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"Peter, I know things have been difficult lately, and I'm sorry about that. I think I know what you're feeling. Ever since you were a little boy, you've been living with so many unresolved things. Well, take it from an old man, those things send us down a road. They make us who we are. And, if anyone's destined for greatness, it's you, son. You owe the world your gifts. You just have to figure out how to use them. And know that wherever they take you, we'll always be here. So, come on home, Peter. You're my hero, and I love you."
— Uncle Ben's voicemail

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The Amazing Spider-Man
Directed by: Marc Webb
Produced by: Avi Arad
Laura Ziskin
Matt Tolmach

Written by:

James Vanderbilt
Alvin Sargent
Steve Kloves

Starring:

Andrew Garfield
Emma Stone
Rhys Ifans
Denis Leary
Irrfan Khan
Martin Sheen
Sally Field

Rating:

MPAA: PG-13
BBFC: 12A

Running time:

136 minutes

Music by:

James Horner

Edited by:

Alan Edward Bell
Pietro Scalia

Released by:

Columbia Pictures

Release date:

June 13, 2012 (Premiere)
July 3, 2012

Previous installment(s):

Spider-Man 3

Next installment(s):

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Budget:

$230 million

Box office:

$757,216,557

The Amazing Spider-Man is the first installment to Marc Webb's and Sony Studios new reboot Spider-Man film series.

Synopsis[]

The film retells the origin story for Spider-Man, taking a more grounded and realistic approach than the previous versions. Brilliant science student Peter Parker gets bitten by a modified spider in one of the Oscorp labs. He starts to develop spider-like abilities including enhanced strength, and the ability to cling to walls. He takes up the superhero persona Spider-Man when a strange, mutant Lizard threatens the city of New York. Peter tries to discover the secrets behind his father's mysterious work before his death, tracing it back to Dr. Curt Connors, a scientist that works at Oscorp.

History[]

The film began development after the cancellation of Spider-Man 4 in 2010, with Sony Pictures Entertainment opting to reboot the franchise rather than continue Sam Raimi's series. It premiered on June 13, 2012 in Tokyo, and was released in US theaters on July 3, 2012. The film proved to be successful, both critically and financially. The first of at least three sequels was released in US theaters on May 2, 2014.

Plot[]

While playing hide and seek with his father Richard, young Peter Parker stumbles upon his father's study, which was ransacked by unknown perpetrators. After Richard sees the study himself, he leaves home with his wife Mary and Peter, along with some of his documents. Richard and Mary leave Peter to the care of his Aunt May and Uncle Ben, and then leave to continue their research. Under the care of Ben and May, and without a word from either of his parents, Peter grows into a teenager, enrolled in Midtown High School. There he is a somewhat of an outcast, and is continuously bullied by Basketball Player Flash Thompson, who knocks Peter down for defending a fellow student that he was picking on.

After the beating, Peter becomes acquainted with Gwen Stacy, who admires Peter's act of bravery. After class, Peter goes home for lunch, and helps his uncle Ben in fixing a broken pipe down the basement. While cleaning up, and being asked of how by Ben on how he got the bruise, Peter happens upon an old leather briefcase, belonging to his father. Bringing it up, much to Ben and May's surprise, Peter inspects the briefcase and found a small newspaper clipping of his father and a fellow scientist. Ben encourages Peter to inspect it further in his room, which he does.

After a thorough inspection, he finds more of his father's notes and belongings, including a pair of glasses and a notebook that details a formula: the Decay Rate Algorithm. Ben comes to Peter's room and confronts him about his findings, trying to comfort Peter about his parents. He also reveals the name of his father's co-worker: Dr. Curt Connors. After Ben leaves, Peter immediately searches the internet for information about Richard and Dr. Connors' work, which leads him to the discovery of his parent's death due to a plane crash. Continuing his search on Dr. Connors' alone, Peter is able to locate him at Oscorp, and decides to head there. Peter sneaks into Oscorp as one of the interns and locates Dr. Connors. Peter manages to sneak inside the biocable lab by shoulder surfing the combination lock's sequence and one of the modified spiders bites him. He starts developing spider-like powers such as enhanced strength and ability to cling on walls. He begins romantically persue Gwen by flirting and she returns the flirting.He humiliates Flash in a one-on-one basketball game by repeatedly teasing him to steal the ball and ends up breaking the basketball ring with his slam dunk.

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As a result Uncle Ben must change work shifts and Peter forgets to pick up his Aunt May. When he heads home, he gets into an argument with his uncle and storms out. Peter heads out to a nearby deli where the store clerk refuses to give him a bottle of chocolate milk because he was two cents short, when a thief raids the store. The thief pushed some stuff from the counter which distracts the clerk. The thief throws the bottle of milk that Peter wanted to keep him quiet, the thief rushes out. Uncle Ben searches for Peter only to get shot by a thief; the thief escapes and Peter finds his uncle dead on the sidewalk.

