"Why?"

The Amazing Spider-Man introduces us to Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield). Orphaned as a child, Peter lives with his Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) and Aunt May (Sally Field). He is intellectually gifted and attends Midtown Science High School, where he has a crush on classmate Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) and endures the teasing of Flash Thompson (Chris Zylka). Peter finds his father's old briefcase, which contains notes on experiments and a picture of Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans). Peter visits Oscorp to see Dr. Connors in his lab (where he's surprised to see Gwen supervising interns) and is bitten by a spider which is part of an experiment. This bite gives Peter increased strength and the ability to cling to surfaces. Using his scientific know-how, Peter constructs web-shooters so that he can swing through the air. Meanwhile, Dr. Connors, decides to use his cell regeneration experiment on himself, hoping to repair his missing arm. But, the formula has terrible side-effects which transform him into a rampaging monster. Realizing that Dr. Connors is a danger to the city, Peter takes on the guise of Spider-Man in order to stop The Lizard.

Yes, just a few years after Sam Raimi's films worked to bring us the origin of Spider-Man, we now have a new film which throws all of that away in order to return to the drawing board. It's incredibly ironic that the movie takes its moniker from the original Spider-Man comic book, as the story elements in this film come from the more modern Marvel comics in which Peter Parker's parents are given more of a backstory. This is just one of the changes and/or problems which makes The Amazing Spider-Man so hard to swallow.

The movie follows the back Spider-Man story, but the changes can't be ignored. This Peter Parker is meant to be "edgy", but Garfield's performance instead made me think that Peter fell somewhere on the Autism spectrum. His behavior isn't the nerd to which we are accustomed -- instead it comes across as someone with emotional problems. As in the original story, Uncle Ben dies and Peter blames himself. But, the way in which this transpires in The Amazing Spider-Man is ludicrous, as Peter refuses to stop the criminal who will eventually kill his Uncle in order to get some chocolate milk. Chocolate milk? Are you kidding me? The original wrestling story may have come across as cheesy today, but the whole chocolate milk thing seems like a slap in the face to such a serious part of the story. In the comics, The Lizard represented Dr. Connors' literal "lizard brain" and he was out of control -- truly an animal. Peter knew The Lizard's true identity and when they fought, he was always careful to not hurt the creature, as he knew that it was family-man Connors, and that he couldn't control himself. In the movie, The Lizard can talk, and in a mellifluous voice, and it really takes away from the idea that he’s an uncontrollable monster. Some may wonder where Mary Jane is, but the use of Gwen Stacy is true to the early stories. However, I can’t help but wonder how Flash Thompson wound up at Midtown Science High School.

These changes only serve as a warm up to the problems with the script. The one major problem which Raimi’s movies couldn’t get right is that when Peter Parker puts on the Spider-Man mask, he is able to lose himself in the character and Spider-Man is known for his funny wisecracks. We don’t get that in The Amazing Spider-Man either. (Trust me Hollywood, there’s nothing wrong with Spider-Man being funny.) As Spider-Man Peter comes across as angry and brooding. Along with The Lizard problems mentioned above, the design of the creature is all wrong. He’s far too big and not to scale. I guess I can understand why the filmmakers didn’t want to use the alligator-like look of The Lizard form the comics, but this looks like a dinosaur with a mis-shapen human head which just happens to have The Joker’s smile. The script’s issues reach their ludicrous heights during the finale, where we learn that every building in Manhattan is always under construction.

The Amazing Spider-Man comes from Director Marc Webb, who is certainly talented, but may not have been the right person for this job. He showed a lot of promise with (500) Days of Summer and his work on music videos is very impressive, especially My Chemical Romance’s “Ghost of You”. However, his approach to this material is flawed. I saw The Amazing Spider-Man in the theater (and wasn’t impressed), and seeing it at home, it really seems to drag along. There’s nothing wrong with the fact that the movie wants to focus on the characters and set up the romance between Peter and Gwen, but our familiarity with the story makes much of the first half of the film feel unnecessary and most viewers will most likely feel as if they are waiting for the story to truly begin. The one thing that Webb got right was cutting down on the CGI in the action sequences.

Despite the fact that Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 was much maligned by certain factions (mostly due to the whole “emo” thing), it still made more money than The Amazing Spider-Man, even with the new movie’s increased charge for 3D. This may have been due to poor word of mouth or the movie-going public’s confusion as to why a new cast was appearing in a movie which they’d already seen. Either way, The Amazing Spider-Man is a huge step backwards for the franchise. Spider-Man is my favorite fictional character, and he deserves better than this.

The Amazing Spider-Man lost any sense of suspense once I spotted Stan Lee’s cameo on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 2.35:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 25 Mbps. The image is very sharp and clear, showing no overt grain and no defects from the source material. The colors look very good, most notably the reds and blues of Spider-Man’s costume, and the image is never overly dark or bright. The picture has a good amount of depth, and the scenes of Spider-Man swinging through the city look great. The picture also shows a great amount of detail. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 3.0 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. This is a fantastic audio track. The stereo and surround sound effects are very detailed and we have no problems picking out individual sounds coming from the rear channels. This really helps to immerse the viewer in the film. The stereo separation is good and the effects never overpower the dialogue. The subwoofer effects are very good as well, as they bring presence to the action scenes.

The Amazing Spider-Man Blu-ray Disc contains a bevy of extra features. The lone extra on Disc 1 is an AUDIO COMMENTARY from Director Marc Webb, and Producers Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach. The remainder of the extras are found on Disc 2. "Rite of Passage: The Amazing Spider-Man Reborn" (110 minutes) is a seven-part documentary which explores the making of the film. This opens with a detailed discussion/rationale for the re-imagining of the Spider-Man character, and a look at how Webb was brought onto the project. We next hear from the actors as the cast and the casting process is explored. The look of Spider-Man (the costume) (which they got really wrong) and the Lizard (concept art and visual effects) is next examined, and we see the amount of work which went into creating this ridiculous looking villain. We get a nice amount of footage from the actual production, as we see how things like locations and stunt work played into the making of the movie. This looks at how some of the key scenes were shot in various studios and locations. The use and creation of visual effects and the editing of the movie are explained -- the challenge of cutting scenes in the editing process is discussed. The creation of the score is also looked at. The Disc contains eleven DELETED SCENES which run about 17 minutes. This includes an alternate cut of Uncle Ben's death. We also get more interaction between Peter and Dr. Connors here -- which also brings in Connors' family, something which was prominent in the comics. "Pre-Visualization" (39 minutes) shows us animated storyboard versions of 16 scenes. "The Oscorp Archives: Production Art Gallery" offers concept art of Spider-Man, The Lizard, and the environments. "Image Progression Reels" (12 minutes) shows us how various layers are used to create backgrounds and characters in the computer for four scenes. "Stunt Rehearsals" (12 minutes) shows the cast and crew preparing for eight action scenes.