Amazing Spider-Man (2012) Blu-ray Review

The Amazing Spider-Man will be released on Friday, November 9th, on Blu-ray and DVD and chances are that there’s very little I can say in this review that will make you decide to either buy or not buy it. You probably already know what you’ll do when you walk into your local Wal-Mart, Target or Best Buy, so I’ll just share a few thoughts here, direct you to the terrific pair of reviews that David Fairbanks and Danny Reid wrote, here and tell you a bit about the DVD after a few short bullet points about the movie:

• Andrew Garfield was born in 1983. He’s awfully old to play a high-schooler, isn’t he?
• Emma Stone is really darn cute and I love her enormous eyes
• The Lizard is a kinda dull villain, isn’t he? This movie really needed a larger-than-life villain like the Green Goblin.
• The sequence towards the end where the crane operators line up to help Spider-Man was as cheesy and goofy as any scene in a super-hero movie.
• Stan Lee’s cameo in this flick might be my favorite Stan Lee cameo ever.
• The redesign of the webshooters was smart and interesting – a great idea.
• I can never get enough Denis Leary.
• The costume redesign in this movie is pretty damn awesome and cleverly done. I loved it.
• The first hour of this movie is surprisingly slow… a lot of the material at the beginning really dragged.
• Stupider scene: dancing in Spider-Man 3 or basketball in Amazing Spider-Man?

Basically I thought this was an average super-hero movie. It was blah in much the same way that Iron Man 2 was blah (though Robert Downey Jr. always makes a movie worth watching) but better than the often painful Green Lantern or Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. This could make for a damn good sequel, though.

Now, about the Blu-ray, that’s a whole different story. If you liked this movie there’s an awful lot of bonus features that you’ll love on the Blu-ray and in the accompanying iPad app.

First of all, this is the first Blu-ray I’ve bought that has an accompanying iPad app. I was completely fascinated by the ability to sync the app to the movie and watch bonus scenes and other supplemental information for the film in real time. Even more impressive: the sound on my TV dimmed when I was watching scenes of Andrew Garfield jumping on wires or listening to Emma Stone discuss her role or listening to Stan Lee add some grace notes to the film. Those bonus features were a mixed bag – sometimes little bits of movie trivia and sometimes bonus looks at costumes or storyboards or special effects designs.

Also available in the “Second Screen” app were a ton of production notes. The depth and density of those features is truly impressive and almost overwhelming, really. We get everything from a look at a writer’s meeting for the film to a bonus director’s commentary to a segment about directing the music for the film.

This material is also available for Sony devices on the Android platform, though not for any devices other than Sony devices. Sorry, Toshiba or Kindle Fire owners?

On the Blu-rays themselves, we get many of the expected bonus features. There’s the obligatory director’s commentary, a plethora of deleted scenes, a redemption code for that problematic Ultraviolet process and a redemption code for a video game unlock. We get some behind the scenes documentaries and a few other minor bonuses, and of course a copy of the movie on regular DVD to play on your laptop or whatever.

Everything on this Blu-ray is first-rate and raised my rating of this product by a half star. If you’re inclined to buy this Blu-ray, you’ll be happy with what you get – especially if you have an iPad or a Sony device.