouldn't be so successful the next time he would try to do something similar.
- In a shot leading up to a deleted scene after Peter sneaks Gwen out of her room, the camera holds on a clock tower. In The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Gwen is killed in a clock tower.
- Captain Stacy's dying wish for Peter leave Gwen out of his adventures as Spider-Man is all the more pertinent considering her original fate in the main Marvel Universe, and becomes much, MUCH more horrible when Gwen meets the same fate in the sequel. Captain Stacy's ghost even appeared to Peter moments before it happened.
- Hilarious in Hindsight:
- "You found my weakness, it's small knives!" is reminiscent of "A bullet came out of his gun somehow! How did he know my one weakness?" from these parodies of the Spider-Man newspaper strip
floating around the Web since 2004. - One of the first things Peter's powers do - squeeze out too much toothpaste.
- Much laughter was had when the first leaked production photos were of the car thief scene, strangely involving Spidey and said car thief in... suggestive positions. Now we know that the crotch thing was deliberate.
- Remember Stan Lee appearing in The Avengers and scoffing the idea of superheroes despite all evidence to the contrary? Now we know he has good reason...
- Cranes nearly killed Gwen in Spider-Man 3. In this film, they save the day to give Spidey a helping hand when he's wounded.
- Peter getting fire for using Bing becomes this when many people who used Google jumped ship to Bing in 2013 following some questionable implementations of their Safesearch feature.
- Sally Field plays the wife of a character played by Martin Sheen, who's best known for playing the President of the United States for 7 years straight. Less than a year after this movie came out, she got an Oscar nomination for playing the wife of a real American president.
- Irrfan Khan plays Dr. Rajit Ratha, a colleague of Curt Connors who also knew Richard Parker. His next role? The starring role in Life of Pi, in which he is stranded on a boat with a tiger...named Richard Parker.
- In the movie, Captain Stacy jokes about not being "the mayor of Tokyo" in response to Peter Parker's claim that Dr. Connors has turned into the giant lizard monster roaming around New York, in a Shout-Out to Godzilla. This movie's sequel and the 2014 Godzilla remake ended up being direct box office competitors in the May of 2014.
- A superhero fighting a villain atop of a tower to prevent a major bioterrorist attack? Later done. Also done again in yet another Spider-Man media.
- Long before he was given the role of Captain Stacy, Denis Leary wrote a book called Why We Suck, which features a side-by-side photo comparison of him and Willem Dafoe, who played Norman Osborn/Green Goblin in Sam Raimi's first Spider-Man film. Leary notes that people think the two look alike, and comments, "I apologize if every time I hear 'You were great in Spider-Man', he has to hear 'Why the fuck did you do Operation: Dumbo Drop?'"
- "You found my weakness, it's small knives!" is reminiscent of "A bullet came out of his gun somehow! How did he know my one weakness?" from these parodies of the Spider-Man newspaper strip
- It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: The main complaint of film critics who didn't like the movie that it's too similar to Raimi's Spider-Man: the origin takes up the full first hour and then the film shifts gears to Spidey facing a crazy green villain and even ends with a funeral at a graveyard. The movie also makes too many callbacks to the Raimi films that it makes this film struggle to be its own thing without being in the shadow of the previous films.
- It Was His Sled:
- Those who know anything about Spider-Man know that Uncle Ben is killed.
- George Stacy's death actually happened in the comics and in fairly similar circumstances. So for those that remember their comics, it's not as big a surprise as it might be.
- Magnificent Bastard: For "The Man in the Shadows", see here.
- Memetic Badass: Crane-Dad and the ability of New York Crane Operators to somehow mobilise faster than the police.
- Memetic Mutation:
- One of Spidey's lines against a car thief when he pulls a knife out - "You found my weakness, it's small knives!"
- Chocolate milk killed Uncle Ben.
- "Not my policy", as a great counterpart to the 2002 film's "I missed the part where that's my problem".
- The scene where Peter gets down on ground after swinging around on a chain, looks up and screams excitedly is often spliced with a similar scene from Spider-Man where Peter is crawling on a wall, looking down and screaming excitedly, making it look like Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's Peter Parkers are meeting each other and cheering on.
- More Popular Replacement: Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy is more popular than both her portrayal in the tepidly received Spider-Man 3 and Mary Jane as the trilogy's love interest for her Adorkable yet headstrong personality and proactiveness in the climax (in contrast to MJ having to be rescued multiple times in the trilogy). While the film itself is still divisive, Gwen is easily the most popular of the love interests across all three continuities.
- Narm Charm: The crane scene. The idea that Spider-Man, the web-slinging superhero of New York, has to be saved by a group of crane operators sounds ridiculous on paper, but it's actually set up well and executed beautifully, making it a popular counterpart to the tram scene from Spider-Man 2.
- Never Live It Down: One thing that, evidently, a lot of people can't get past is Peter's comment that promises you know you can't keep are the best kind, which hints that he'll continue dating Gwen regardless of what George Stacy told him while on his death bed. That it's literally the last thing said and done in the movie doesn't help.
