{"id":4841,"date":"2012-10-29T23:45:28","date_gmt":"2012-10-30T06:45:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=4841"},"modified":"2021-05-31T15:17:29","modified_gmt":"2021-05-31T22:17:29","slug":"review-amazingspiderman-bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2012\/10\/review-amazingspiderman-bd\/","title":{"rendered":"The Amazing Spider-Man Blu-ray Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Amazing Spider-Man<\/em><\/strong> certainly had opportunities to be a great movie and although I still enjoyed the film, sometimes even immensely, there are times the script could\u2019ve been tweaked. Even so, the casting was pretty good starting with Andrew Garfield who will hopefully find more bearings with the sequel(s) while Emma Stone was a delight.<\/p>\n

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\nThe Amazing Spider-Man (2012)<\/strong><\/p>\n


\nREVIEW NAVIGATION<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe Movie<\/a> | Special Features<\/a> | Video Quality<\/a> | Audio Quality<\/a> | Overall<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Genre(s): <\/strong>Action, Science Fiction
\nSony | PG13 \u2013 136 min. \u2013 $40.99 | November 9, 2012<\/p>\n

MOVIE INFO:<\/span>
\nDirected by: <\/strong>Marc Webb
\nWriter(s): <\/strong>Stan Lee and Steve Ditko (characters); James Vanderbilt (story), James Vanderbilt and Alvin Sargent and Steve Kloves (screenplay)
\nCast: <\/strong>Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Campbell Scott, Irrfan Khan, Martin Sheen, Sally Field<\/p>\n

Theatrical Release Date: <\/strong>July 3, 2012<\/p>\n

DISC INFO:<\/span>
\nFeatures: <\/strong>Commentary, Featurettes, Deleted Scenes, Second Screen App, DVD Copy, UltraViolet Digital Copy
\nNumber of Discs: <\/strong>3<\/p>\n

Audio: <\/strong>English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), French (DTS-HD MA 5.1), Portuguese (DTS-HD MA 5.1), Chinese (Dolby Digital 5.1), Thai (Dolby Digital 5.1)
\nVideo: <\/strong>1080p\/Widescreen 2.40
\nSubtitles: <\/strong>English SDH, English, Chinese (Cantonese), Chinese (Mandarin Traditional), Chinese (Mandarin Simplified), French, Indonesian, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai
\nDisc Size: <\/strong>40.5 GB
\nCodec: <\/strong>MPEG-4 AVC
\nRegion(s): <\/strong>A, B, C<\/p>\n

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THE MOVIE<\/strong> \u2013 3.75\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Thanks to Sam Raimi\u2019s Spider-Man 3<\/em> and a poor reception from a fair number of the fan base (critics interestingly enough gave it a respectable 63% on \u201cRotten Tomatoes\u201d), Sony scrapped any plans for a third sequel and decided to take the Batman Begins<\/em> route and reboot the franchise. Directed by Marc Webb, The Amazing Spider-Man<\/em><\/strong> attempts to do a reset with mixed, though mostly positive, results.<\/p>\n

The movie begins with a young Peter Parker playing a game of hide-and-seek with his father, Richard (CAMPBELL SCOTT), when he comes upon his father\u2019s office which has been ransacked. When his father sees this, he and Peter\u2019s mother (EMBETH DAVIDTZ) pack up and the pair drop Peter off at his Aunt May and Uncle Ben\u2019s (SALLY FIELD, MARTIN SHEEN) home and take off in the middle of the night, never to be seen again.<\/p>\n

Fast forward a number of years and Peter (ANDREW GARFIELD) is now a teenager dealing with the angst associated with being that age. In high school he\u2019s apparently a science whiz\/master photographer and has a crush on the beautiful Gwen Stacey (EMMA STONE) and is also the target of school bully Flash Thompson, who, when Peter refuses to take a picture of Flash humiliating another student, lays the smack-down on him. The good news is this catches the attention of Gwen…<\/p>\n

