Howdy Everypony
I have a little secret for you guys, I am a HUGE Spider-Man fan. I was first introduced to Spider-Man and comics in general when my uncle purchased me a beat up copy of the Amazing Spider-Man #7 from a garage sale in 1992( a rare find but completely worthless in the condition it was in, poor thing) I was greeted on the cover with a picture of Spidey fighting the Vulture, and boy howdy, was i ever excited. That one book lead to toys, posters, blue and red underoos and a life-time appreciation for comics, especially Spider-Man. Though my tastes in the books may have matured, the wall-crawler never faded from my tastes...until one warm May evening back in 2007. I was at the midnight release of Spider-Man 3 and dammit was i ever pissed off about the whole damn movie. Looking back, it wasn't the worst movie I have ever seen, but it poisoned me against Spider-Man. I never had a run of Spider-Man since then. Sure, Ive read the occasional issue here and there and enjoyed the cross-overs to my more regular books, but the magic died in one fell emo hair flip. Cut to last year when i heard that a reboot was in the works. NOT staring Tobey Maguire or Kirsten Dunst. This movie was going to going to be darker, grittier and with almost 100% less strutting, and i felt a pang of hope. Could this film help me forget about Venom being played by that dopey kid from "That 70's Show" and reignite the love I had for the character i cherished so much as a lad?
In a word, kinda.
As said before, The Amazing Spider-Man is a reboot of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy. Which means we start over with the most vaunted cliche in comic book movies, the origin story. I don't know a single person who doesn't know Peter Parker's origin, but that's OK if it still tells it in a provocative way. Marc Webb seemed to go out of his way to portray James Garfield's Peter Parker as a everyman. I don't mean that in a way that he is relateable to the common guy, but as Parker can do EVERYTHING. Smart, check. Good looking, check. Good at technology, check. Good at sports, check. Impeccable taste in movies, check. (he's got a framed poster of Rear Window in his room) The only thing he doesn't have going for him is he is technically an orphan and he has a lot of issues stemming from that fact like a lack of confidence. But you know what, Garfield pulls it off 85% of the time. He's believable when he displays emotion and the audience hurts when he does. that's a pretty impressive feat when it comes to a screen adaptation of a comic book. he does stumble occasionally, especially in the exchanges between him and Emma Stone's character (I would too, she is absolutely gorgeous). Speaking of Miss Stone, i have to say that besides being a pretty face, her acting leaves much to be desired. She comes off as the same in most roles she plays and her Gwen Stacy is no different. In the books, Gwen is portrayed as a strong female role, almost a foil to Mary Jane Watson and i wish some of that strength was evident in Miss Stone's performance. Rhys Ifans is the antagonist of the film playing the crippled geneticist Curt Connors/The Lizard. He is generally a joy to watch and is probably the best screen portrayal of a villain since Alfred Molina's excellent Doctor Octopus. The supporting cast is also quite enjoyable with Martin Sheen doing an excellent Uncle Ben (minus the preachiness from the other movies) Sally Fields as the hen-pecked Aunt May and Denis Leary as Gwen's father and police chief rounding out the notables.
The CGI in this film is pretty top-notch as well, turning Spider-Man loose to be the acrobatic hero we always wanted to see on film. The film is at its strongest when Spidey is in costume, doing his thing. The web slinging and neigh impossible dodges are expertly pulled off and shows that this is no regular acrobat in tights. The action scenes are cool and i think Spider-Man is at his best when fighting a physically superior opponent like the Lizard, when he is forced to use both his skills and smarts to prevail. Speaking of the Lizard, his CGI effects are pretty decent, but it all falls to pieces when he stops to speak. Referencing to books again, The Lizard is a mostly silent foe, more beast than man, and at most utters a few hisses and roars. I think the filmmakers would have benefited from sticking to this more closely.This is also a much gorier film then the previous trilogy. Guns are fired...a lot and *spoiler* the Lizards gets absolutely shredded by a hail of gunfire numerous times throughout.
Now for the film's flaws and its a mercifully short list. Besides the previously mentioned CGI hiccups with the Lizard and Emma Stone's acting, the only thing i can really detract from the movie is its pacing. This movie is painfully slow in the beginning, moving with all the speed and grace of a three-legged, wounded rhino. I cant help but feel that a lot of the movie was left on the editing room floor and it still takes FOREVER to get moving, but once it does pick up the pace, its quite enjoyable.
I will say that this reboot was by enlarge a success, setting up for sequels and leaving more then a few loose ends to be followed up on. Mr. Webb, please take my advice and keep the villain count to one per movie. Don't make the mistakes Mr. Raimi did with #3. This is by no means a masterpiece, but as far as comic movies go, it could be a hell of a lot worse.
7.5 out of 10
Now if you excuse me, i need to head to my local comic shop and catch up on a few back issues...i wonder what Venom has been up to lately...
