Most of all, I didn’t understand the point of the film. Director (with the most appropriate name EVER) Marc Webb’s remake wasn’t a significant departure from the original – immortalised in 2002 by Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker and Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson – in fact it appeared barely any different. Spider-Man just seemed to have a different love interest (back to his love interest from the comics) and a different foe. Which, to be honest, made it all a little disappointing – surely a summer blockbuster should have more umph?
The film begins with the mysterious departure of Peter Parker’s parents, who leave Peter in the care of his Aunt May (Sally Field) and Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen). Fast forward to several years later, and the teenage Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) has become a social outcast who spends most of his time pining over his crush Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) and nurturing his talent for photography. Peter then finds a brief case containing some of his father’s old documents, learns that his father worked with fellow scientist, the one-armed Dr Curtis Connors (Rhys Ifans) at a pharmaceutical company named Oscorp (where they researched cross species genetics) and decides to investigate. Faking his way into the Oscorp building by pretending to be an intern – as you do – Peter sneaks into a lab where extremely strong “biocable” is being created from genetically-modified spiders. One of the spiders escapes from its container and bites Peter. BOOM, SPIDER-MAN.
It turns out – as these things always do – that Dr Connors is not as he seems, experiments on himself, and with disastrous consequences turns himself into The Lizard, going on to wreak havoc on the city. Peter develops the tight red suit and devices for his hands to shot the “biocable” like a real spider, starts to fight crime and eventually saves the day. Sound familiar?
The Amazing Spider-Man focused more on emotion rather than high-action special effects. The beginning of the film went into more detail than the original about why Peter Parker felt the need to push himself so far as Spider-Man, so in that sense – in terms of the added detail – it was good. It was a quieter film, less about the action and more about the people. Having said that, there were plenty of action sequences, most notably The Lizard’s attack on the bridge and the final show-down from the school to Oscorp’s city-centre headquarters, all of which were well paced and exciting, albeit very predictable. I saw the movie in 2D and there were several obviously 3D moments that just looked terrible. In my opinion, the studio compulsion to shoot unnecessarily in 3D is making a mockery of when you have to watch it in 2D. Surely there’s no need for it most of the time – and this film would have been better if there hadn’t been such ridiculous moments. If it’s meant to be in 3D then either only distribute it as such or make sure the 2D doesn’t look as awful. The last shot of Spider-Man before the credits was cringe-worthy, but would probably have looked spectacular in 3D. You win some, you lose some.
This focus on the people meant you got to see the characters more clearly. British Andrew Garfield is both a convincing Spider-Man and Peter Parker, comic at times (“Oh no! You’ve found my weakness. Small knives!”), and donning the spandex suit with confidence. You feel for him in his fights with the villain, fumbling attempts to ask classmate Gwen out, and his constant questioning of the events surrounding his parents’ deaths. His thirst for knowledge plays into the geeky-hero stereotype that’s hugely popular at the moment, and built-like-a-beanpole Garfield flies the flag for skinny (not buff) guys eventually getting the girl. His casting seemed like a departure from the normal Hollywood superhero, and – almost oddly – it worked rather well.
The stunning Emma Stone takes over from Kirsten Dunst as Peter Parker’s love interest, this time the star of the debate team, science nerd, and daughter of the Captain of the NYPD, Gwen Stacy. As an actress it’s impossible not to warm to her on screen: she has an easy humour and infectious smile – award winning characteristics – but she also does serious and scared well too. The chemistry between Garfield and Stone (together both on and off screen) makes it easy to believe in their relationship, and for once it’s not completely beyond the realms of possibility for the two to be together.
Dastardly villain, Dr Curt Connors aka The Lizard, played by Rhys Ifans was scary at times and proved to be a suitable opposition for this Spider-Man’s first outing in the suit. My only question with him was to do with all the little lizards: where did they come from and what did they do? They suddenly appeared on the subway when Connors was living in the sewers beneath the city, all making their way to him, but where did they come from?! I wasn’t aware small lizards or newts were a city epidemic! Captain Stacy (Denis Leary) was both suitably overprotective of his daughter and determined to save his city, following the stereotypical plot of being the law-enforcement officer that wants to arrest the superhero instead of the villain. Uncle Ben and Aunt May (Martin Sheen and Sally Field) were an acceptable supporting cast, but as with the entire cast they were good, but definitely nothing special or memorable.
My main issue was why a remake, and why now? In 10-15 years once technology has advanced even further then a Spider-Man remake and a reboot of the trilogy would make perfect sense, now however, it does not. There was nothing wrong with the originals that were only made a decade ago. They weren’t incredible, but they were decent comic-book adaptations that paved the way for a new wave of superhero films. This one, therefore, just doesn’t make much sense at all. If the others didn’t exist then I’d probably be more enthusiastic about this one, but as it is I’m just perplexed as to its existence. I’m even more concerned as to why there’s been a go-ahead for a sequel: it’ll probably follow the same vein of the original’s sequel. Which is utterly pointless.
The thing is, as a film, The Amazing Spider-Man wasn’t good, but it wasn’t bad either. All I’ve really taken from it is that Andrew Garfield looks amazing (pun intended) in spandex and Captain Stacy was Diego from Ice Age. The rest I’ve already pretty much forgotten which isn’t great for a film with a $230 million budget and high expectations for the future of the franchise. It’s the type of film that I won’t buy but may watch again if it comes on the telly and there’s nothing else on. Very, very ‘meh’, I’m afraid.
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