Sam Raimi introduced moviegoers to Marvel Comics’ favorite web slinger on the big in 2002’s Spider-Man starring Tobey Maguire in the title role. While a solid re-telling of the iconic hero’s origin story that clicked with worldwide audiences, the series didn’t hit its high point until 2004’s Spider-Man 2, and then concluded with the disappointing (and messy) Spider-Man 3 in 2007. When the fourth installment was scrapped in favor of a complete reboot, the initial, obvious, and main concerns were squarely set on the ‘too soon?’ factor.
Ten years after Spider-Man hit the big screen, to say that this re-telling wipes the slate clean is a pleasant understatement. In The Amazing Spider-Man, director Marc Webb and his team keep Raimi’s trilogy reverently preserved while paving the way with this dark alternate approach to the numerous beats expected in any Spider-Man film. To me, what Webb brings to the table with The Amazing Spider-Man is far more his (500) Days of Summer than the recent The Avengers.
First off, the reboot is an edgier take on the popular superhero than you’d expect. The film steps further into The Dark Knight territory than the sheer crowd pleasing rah rah popcorn pep rally that is The Avengers. And I have to say its strengths lie more with the character driven elements over the big budget action 3-D set pieces. It flies high as a plot point paced film first, superhero film second. And that is not meant as a backhanded compliment, but high praise.
There is no apology made in re-tracing all the familiar origin steps we saw in Raimi’s Spider-Man. Although it follows a beaten path, conscious changes, some more subtle than others, had to be made to set the two films apart. But as long as Peter Parker get s bitten by a radioactive spider, learns that with great power comes great responsibility after the murder of his Uncle, and fights crime as a masked vigilante known as Spider-Man, we’ll all be OK.
Fanboys may nitpick some of the latest adjustments to the mythos, but casual moviegoers won’t really have issue with them. Here Peter uses mechanical web shooters (as he does in the comics), whereas Raimi chose to make them organic. Details in the lead up and fall out regarding Uncle Ben’s tragic murder, which is what drives Peter to become a masked hero, have been adjusted as necessary. But ultimately the same origin story is being told.
While Norman Osborn (who ultimately becomes the Green Goblin) does not appear in the film, his presence is felt throughout as his Oscorp Tower is a primary setting for numerous crucial plot points of the film. Here the baddie is Oscorp scientist Doctor Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans), also know as the Lizard.
The first hour is methodically paced and centered on developing and re-introducing the characters in this entry. Webb and his excellent lead cast of Andrew Garfield (Peter Parker), Emma Stone (Gwen Stacy), Rhys Ifans (Conners), and Denis Leary (George Stacy) pour more depth into what’s going on inside these characters heads than you would ever think a film like this would allow. I found the dialogue driven interactions between Peter and Gwen, Peter’s quest for answers regarding his parents abandonment, Peter’s relationship with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May, and Peter’s ultimate calling to follow his repsonsibility to become a hero more interesting than what was going on with any of the paint by numbers hero versus villain elements concerning the Lizard.
But when it comes to Ifans’ Lizard, sometimes the gray area villain who is more victim than pure evil is not as easy to root against as the all out badass is. The simple beauty of Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight was that there was no origin to the character or any reason to sympathize with his reign of criminal destruction. The Joker was a villain by definition that was meant to be destroyed by Batman. But when the gray area has so many shades, a villain is kept from committing true super villainy.
Don’t get me wrong, there are diabolical deeds the Lizard eventually gets around to doing, but Doctor Conners is set up here so much as a victim of his own circumstances and not as a baddie on the level of Doctor Octopus or the Green Goblin, that he falls too far on the side of needing to be helped rather than be defeated. Incidentally, I was surprised to be underwhelmed by the CGI work that brought the reptilian monster to life.
Overall the film looks aesthetically fantastic, shot in 3-D with much fanfare to us filmmaking geeks with the RED EPIC camera rig. Though despite boasting numerous gorgeous hero shots of Spidey in action poses that could leap straight off a comic book panel, I remain a stickler for fast moving scenes in 3-D that are muddled with motion blur (where the action would be clearer minus the third dimension). But for me the film’s 3-D truly excels in well paced intimate conversation pieces, notably in the high school hallways between Peter and Gwen. The layered dimensions and gorgeous shallow depth of field makes the dialogue and connection between the actors performances that much more intimate. These days big action set pieces in 3-D are sadly so commonplace with one movie trying to out-D the last one.
The spectacular cast is perhaps the true highlight of the film, and they probably could have pulled this off strictly as a low budget character piece minus lavish SPFX set pieces and battles.
Andrew Garfield simply owns this take on Peter Parker /Spider-Man. His Parker is a true angst ridden outcast, that creepy kid who possibly has a scary dark side under that hoodie and could snap when pushed just a tad too far. He brings to the role both a lot of heart as well as a huge chip on his shoulder, especially in scenes where Peter comes home tired, bloody, and battered every night after his crime-fighting sprees. Garfield’s scenes with high school jock and bully Flash Thompson play out as brutal assaults and come off as reciprocally satisfying when Peter uses his powers to even the score. The scenes of discovery as Peter explores his newfound powers are reminiscent of the early parts of Superman: The Movie with the title hero giving his abilities a test run for both himself and the world to witness.
Emma Stone, who never disappoints in any of her big screen performances, brings her A Game sexy, smart, girl charm to Gwen Stacy, and adds believability that she could fall for an odd cat like Pater Parker.
With the front and center absence of the Daily Bugle and its over-the-top Editor-In-Chief J. Jonah Jameson, Denis Leary as Gwen’s father Captain George Stacy fills in the gap for spreading the anti-Spider-Man sentiment to the public. Martin Sheen and Sally Field are the true heart and soul of the film as Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Peter’s troubled home life is given a solid family stability through Sheen and Field, who play them slightly younger and necessarily narrowing the genration gap in the household. They come across as far more accessible and relatable than the stricter old fogie out of touch versions from the Raimi films.
Despite some nitpicky bumps, overall The Amazing Spider-Man is solid, entertaining, and succeeds as a new beginning for the series. It’s an edgy film that ironically wows more with its subtle steps than its obligatory hero versus villain action scenes. Case in point bear witness to truly one of the best hero defining scenes ever on the big screen as Spider-Man saves a child from a car dangling off the edge of Williamsburg Bridge. But by borrowing pages from the playbook of The Dark Knight franchise rather than the majority of the other straightforward Marvel crowd pleasers, the film embarks on a necessary alternate path to set a welcome stage for further, and hopefully spectacular, installments.
The Amazing Spider-Man opens on July 3rd in 3D, RealD 3D, and IMAX 3D.
REVIEW RATING: ★★★★★
Directed By: Marc Webb
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Denis Leary, Rhys Ifans, Martin Sheen, Sally Field
Studio: Sony
Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 136 minutes
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