The Amazing Spiderman is a reboot or re-imagining of the comic book superhero Spiderman. For the most part; gone are the camp and cheesy moments of Sam Raimi’s films. What we get instead is a gritty-ish origin story set more in the real world…. well a real world where the villain is a giant lizard.
I thought the back-story was more interesting than in the original Spiderman, as it established Peter Parker’s life before he was Spiderman and gave us more about his relationship with his parents, and aunt and uncle, excellently portrayed by Sally Field and Martin Sheen. This may possibly be a too long for some people eager to see Spidey swinging around New York but I for one enjoyed it, mainly as the acting was some of the strongest I have seen in a superhero film.
I enjoyed Andrew Garfield’s performances in The Social Network, and once again he brough great depth to both characters, making a more believable Parker and Spiderman than Tobey Maguire. Emma Stone was fine as Gwen Stacy, though they may have been better casting a natural blonde as I found her badly died hair distracting. Rhys Ifans was a tad hammy at times, playing, Dr. Curt Connors a research scientist who goes mad with his creation, however, this is a superhero film so one expects an over the top antagonist.
My main gripe with the film is that The Lizard the super-villain Dr. Connors turns into looked a bit ridiculous which took me out of the film slightly. I will say that bar The Lizard; the CGI and 3D in the film were amazing in both creativity and execution. It is also worth mentioning that Stan Lee’s cameo is the funniest and most original of his career.
In summary The Amazing Spiderman is a fun and enjoyable reboot to the Spiderman series. I enjoyed it more than Sam Raimi’s Spiderman but did not feel it reached the heights of Spiderman 2. I think it will be interesting to see where they go with the character in the sequel now that the lengthy origin story has been established.
Michael Hill
Rating: 12A
UK Release Date: 3rd July, 2012
Director:Marc Webb
Cast:Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary
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