- Many seemed to miss the fact that Peter was breaking the cycle started by his fathers actions at the beginning of the movie, and the last scene bookends a personal arc that spans the entire film. Richard Parker abandoned his duty to be a father to pursue the greater good. Peter spends the movie pushing his loved ones further and further away so that he can completely devote himself to that same pursuit, ignoring his duty to be a nephew and boyfriend. At the end of the movie he rejects the choice, choosing to balance his responsibilities to be Spider-Man and his responsibility to be Peter.
- To its credit, the sequel pulls an Author's Saving Throw due to the backlash from this, making Peter immensely guilty about this decision and, via Foregone Conclusion, having it lead directly into what Captain Stacy was trying to prevent.
- Nightmare Retardant: Curt Connors' face as The Lizard is subject to a lot of mockery from fans. This is due to its human-like characteristics falling into the Unintentional Uncanny Valley at times, while also looking looking less scary than the reptilian-like visage depicted in the comics.
- Older Than They Think: A Marvel movie where the Big Bad is planning to use a device to turn the general population into mutants like himself in the climax? It's Been Done in X-Men.
- A Spider-Man movie featuring a scientist mentor of Peter becoming a Well-Intentioned Extremist and trying to use his invention to help mankind at all costs, even if it means the destruction of New York City? Are we talking about this movie or Spider-Man 2?
- A lot of people criticised the lack of the Lizard's snout and the fact that he almost never wears anything. The 2003 series featured a Lizard that was practically naked (complete with a blonde, bespectacled Connors) and concept art for the Lizard from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2 also depicts him without a snout.
- A variation of the classic ”With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility” being used instead of the actual phrase (which was done again in Captain America: Civil War) has already been done in the Ultimate Spider-Man comics as well as by Doc Ock in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2.
Dr. Octavius: Intelligence is not a privilege, it’s a gift. And you use it for the good of mankind.- While this movie did it for longer and with better Special effects, both Spider-Man 2 (when Peter changes into Spider-Man and swings away after seeing MJ with John Jameson) and Spider-Man 3 (during Peter and Harry’s first fight, when he swings into an alleyway) also showed a first person POV of Spider-Man web-slinging.
- The movie also received some criticism for having Peter skateboard, pointing out how unrealistic it is for a nerd to skateboard. Peter Parker in various media has shown non-nerdy interests despite being a nerd. In the original comics he likes motorcycles and in Spider-Man 3, he reveals he and Harry used to play basketball, though admittedly they weren’t very good but they still knew the basics (the "Still got the moves" line comes from that scene).
- One-Scene Wonder: Missy Kallenback, the nerdy girl with glasses who Peter protects from Flash. She literally only appears in two scenes, but it was enough to spawn her a fandom and a lot of Epileptic Trees. If only the credits had not named her, some would have theorized she was Carlie Cooper due to the strong resemblance.
- Best Stan Lee cameo ever! See Headphones Equal Isolation on the main page.
- Questionable Casting: Casting a then 28-year-old Andrew Garfield to play a high school teenager falls here for some. Tobey Maguire was about the same age when he was cast and that is rarely brought up (probably because Maguire's Spider-Man was a teenager for only the first third of the first film and old enough to go to college in the subsequent films), but it doesn't exactly help Andrew's case either. However, it can be forgiven; does he really look like he's 28◊??
- Retroactive Recognition: Missy Kallenback is Amanda Brotzman.
- Rooting for the Empire: Surprisingly, some fans supported Dr. Connors' plan to turn all New Yorkers into lizard-people like him.
- Ron the Death Eater: Peter Parker himself got this, largely from fans of the previous trilogy of movies and MCU, where every mistake or negative action he performed was taken as evidence he was a horrible asshole who verbally abuses his poor aunt (note in the film itself, she was the one who shouted at him, while all he did was beg her to go back to bed rather than see him covered in bruises). Bare in mind, Peter Parker is meant to make mistakes and cause problems for himself, but Andrew's Peter was the only live-action Peter to have it held against him.
- Special Effect Failure: The helicopter scene before taking off had a visible shadows of the camera crew.
- Squick:
- In the sewer scene, the Lizard throws himself and Spider-Man straight into the water. Spidey’s submerged long enough to nearly drown, has MASSIVE cuts in his torso from the Lizard’s claws, and there are chunky… things floating through the water. Spidey’s suit also has brown stains on it for the rest of the movie.
- Spidey accidentally pulling off Lizard's tail during the fight at the school. Then we're treated to a shot of the tail growing back...
- Trailer Joke Decay: Spidey's quip about the small knives to the would-be carjacker since nearly every trailer and commercial have included this bit.
- Unconvincingly Unpopular Character: Throughout the duology, Andrew Garfield was criticized for making Peter Parker too cool. Even before getting his powers, he's shown to be attractive, athletic, smart, and friendly, making it hard to buy that he's a friendless loser.
