The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) Review

Brave New Web

By: Kameron McBride

Does a fast reboot turnaround necessarily mean a poor film? Normally I would say yes, but “The Amazing Spider–Man” may prove to be the exception

Spider–Man has always been my favorite superhero for two reasons: 1) I always felt like Spidey was the most relatable of any hero, unlike other super–motivated gazillionares like Batman or Iron Man, Spider–Man felt like an everyman who stumbled upon his powers. 2) Spider–Man was the absolute funniest hero around, seriously go back and read some of his banter in the old 60’s and 70’s books and try not to smile.

These two qualities have allowed Spider–Man  to endure as a cultural icon for fifty years; and both are captured very well in director Marc Webb’s—boasting the most appropriate director name/movie combo ever—  film “The Amazing Spider–Man.”

There has been a lot of apprehension about the fact that “The Amazing Spider–Man” reboots a franchise that ended five years ago. My reaction: who cares? If it’s a good film it’s a good film, studios will green light and push any project they believe will make money. Don’t believe me? Then why did we get a Pixar sequel to “Cars” before any of their much higher quality products? Because the studio can market the crap out of a bunch of toy cars and make boatloads of money off of it, /rant off.

Anyhow, I think “The Amazing Spider–Man” is rebooting a franchise that was dead in the water and misguided from the start, so making a new set of films that put the franchise in better place is fine with me.

Director Sam Raimi’s earlier Spider–Man movies feel like the result of giving an alien the Cliff Notes on Spider–Man, with about two weeks to study up and then shoot the movie. The basic elements will all be there: Peter Parker will feel guilt over his uncle’s death, he will struggle to protect those closest to him, Parker will also deal with handling his new powers and try (and fail) to not hurt those closest to him, but it won’t feel authentic. This was Raimi’s Spider–Man: always forcing on us the idea “This is what Spider–Man is like and you will believe me even if I have to come out of the screen and beat you to death with this idea.”

Sony apparently decided to get someone in who actually understands human emotion, complexity and (gasp) subtlety. Rather than Raimi’s forced camp, we get a story that actually conveys Spider–Man’s struggle to grow up, with Webb making the great decision to keep Peter in high school for the whole film, which allows his character to grow at a better rate.

Andrew Garfield is spot on in every sense as Peter Parker, he’s dorky, gangly and interesting on a level that Tobey McGuire never quite achieved in the previous franchise.

Emma Stone is also great as Peter’s love interest Gwen Stacey, the two share a very good on–screen chemistry that I hope can continue to the next film in the franchise.

The film does struggle, however, to keep a good pace. The romantic scenes between Stone and Garfield are fine within themselves, but they grind the plot to a halt and last about two minutes too long every time. The first hour of the film could also be a little more upbeat, as it takes awhile to get going.

Martin Sheen, Sally Field, Rhys Ifans and Dennis Leery round out a pretty well–balanced cast. Sheen is inspired casting as Uncle Ben while Ifans is awesome as Kurt Connors, the scientist with a missing limb who’s attempts to grow it back lead to him genetically mutating himself into a giant lizard.

Webb handles the Lizard in a way that would make Stan Lee proud: Connors is never really evil, just the victim of terrible circumstance. We feel for him and are as invested in his story as Peter’s, it’s nice to see a villain who is actually a story unto themselves, rather than just a roadblock for the hero.

The other troubling aspect of the film is that Uncle Ben’s death nearly gets swept under the rug in the middle of the film. The movie actually does a good job of building to his death, with a believable argument between Peter and Ben setting the stage, but then we gloss over any mourning period, strange.

Still, “The Amazing Spider–Man” is a lot of fun—even worth seeing in 3–D—and is one of the more human superhero movies around. Let's hope Webb and company can keep it going in future films, with great power…well, you know the rest.

“The Amazing Spider–Man” receives an 8/10