Enraged, Peter searches New York City for his uncle's killer. He provokes a street thug that was about to hurt a woman, Peter snaps the thug's gun and got chased by a gang. Peter managed to fight them off, but he decided to make a run for it. He clings to a wall and jumps to another building to fight the thug, the thug gets knocked off almost to his death, when Peter sees that he has no star tattoo, he pulled him back up. While being chased he falls through a roof into an abandoned gym, the thugs complained that they remember him cause they can see his face, Peter sees a luchador poster and gets inspired to create a mask to hide his identity. He also adds a spandex suit and he builds mechanical web-shooters out of old watches. Gwen invites Peter over for dinner and Gwen discovers Peter is Spider-Man and they kiss for the first time on the roof. After the success of regeneration of the mouse, Ratha demands that Connors start human trials or else he loses his job. Desperate, he tries the serum on himself and is able to regenerate his arm but starts to become a lizard hybrid. He tries to intercept Ratha at the bridge and tosses cars over the bridge. Peter saves each car with his webbing and he saves a child and calls himself "Spider-Man".

Peter suspects that Doctor Connors is the Lizard and he tells Captain Stacy about his suspicions. After an unsuccessful confrontation in the sewers, The Lizard discovers Spider-Man's true identity and attacks Peter in school. In response Captain Stacy launches a man hunt for Spider-Man and the Lizard. The police are able to corner Peter and Captain Stacy discovers Peter is Spider-Man. The Lizard plans in making all citizens of New York human lizards by releasing a chemical cloud from Oscorp Tower. Spider-Man eventually changes the cloud into an antidote cloud but not before the Lizard fatally claws Captain Stacy. The dying Captain makes Peter promise to stay away from Gwen for her own safety. He does so but later suggests that they resume their relationship.

In the post-credits scene Doctor Connors, now in a mental facility, speaks with a mysterious person who asks if he told Peter the truth about his father. Connor replies "No", and demands Peter be left alone. Lightning flashes and the man in the shadows is gone.

Rating[]

The Amazing Spider-Man received a PG-13 rating for sequences of action and violence by the M.P.A.A. The film is rated 12A by the B.B.F.C. for moderate violence and injury detail.

Cast[]

Video Game adaption[]

Main Article: The Amazing Spider-Man

A video game tie-in developed by Beenox was released on June 26, 2012 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, Wii, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo 3DS. Beenox had said that, "The fact that our game is based on the movie, and the movie is re-approaching the universe in a completely different way - a more grounded, more realistic approach - gives us an incredible setting to play with."

Music[]

The film was scored by James Horner. Horner's score was said to be "spectacular" by director Marc Webb. Webb also said, "I wanted to create a score that felt massive and huge but also intimate and small." The british rock band Coldplay also provided some music for the film.

Release[]

Reception[]

Reaction to the film among critics was generally positive. The film currently holds a 73% rating, based on 265 reviews, on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Metacritic gave the film an average score of 66 out of 100, which signifies "generally favorable reviews". Many critics found the film satisfying and entertaining, as well as praising the actors and visual effects,, while criticizing it for being unnecessary so soon after Sam Raimi's trilogy, as well as being too similar to the 2002 film.

Box Office[]

The film was the seventh-highest grossing film of 2012, with a total gross of $752,216,557, behind The AvengersSkyfallThe Dark Knight Rises, The Hobbit: An Unexpected JourneyIce Age: Continental Drift, and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2. It is currently the fourth-highest grossing Spider-Man film, ahead of only The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and is the eighth-highest grossing superhero film of all-time. 

Home media[]

The film was released on DVD and Blu-Ray on November 9, 2012.

Sequel[]

A sequel to the first film was released in US theaters on May 2, 2014.

Trivia[]

  • For the design of the suit, Marc Webb said that he "wanted the suit to look like it was made by a teenager".
  • Tobey Maguire, previous portrayer of Spider-Man, said that he is excited to see Andrew Garfield in action, despite most fans that think Maguire is disappointed by Garfield's performance.
  • Many scenes were cut from the movie, one of which featured Dr. Ratha, Spider-Man, and the Lizard in the sewer lab. This caused a lot of controversy because this is the scene that had many people excited about the "untold story" theme, and included Dr. Ratha's quote: "Do you think what happened to you, Peter, was an accident? Do you have any idea what you really are?" Many people wonder if this scene was cut in response to negative reaction of fans because of Peter's new origin, therefore changing the planned origin, or if it was cut so that not too much of Peter's new origin is revealed in the first movie.
  • Gwen Stacy has the novel Seabiscuit with the movie poster on the cover. Seabiscuit is a 2003 film with Tobey Maguire, the original Spider-Man.
  • Besides Campbell Scott, who plays Richard Parker, the film also features a small appearance by actress Jill Flint, who along with Scott appeared in the USA Network TV Series Royal Pains.
  • Stan Lee makes a cameo-appearance in this film as a librarian who is unaware of a contention between Spider-Man and The Lizard going on behind him.

Parodies[]

  • In Cartoon Network's MAD, the MAD News anchor showed footage of Andrew Garfield's new 2012 movie suit in "The Straight A-Team / Gaming's Next Top Princess". Also, the movie got spoofed alongside with musical pop star, Nicki Minaj in "The Amazing Spider-Minaj / Go, Dragon Ball, Go!".
  • In South Park's "Nightmare on Face Time", when Randy was inside Blockbuster, one of the movie title boxes on a sign said "5. The Amazing Spider-Man", referring to the 2012 film.
  • According to IMDb, the movie is referred by character in Scary Movie 5 (stylized as Scary MoVie), the stand-alone horror comedy sequel to the the four Scary Movie films.

See Also[]

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