- Unintentionally Sympathetic: The group of bullies in the subway train were initially playing a prank on Peter (by balancing a bottle on his head while he was asleep), but Peter ends up stripping a woman nearby, leaving her in a bra in the middle of a crowd, an unfortunate side-effect of his Spider-Powers activating at the worst possible moment. This ends in a brawl which Peter wins. Problem is, as Screen Rant Pitch Meetings pointed out, Peter (admittedly, unintentionally), sexually assaulted a random woman (who was just minding her own business) and is now beating up the men who are trying to defend her, and we are supposed to see them as a Gang of Bullies picking on our lovable protagonist.
- Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
- The girl whose banner Flash accidentally ruins. She gets mad and accuses him of intentionally ruining it, and while he acts like a jerkass after she calls him out, she's painting her banner on a basketball court during a game of basketball.
- How some feel about Peter Parker for various reasons, especially because of his breaking his promise to Gwen's father before he dies about staying away from Gwen.
- Gwen is this as well for some for knowing this and yet still encouraging Peter to break said promise to her own deceased father. Even so, these people still don't look forward to the inevitable consequence for this to befall Gwen.
- And then there's a third camp who don't feel much sympathy for Captain Stacy himself in this situation. He orders Peter to break his daughter's heart, regardless of her own feelings in the matter, because he doesn't want her put at risk. Except as Gwen rightly points out in the next movie, it's her choice to make and she could be at risk doing any number of things. Although still legally underage, Gwen is not a child and is old enough to work a prestigious job and understand the risks involved with having a father as a policeman, and so should have her own feelings considered in this. It's one thing to tell Peter he can't date her, but to stay away from her completely?
- Vindicated by History: With the hype surrounding the MCU beginning to die down and the need for everything to folded into an interconnected universe being replaced by a greater appreciation for standalone superhero films, many have revisited this entry with fresh eyes and come to appreciate it as a personal, human story in the guise of a superhero movie, exploring the ideas of responsibility with much greater depth and nuance than the previous installments and delving into the idea of parental abandonment. Many of the elements that were derided by fans that wanted a simple blockbuster have come to be appreciated as elements that make the film better than other superhero movies, like Peter's more complex characterization, his longer road to figuring out how to be a hero, and the clearer differentiation between true heroism and redemptive violence, all elements that the Raimi movies and MCU version lacks.
- Visual Effects of Awesome: One thing many agree on, the web swinging looks fantastic. The shot where Spidey is wrapping the Lizard in a great layer of webs is a tad... conspicuous, however.
- WTH, Costuming Department?: Many, many people question Peter's suit in this movie.
The Amazing Spider-Man tie-in video game
- Broken Base:
- The casting of Sam Riegel as Spider-Man, due to Andrew Garfield being unavailable. It doesn't really help that he's received a lot of flak for being The Other Darrin in another game.
- The change in the suit from the one in the movie, with Beenox adding a utility belt to the ensemble. However the first time the player heads to Peter's apartment, they have the option of removing the belt from the suit, pleasing those who like both versions of the suit.
- Harsher in Hindsight:
- In interviews promoting the game, Beenox pointed out they needed to get the film's producers approval on what elements & characters they used & referred to in the game, to avoid using anything planned for future films as the game was supposed to be canon to the film. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 wound up using Rhino, Felicia Hardy and Alistair Smythe in the film, completely contradicting the use of those characters in the game.
- The primary plot of the game is that a virus created by Oscorp gets out of control and ravages New York City, forcing Spider Man to find a cure. Spider-Man (PS4) had the exact same storyline, but much more direct, actually showing casualties.
- Hilarious in Hindsight:
- The use of the "These aren't the droids you're looking for" routine, considering Spider-Man & Star Wars are both owned by Disney as of late 2012.
- Stan Lee being a playable character with all the powers of Spider-Man is this when you consider that in the 2014 film Big Hero 6. Stan Lee cameos at the end of the movie, revealed to be a retired Superhero.
- The inclusion of the costume from the previous trilogy as an unlockable extra became this, after the first shots of Spidey's costume from Amazing Spider-Man 2 revealed... that it's more or less replaced the costume from the first film.note
- Moral Event Horizon:
- Alistaire Smythe injecting Spider-Man with a nannobot cocktail. This temporarily strips him of his powers. When Spider-Man was weakened, he tries to overkill him with the S-03 robot.
- Connors feels he crossed it with Captain Stacy's murder from the movie, but Spider-Man credits it as the Lizard's fault to console Connors.
- Questionable Casting: Sam Riegel as Spider-Man instead of Andrew Garfield since Tobey Maguire voiced Spidey in the three tie-in games based on the trilogy he starred in. Note that some are noting that Riegel would actually make a rather good Spider-Man, if he wasn't standing in for the star of the movie. There's another camp who questioned why they didn't have fan favorite Spidey voice actor Josh Keaton to reprise the role.
- Salvaged Gameplay Mechanic:
- The Wii nor 3DS got the Wide-Open Sandbox that was on the other versions, and most sources didn't really bother to point out the Wii version didn't have the Sandbox world. Around March, a Wii U version was released with the entire Wide-Open Sandbox and DLC packs already in the game.
- No Problem with Licensed Games: The general consensus is that while it's not an amazing game, it is a good one.
