Directed by: Marc Webb
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans
Maybe it was all the hype around how amazing the new Spider-Man film was supposed to be. Maybe it was a stat I saw about how marketing for this movie was so heavy that 18% of the footage was used in various trailers/featurettes/etc. Maybe it’s that I was so disappointed by the overly weepy omnishambles of Spider-Man 3 I was just a little afraid to believe the 2012 reboot could live up to expectations. After all, the wisecracking webslinger is my all time favorite superhero.
I was a fool to hold out for Blu-Ray. The Amazing Spider-Man amazed me.
Peter Parker as a skateboarding, semi-loner emo kid (well portrayed by Andrew Garfield) made sense to me. He’s a smart guy, but known more for his prowess at photography than for solving complex mathematic equations (though he can definitely do both). He has some baggage – specifically, a leather briefcase he finds in the basement of his aunt & uncle’s basement. It belonged to the father he barely remembers and contains a hidden, top secret file.
Intensely curious about the file, a photo of his dad with another scientist Uncle Ben vaguely remembers as Dr. Connors and how this ties to his father’s hasty departure so many years ago, Parker does a bit of sleuthing on the interwebz. He finagles his way into Oscorp, where his father once worked and Dr. Connors (Rhys Ifans) still presides over mysterious – and urgent – genetic research. In fact, Dr. Connors is also currently mentoring Parker’s crush, Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), who is interning at Oscorp. Of course she recognizes Parker and realizes he’s got a hidden agenda – but not before she is duly impressed with his knowledge of Oscorp’s work (internet research/reading the company webpage, for the win!)
While snooping around Oscorp, Parker wanders into a lab where genetically-enhanced spiders are making super-strong web fibers – one of Oscorp’s specialty products. One of such spiders bites the future Amazing Spider-Man…and all of a sudden we’re into the core of the creation story.
All you true believers already know that with great power comes great responsibility. Parker isn’t very responsible with his newfound powers at first. He accidentally perpetrates a subway fight scene that looks like something out of a 1980s action flick. He humiliates the school bully. He works on some skateboarding tricks. He also starts becoming buddies with Dr. Connors after correcting a flaw in his father’s original equation – thus leading to a key breakthrough on the top secret Oscorp project.
Parker’s acting like the sometimes self-indulgent, rebellious teenager he is, brings about events that inspire him to become the quasi-luchadore mask/spandex unitard-wearing, high-tech web-slinging superhero we know and love. (Or initially loathe, if you are Police Captain Stacy.)
The city is Spider-Man’s playground, and the cinematography is superb. It was ridiculously exciting to see Spider-Man heckle a car thief, swing across a bridge shouting his trademark “Wooo-hooooo!” and crouch atop a skyscraper looking over the city. All classic moves.
Oh, but there’s still the other storyline to contend with. Genetic research gone wrong, which brings its own exciting action sequences, amazing visual effects, and a cadre of lizards flocking into the NYC sewers.
In short, The Amazing Spider-Man delivers amazing. This incarnation of Peter Parker really captures the complexity and depth of his transformation:
- the conflicting emotions of being a teenager – especially one that doesn’t really fit into any of the high school stereotypes – in and of itself
- the tension between being a generally good and responsible kid but still wanting to be surly or a rule-breaker sometimes
- the guilt over his actions inadvertently contributing to Uncle Ben’s death
- the weight of his secret identity, and his attempts to shield Aunt May from worrying about it
…and to add insult to injury, he’s still misunderstood by the police as they don’t see him as trying to help fight crime, they see him as getting in the way. Parents just don’t understand…
Despite the level of awesomeness the movie brings, it’s not perfect. The pre-transformation setup probably could have been shorter, Aunt May’s character doesn’t have a lot of personality, Spider-Man does cry a little (hey, he’s emo, and it’s not nearly as obnoxious as it was in Spider-Man 3). That said, it is a fantastic re-boot, and I am looking forward to the next amazing installment in 2014.
If you:
- Like a wise-ass version of Spider-Man
- Can identify with Peter Parker, the kid who doesn’t fit neatly into high school society
- Enjoy the action, adventure and ridiculously good visual effects inherent in a summer blockbuster
Put it in the queue!
However, if you:
- Prefer to believe the NYC sewers are inhabited by alligators, not a mutant lizard
- Don’t like coincidences (we just happened to have this machine sitting around for 10+ years gathering dust, but it’s still fully functional as either a bioterrorist weapon OR a tool that will sprinkle the entire city with the lizard monster antidote)
- Don’t agree with the emo interpretation of Spider-Man
Don’t put it in the queue.
In the Queue 