The Amazing Spider-Man, the controversial Reboot of a franchise only a decade or so old. Was this the right move on the studio’s part to ignore a universe so well established by Sam Raimi back in the early 00s?
The short answer: Yes.
After the massive blip to Raimi’s reign of the spider universe that was Spider-Man 3 :Emo ooze from outer space (The actual tag line to the film may have been different) it was time for fresh blood, or in the case, Webbing. It was a film that suffered from too many villains, not enough plot, bad dancing, and studio pressure. So rather then continue on with Maguire and co, we have a new Spidey to follow.
Personally I can’t understand the backlash that was so prevalent when it was announced. In the comics there are god knows how many parallel universes featuring our favourite web head. So why not in the movies?
And that’s how I see this, not a reboot, not something that disregards what has come before it, but just another alternate story. One this time, which brings back some of the elements left out of previous incarnations. More about that later.
Mark Webb takes the helm, having previously done the smart 500 days of Summer, with flair for someone who hasn’t had experience with the blockbuster style movies. But who takes over the webs, arguably the most daunting aspect of restarting a franchise? Andrew Garfield, British born actor, and a young man who has a very bright future ahead of him.
However, even if it is a new universe, it does still handle the same subject matter, in this case it’s the origin story. It was superbly handled in Raimi’s Spider-Man in 2002, so this was a risky choice. One that didn’t exactly 100% pay off. For every element that didn’t work there were two or three that did this time round. For example, this time round we actually get a glimpse further back into Peter’s history, meeting his genius father and caring mother before they are quickly removed from the equation leaving a void in little peter’s life. With that comes later genuine hostility due to this abandonment. But with greater weight given to that often glossed over aspect of peter’s history, why he came to be with his aunt and uncle, played by Martin Sheen and Sally Field, the more familiar moments such as Uncle Ben’s sacrifice gets left a little too open. A whole sub plot is left hanging unsatisfying half way through the film, and his killer is never brought to justice.
The key story is this, Peter needs closure on his parent’s disappearance and after the accidental find of his father’s briefcase, he is thrust into the path of his dad’s former college Dr Kurt Connors, played by Rhys Ifans. A man who long ago found himself with one too many gloves, and a burning desire to get back what he lost with science. Also more on him later.
And this is where a lot of the good changes come in. See previously, Peter was depicted as smart, here he is a downright genius. Not only does he diagnose a leak in their basement from the amount of water present,but he also builds electric door locks for his room, police scanners out of his phone, and his own web shooters. Yes ladies and Gents, the web shooters return! No longer is he granted with organic spinnerets, he has his own devices strapped to his wrists, which do lead to interesting new directions. As he is obviously a chip off the old block, it doesn’t take him long to actually finish off where his father left off, contributing to the entire predicament he finds himself in.
More new elements added are actually some of my favorites that were left out by Maguire. He has a proper attitude on him, he quips, he jokes, he mocks the bad guy. All in all he has a whale of a time being Spider-man. If only his costume matched up to his awesome character, its just terrible, I looks like it was made out of an old dirty basket ball and the design in general was just awful. Perhaps I am over reacting, it wasn’t so glaringly tragic it distracted from the action when it did take place in the suit, but I am a purist about certain things, and the costume is one thing I thought they should not have messed with! I mean you don’t mess with the iconic costumes like putting Superman in a new costume without the red pants and you don’t add nipples to Batman. Oh wait… damn it! Anyway, I said it before, for every couple of good things there is a bad one in the mix too.
The appeal of spider-man to me was always he was still just a kid, a brainy nerd who gets these Sensational Powers and does great things with them. But under it all, when facing off against mutant lizards, tentacled doctors, and men with fishbowls on their heads, he was just a boy. And that’s at what phase we meet Garfield’s Peter Parker, in high school. Many of the best pieces of the film come from the drama and the acting and not the action. He is nerdy and awkward, angry and hormonal, and lets not forget cocky once he has the ability to stand up for himself.
Obviously Garfield doesn’t act to a brick wall, he has an equally talented co-star in the form of Emma Stone. The chemistry between the two of them is palpable, and brings back memories of actual high school life where is its hard enough to string together a coherent sentence, let alone one that will endear you to the opposite sex. And it is with moments between these two that the real draw for the film is. As wonderful and fresh as it is to see brilliantly choreographed REAL fights down narrow alleyways instead of CGI (Though the finale does get a bit heavy handed with the computer wizardry) it’s the acting here that takes centre stage, and once the credits roll, you are truly invested in Gwen and Peter.
Sadly the Villain, The Lizard, doesn’t come off as anything special. He poses more of a physical threat then some previously seen characters, but beyond the longing to re-grow his missing limb his wish to make humanity stronger by robbing them of their humanity seems forced and pretty throw away. And when he is a purely CGI creation, you loose a lot of connection to him and with that the threat he is meant to be bringing to the table. Considering how crucial I feel the acting is to this film, Mr Ifans could have put a little more in, he seemed to phone this one in, rather disappointing for an actor of his calibre.
Even with its faults, this has such a wonderful potential for even more great stories, because even though this did seem to abandon several plot threads, the end made me think these were deliberate choices rather then bad filmmaking. Example? The very end shows a pan down Peter’s wall, and along with several items alluding to his parents, a topic that raised more questions then it answer in this instalment, and Gwen, as I look forward to seeing more of how these two develop together, there is also the Police sketch of his uncle’s killer, which shows this is not something Peter will not forget about very quickly. These, and more threads of the web like plot, should be picked up inevitably when The Amazinger Spider-man (Working Title subject to change) swings into theatres in the near future.