It has been 10 years since Sam Rami brought Spider-Man to the big screen and 5 years since the last installment of his trilogy hit theaters. The troubles surrounding Spider-Man 4 lead to Sony doing an early reboot of the series, which brings us to this week's release of The Amazing Spider-Man.
Marc Webb takes the reigns of this installment. Webb is best known for his 2009 quirky romantic comedy (500) Days of Summer. Being a big fan of (500) Days of Summer, I was excited at the possibility of getting a indie version of Spider-Man. For better or worse, we instead are presented with an average big budget summertime superhero flick.
Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield) is a high school student trying to win the heart of fellow classmate Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone). Garfield and Stone both do a fantastic job capturing the relationship dynamics of a high school couple. They are unsure what to say at times and share plenty of awkward moments. Despite their older ages, they were completely believable as high school students. I had trouble believing Garfield, with his Hollister model looks, would be the target of so much bulling in school. This Peter Parker is not the inadequate and often rejected one we know from the comic books. Gwen's willingness to be with Peter takes away a potentially great plot element.
The supporting cast include Sally Field (Aunt May), Martin Sheen (Uncle Ben), Denis Leary (Captain Stacy), and Rhys Ifans (The Lizard). They all Give great performances, unfortunately their characters’ development takes a backseat to Parker and Stacy. The lack of development lead to most of the emotional scenes falling flat with me. In particular, a pivotal moment in Spider-Man's origin story involving Uncle Ben did not work nearly as well as Sam Rami's version.
Overall I was impressed with Marc Webb's handling of the film. He did a good job retelling an origin story that many of us still had fresh in our minds. The film downplays the photographer element of Peter Parker. Parker's cell phone turns out to be a more important tool in the film then his camera. Hopefully, in the inevitable sequels we will see more of Peter's camera and The Daily Bugle. The handling of CG heavy action sequences can be frustrating if not shot correctly, but Webb does a great job allowing the audience to comprehend the action taking place on the screen. For the most part, the special effects were great! Those worried about the first person perspective seen in the trailers can be relieved to know they play a very small part in the film, and are much less jarring then I thought they were going to be.
If you are looking for a good time at the movies, The Amazing Spider-Man delivers. If you are looking for a film that pushes the superhero genre forward the way films like Spider-Man 2, Iron Man, and The Dark Knight did you best look elsewhere.