After the basement is flooded, Peter discovers his father\u2019s old satchel which, at first glance, contained nothing of value, until he finds a secret compartment with some important science gobbly-gook and also learns that his pops worked with a Dr. Curt Connors (RHYS IFANS), a one-armed genetic scientist working at Oscorp, a pharmaceutical company. So Parker does a bit of reconnaissance work taking an intern slot and, after getting busted by Gwen who is Connors\u2019 assistant and posting questions to Dr. Connors, gains entry to a secure area where a bunch of spiders are being bred in a glitzy, blue-lit, room where upon he gets bitten by one of them. You can guess what happens next: Peter starts acting like a drug-induced teen and strange things start happening.<\/p>\n

As with the comic book origin (I think) and with the Sam Raimi Spider-Man<\/em> film, Peter\u2019s calling in life with his new-found powers come in to focus. After slacking off \u2013 including forgetting to pick up his Aunt \u2013 Peter and his uncle get into a nasty fight causing Peter to storm off with Ben chasing after. While at a convenience store, Peter witnesses robber take cash out of the till and because the cashier was a jerk to him before, he allows the crook to go free. Any clue what happens next? Yep, old Uncle Ben gets gunned down after attempting to stop the robber. Thankfully we don\u2019t get drippy final words to Peter like in Raimi\u2019s version… Peter makes it his mission to find the criminal eventually donning the Spider-Man outfit and persona which catches the attention of NYC Captain Stacy (DENIS LEARY) who is, of course, Peter\u2019s main squeeze\u2019s father. Cue awkward dinner scene.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Dr. Connors research isn\u2019t going so well and the funding is being pulled by Oscorp, so in desperation he utilizes the formula given to him by Peter earlier in the film, where he grows a new arm but encounters a side effect resulting in a creature that will be known as The Lizard. He eventually goes nuts and like any good supervillain, he wants to terrorize the city by turning everyone else into lizards via an air-born toxin. Personally, this makes Lex Luthor\u2019s hare-brained real estate schemes seem more mischievous.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s to make of this franchise reboot? Well, for one thing, I actually found it quite entertaining. On the other hand, the script had issues especially concerning a lackluster, anti-climatic finale. Even so, Andrew Garfield was a good choice to play Peter Parker\/Spider-Man and, speaking as somebody who has only read ONE \u201cSpider-Man\u201d comic book, gives the character a different attitude versus Maguire\/Rami\u2019s interpretation. I know some complained Garfield was a bit too, um, Twilight<\/em>-y but to me it\u2019s just normal teen angst seen in numerous other movies and television shows (alright -1 for creativity).<\/p>\n

As for the supporting cast, Rhys Ifans does the best with what he\u2019s given, and that is a CGI villain but he does give it a certain sadness and regret which is nice to see; Martin Sheen and Sally Field, much like what Michael Caine did for Nolan\u2019s Batman<\/em> movies, gives an emotional depth for Peter; Denis Leary in his limited role as Captain Stacy was a hoot and provided for both comedy and drama (such as the awkward dinner scene); and of course Emma Stone filling the role of Peter\u2019s first love, Gwen, is amazing and shares some great chemistry with Garfield (so much apparently the couple began dating). All around, the filmmakers put together an incredible cast.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t normally mention the score, but for a brief moment I will. First, I liked what Danny Elfman did with the Raimi Spider-Man<\/em> movies but outside of the main title, it\u2019s not especially notable. Taking over in the scoring department, is another veteran composer, Oscar winner James Horner (Titanic<\/em>). While his theme isn\u2019t particularly impressive, the rest of it is actually pretty good, nothing I would buy or anything, but decent nevertheless.<\/p>\n

Adequately directed by Marc Webb, especially considering it\u2019s his first big budget movie, I think The Amazing Spider-Man<\/em><\/strong> had opportunities to be, well, amazing. The acting isn\u2019t bad, the plot itself might\u2019ve been weak but Rhys Ifans made his Lizard villain with some depth and Andrew Garfield seems suitable in the title role, maybe even better than Tobey Maguire\u2019s initial outing (of course, it helps not to have a lazy voice over). Despite my concerns with a ho-hum final act, I still recommend the film as the filmmakers have provided the franchise a foundation for possibly better sequels.<\/p>\n

