I just finished watching The Amazing Spider-Man a couple of hours ago and I have to say that Andrew Garfield’s portrayal of Peter Parker makes Toby Maguire’s look like Kristen Stewart in Twilight – blah.
After this incident, Peter started going out late at night looking for the man responsible for his Uncle’s death. The only way to identify the killer was through a tattoo on his left wrist. Night after night, Peter sought revenge, but to no avail. Soon after, he even had his web shooters and a shiny suit. Oftentimes he would come home bruised, leading Aunt May to believe he was going down a dark road because of his Uncle’s death. (Although after a while, I think she may have had her speculations about Peter being Spider-Man)
Warning: Spoilers Ahead
The new Peter Parker does not start out wearing glasses. Let’s face it, when you’re in high school you don’t really want dorky grandpa glasses making you stand out even more than you already do. No, Peter Parker wore contact lenses. He only took up glasses after he found them in a bag belonging to his father who went disappearing when Peter was a child, leaving him in the care of Aunt May and Uncle Ben.
Peter’s father used to work with Doctor Connor on research concerning splicing of human DNA with that of certain animals to eradicate illnesses and regenerate lost limbs. Because one of Doctor Connor’s arms was amputated, he felt really strongly about the subject, seeking to take the regenerative properties of reptiles and use them to help regenerate lost limbs in humans. The entire research would have been completed had it not been for one missing equation – an algorithm that would solve the problem of the subject body rejection of the foreign DNA. Parker’s father seemed to have solved the algorithm but felt a need to hide it so he also buried the notes in a hidden compartment in the bag that Peter stumbled on.
Peter found an old picture in the bag of his father standing alongside Doctor Connor, so he sought an audience with the Doctor. Little did he know that the girl he was slowly developing feelings for, aka Gwen Stacy, was Connor’s apprentice. It was at this meeting in the Oscorp research facility that Parker wandered into a room where testing was being done on Spiders and a whole bunch of them fell on him. He quickly rushed out of the room, but one spider was still hanging onto his jacket and bit him on the back of the neck just before it died.
Needless to say, the Spiderey symptoms started to appear soon after that. His reflexes started to spike, his spidey sense developed and he had no idea how to control any of it. One night, he had a feud with Uncle Ben after coming home late and stormed out of the house. His Uncle went to look for him. I don’t need to tell Spider-Man fans about what happened next. Uncle Ben dies because Peter didn’t stop the criminal responsible for the deed.
After this incident, Peter started going out late at night looking for the man responsible for his Uncle’s death. The only way to identify the killer was through a tattoo on his left wrist. Night after night, Peter sought revenge, but to no avail. Soon after, he even had his web shooters and a shiny suit. Oftentimes he would come home bruised, leading Aunt May to believe he was going down a dark road because of his Uncle’s death. (Although after a while, I think she may have had her speculations about Peter being Spider-Man)
Now let’s cut to Doctor Connor’s story. When Peter did introduce himself as his old colleague’s son, Connor decided to listen to what he had to say. Peter showed Connor the algorithm and the two later conducted a test experiment on mice to determine whether this obscure formula was the missing piece of the puzzle. The tests came back positive. This was extremely good news for Connor as he was running out of time on his research primarily directed at developing a cure for the dying Norman Osborne. However, there was not enough time for human testing so Connor had to take drastic measures – he injected himself with the antidote and though it seemed as though the results were a success, the lizard DNA started to take over and he morphed into a gigantic Lizard creature that went on a rampage.
After a while, Connor started to think that instead of creating perfect humans, he would instead create something stronger than humans, something stronger and smarter so his plan was to disperse the formula over the entire city creating an entire reptilian species.
Back to Peter - he finally landed a date with Gwen and was invited to her house for dinner. Unfortunately, her father was also a police officer who hated Spider-Man’s guts. Right after dinner, her father was called to duty and Parker’s Spider sense warned him of an impending danger in the area. He left Gwen on the rooftop after showing her he was Spider-Man, going in search of whatever this danger was.
People on the bridge were panicking because a giant Lizard creature was attacking them, going through cars searching for the man responsible for putting an end to his research. Spider-Man kind of saved the day, but you know how these things go – Gwen’s dad was convinced that Spider-Man was responsible for the attacks and issued an arrest warrant for him.
At the climax of the movie, Gwen’s dad finds out the Spider-Man was really Peter Parker but chose to let him go after Peter told him that the Lizard was heading to Oscorp where Gwen was developing an antidote (the Lizard already released the formula on a couple of people at this point) and he had to save her. After making it to Oscorp with some help, he found that the Lizard had already prepared for the dispersion of the formula to the entire city. Gwen barely escaped from the Lizard after preparing the antidote and begged her father to hand it to Spider-Man. Meanwhile, an epic battle was ranging on the skyline of Manhattan between Spider-Man and the Lizard. Gwen’s dad arrives just in time to hand Peter the antidote and held off the Lizard while Peter placed it in place of the formula. While holding back the Lizard, Gwen’s father died. Peter just barely had time to place the antidote in the machine before the Lizard caught him. The machine activated and the antidote was released, falling like a mist over the entire city. The Lizard and those he had infected started to change back to human form. The tower collapsed at this point and Spider-Man would have fallen had Connor not caught him at the last moment.
Gwen’s dad makes a final request to Peter asking him to leave Gwen alone so that she would be safe in the future. Peter agreed to his last wish. At school however, he makes a comment that suggests he cannot abandon Gwen, making her smile.
The end scene shows Connor in his jail cell and a shadowy figure asking him whether he told Peter anything about his parents to which Connor denies. There was a flash of lightning and the figure disappears. A lot of people speculate that this was Norman Osborne but Rhys Ifans himself rejected that idea. My bet is on Mysterio – you know the villain with the crystal ball head that can create illusions – although that would tie him really close to Scarecrow from Batman Begins.
After seeing this movie, your reaction to the old one will definitely be “How the fuck did I ever like this?” Might I also add that Andrew Garfield not only acts better than Toby Maguire, he's also a million times hotter ;)
