Review Detail

NOTE: This review will cover both Masirimso’s original “Extended Edition” as well as the updated “Untold Extended Edition.” Since the latter is identical to the original, apart from the addition of the Roosevelt subplot, I will be putting this identical review on both cuts (so that everyone is on the same page).

Let’s get this right out of the way; Masirimo has turned this from what felt like a blatant cash-grab, by Sony, into an actual film. Obviously Marc Webb’s intentions were far beyond Sony’s, since they made this film solely to retain the rights to Spider-Man — per their contract of making a film ever few years — unlike the film’s director, who was attempting to convey a well developed series of character-arcs; connected by a theme of fatherhood and loss across all of them.

The deleted scenes should never have been cut; that goes without saying. Without having Doctor Connor’s scene with his son, we lose an integral thematic mirror to Peter losing his father. In fact, by also placing the scenes back in their correct screenplay order — as opposed to the sloppily re-arranged order they’re presented in the theatrical cut — I now actually understand what the theme of this film is: The death of father figures, and how they live on in the legacy of their actions. Peter, Connor, and Gwen all serve a mirroring role in three similar character-arcs, where each is either a child losing a father or a father losing their child. All of them live on as the legacy of their lost father figure.

There are still things that feel blatantly ripped from the Raimi films; the downgraded “web font” opening titles, the promise to stay away from the love of his life, and I’m scared that whatever Masirimo does with “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” won’t be able to save it feeling like a blatant retread of Raimi’s “Spider-Man 2” in that regard; but I’ll wait and see, giving him the benefit of the doubt. Needless to say, these moments felt less obnoxious in this cut. Where the recycled content outnumbered the original additions, now it is quite the reverse. I’m happy to say that Masirimo has successfully turned a recycled cash-grab into a unique addition to the Spider-Man mythos.

Now let’s talk about the element unique to the updated “Untold Extended Edition;” the inclusion of the Roosevelt subplot. To be honest, as well as it works here — even going as far as bookending the opening scene — it still feels out of place, despite Masirimo integrating it in a way that feels (mostly) thematically relevant, as opposed to being meaningless filler. I’ve seen other reviewers say they couldn’t explain it, but that they could “tell” which scenes were from “Amazing Spider-Man 2.” The reason is simple: the visual continuity in these scenes, of both Peter and Aunt-May’s hair, blatantly doesn’t match the visual continuity of their hair in the first film. The differences are distractingly obvious, and it pulls me out of the film when these scenes show up.

That’s a minor issue, though. Let’s talk about the bigger problem, for both films, introduced by moving this subplot here. There are places where the scene transitions feel awkward. For example: originally Connor deciding to kill Peter flowed naturally into the following scene at the school, where he attempts to do just that. But in the updated “Untold Extended Edition,” Connor’s deciding to kill Peter now awkwardly cuts away to some random scene from the Roosevelt subplot, THEN awkwardly transitions from that to the school. So it actually hurts the flow of the narrative to insert this subplot into the places it goes, because it’s usually not relevant to what’s happening at that point in the film. And while it’s great to have the full-circle resolution to the opening prologue, it serves the film’s bookends at the expense of its body/middle.

Even with this resolution, it also creates a problem of their being two different “father-figures” for Peter in the same film; being both his literal father and Uncle Ben. The resolution of the train scene is immediately followed by the phone call, so either one resolves the film’s thematic-arc about lost father figures. You don’t need both, because the other just re-iterates an idea that’s been established already. It honestly kind of makes Ben’s father-model role in the film less meaningful, especially when it’s in the context of filling the void left by Peter’s literal father. If his literal father “returns” in a sense, by means of a video message, it makes Ben filling that void less impactful. Once you factor in Ben literally saying Peter has “unresolved” conflicts to deal with, in the film’s conclusion, it even further hurts his role in the film; because he’s wrong. Peter’s conflicts ARE resolved now. It almost negates the whole point of even including Ben’s final voice message.

This is just the ways the inclusion of the Roosevelt subplot hurts the first “Amazing Spider-Man.” Now let’s talk about the very subtle way it (probably) hurts its sequel. The plane crash needed to be at the start of “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” for a very important reason: it provides a thematic mirror to Gwen’s death. Richard Parker loses the love of his life, as a consequence of his devotion to do good. Likewise, his son Peter Parker loses the love of his life, as a consequence of HIS devotion to do good. Considering Masirimo more than likely put back the deleted scene where Richard Parker returns alive, it also serves as an integral bookend to that scene. Peter’s dad returning comes full-circle with the opening prologue, of the plane crash, because it happens after Gwen’s death; his return is a comfort to Peter in that moment, because he can personally relate to what Peter’s going through in having also lost the love of his life. So I don’t actually have to watch Masirimo’s cut of “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” to know removing the plane crash prologue hurts that film’s thematic bookends.

That being said, this review is not about “The Amazing Spider-Man 2;” and considering I haven’t actually watched Masirimo’s “Untold Finale Edition” of it yet, it’s unfair to be too critical until then. But I do already anticipate that cut of ASM 2 will be losing an integral thematic framework, without the plane sequence, because it was moved to this film.

Back to talking about “The Amazing Spider-Man.” If Masirimo’s bang up job on this film is any indication, I can afford to give him the benefit of the doubt on the next one. He turned a film without merit, or unique accomplishment, into something that stands apart from prior adaptions of Spider-Man. I still think the inclusion of the Roosevelt subplot harms the film, which is why I suggest anyone reading this go with his original “Extended Edition.”
NOT the “Untold Extended Edition.”

…I will say I fear how this recommendation will impact the sequel. Just based on the descriptions of the changes in both versions, I know his original “Ultimate Edition” of ASM 2 is radically different than his updated “Untold Finale Edition” of AMS 2; as opposed to his two versions of this film, which are virtually identical apart from the inclusion/exclusion of the Roosevelt subplot. Based solely on the descriptions of the two cuts, I wish there was a perfect cut of ASM 2 that was essentially the same as the “Untold Finale Edition,” but with the plane-crash prologue left intact. I strongly fear the film will lack its thematic setup without that scene.