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SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 4.75\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This 3-disc set comes contained a double-wide Blu-ray case with an embossed, matted slip cover.<\/p>\n

Disc 1:
\nSecond Screen App<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 Unfortunately because I don\u2019t have an iPad or Sony Tablet I could not check out this feature. Thanks a lot Sony… That alone I have docked .25 from the features rating.<\/p>\n

Feature Commentary<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 Director Marc Webb and Producers Avi Arad & Matt Tolmach sit down for an informative, though low key, chat on how the movie came about, breaking down certain scenes or shots and working with the various actors.<\/p>\n

Previews<\/strong> \u2013 Men in Black 3<\/em>, Total Recall<\/em><\/p>\n

Disc 2:
\nRite of Passage: The Amazing Spider-Man <\/em>Reborn (1:49:49; HD)<\/span><\/strong> is a fantastic 7-part, feature-length, making-of that delves into just about every aspect of making the movie from rebooting the franchise to the director and casting. We get some cool behind-the-scenes footage to go along with cast\/crew interviews.<\/p>\n

Deleted Scenes (16:50; HD)<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 There are 12 scenes removed from the final cut and while there\u2019s no commentary, it was probably due to pacing more than anything else, though I felt the alternate Uncle Ben shooting in the final cut was better.<\/p>\n

Pre-Visualization (39:08; HD)<\/span><\/strong> contains a breakdown of 16 scenes from the film in the early process.<\/p>\n

The disc also has The Oscorp Archives \u2013 Promotional Gallery<\/span><\/strong> with some pictures for Spider-Man (suit, logo, ec), The Lizard and more; Image Progression Reels<\/span><\/strong> for the various scenes (i.e. High School Fight Sequence, Iconic Poses, etc); Stunt Rehearsals (11:52; SD)<\/span><\/strong> which are interesting to watch; and Developing \u201cThe Amazing Spider-Man\u201d Video Game (3:30; HD)<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The set also includes a retail DVD Copy<\/span><\/strong> and an UltraViolet Digital Copy<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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VIDEO \u2013 4.25\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment releases The Amazing Spider-Man<\/em><\/strong> on Blu-ray with a nice looking 1080p high-definition transfer, but hardly outstanding especially given this is a new release. The picture itself does come across a tad dark but that was probably the director\u2019s intent. Even so, the detail level looks good and the daylight scenes do show off some decent colors.
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AUDIO \u2013 4.75\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The movie comes with the Blu-ray standard 5.1 DTS-HD MA track which really shows signs of life during the numerous action sequences but also has balance during the more dialogue-driven scenes. Although this lossless track is quite good, it\u2019s still on the disappointing side as it didn\u2019t exactly wow me, especially the LFE channel. Otherwise, it\u2019s still a solid, above average and satisfactory track.<\/p>\n

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OVERALL \u2013 4.25\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Overall, The Amazing Spider-Man<\/em><\/strong> certainly had opportunities to be a great movie and although I still enjoyed the film, sometimes even immensely, there are times the script could\u2019ve been tweaked. Even so, the casting was pretty good starting with Andrew Garfield who will hopefully find more bearings with the sequel(s) while Emma Stone was a delight. I know some didn\u2019t like the movie, and no doubt it doesn\u2019t compare with other superhero movies (like the Nolan Batman <\/em>movies or The Avengers<\/em>) but for me, it managed to entertain for the 130-minute duration.<\/p>\n

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The Movieman<\/em>
\nPublished: <\/strong>10\/29\/2012<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Amazing Spider-Man certainly had opportunities to be a great movie and although I still enjoyed the film, sometimes even immensely, there are times the script could\u2019ve been tweaked. Even so, the casting was pretty good starting with Andrew Garfield who will hopefully find more bearings with the sequel(s) while Emma Stone was a delight. … Continue reading “The Amazing Spider-Man Blu-ray Review”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1725,666,592,699,1347,1726],"class_list":["post-4841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blurayreviews","tag-amazing-spider-man","tag-andrew-garfield","tag-emma-stone","tag-martin-sheen","tag-rhys-ifans","tag-sally-field"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4841"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26262,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4841\/revisions\/26262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}