The Amazing Spider-Man Review

The Amazing Spider-Man is anything but, as the titular web-head swings through New York a perpetual sense of deja vu is permeating the entire films runtime, along with a single question, Why a reboot? The last Sam Raimi Spider-Man film was released in 2007 that was only 5 years ago, this is unquestionably the fastest turn around for a reboot and it's what cripples the movie right out of the gate. By rehashing the same exact plot from the original film this movie wastes time with things audience are intimately familiar with, because if I remember correctly those films were some of the most financial successful movies that kicked off the summer staple genre of super hero movies. This movie doesn't have a single unique aspect, anything new or different is only slightly so, frustrating you more as some of the unexplored aspects of the film are incredibly promising. Changing the love interest from red headed Mary Jane to blonde Gwen Stacy isn't much of a difference, and the villain is still a scientist who after experimenting on himself becomes insane and turns into a homicidal green monster. The parallels are constant and it keeps The Amazing Spider-Man from creating any identity of its own.

There are positives though, quite a few even. The performances from the two main leads are fantastic, Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker is great and his shy stammering nature is likable and even more believable then Tobey Maguire. Garfield is already a more accomplished actor and he brings gravitas to the typical overblown teenage angst. But it isn't just his Peter Parker that's good, he brings a grounded physicality to Spider-Man, a problem the old films had was a sense of weightlessness, not here. Spider-Man's wise cracking and agile swings through the city skyline are more akin to his comic book origins as well. Emma Stone similarly brings better acting chops then mouth breather Kirsten Dunst and never falls into the typical damsel in distress. She is an intelligent and capable young women and immensely more interesting than the red haired bimbo of the previous films. Their romance is the best part of the movie, unsurprisingly handled with deft hands by director Marc Webb (how perfect is that) who previously helmed my favorite romantic film of all time 500 Days of Summer. The young boundless affection these two show is twee as fuck (look it up), it's heartwarming if overly sappy, but it works all the same. It is the one thing in the movie that is handled well and given the time to develop. When (because it's not a question of if) this film gets a sequel, I hope they change the director, nothing against Webb but I fell he set up a great romance that I want to see strained by a more fascinating dive into Spider-Man's psyche with a truly sadistic villain.

Which brings me to my last point The Lizard, I'll let that sink in for a bit. No go ahead I'll wait, get a drink or some cookies this isn't going anywhere. Ready. Ok. The villain is a giant lizard, humanoid to be fair but he is A. GIANT. LIZARD. And this Lizard has a plan, to make all the people of New York and eventually the world, into similarly giant lizard men and women. This is single handedly the dumbest fucking villainous scheme I have ever heard. It is so dumb it is never outwardly spoken by any character, instead it is pieced together by Spider-Man and more aptly the audience through audio recordings and notes in the lab Spidey discovers in the sewers. Now initially a scientist with the admirable goal to make human beings more resilient through cross species genetics is interesting. Even the Wolfman style transformation he goes through after testing the experiment on himself is cool. But at what point does an aerosol dispersal of a lizard transformative toxin make sense from a revered OsCorp geneticist. But put aside the ridiculous villain and the real problem is that he is immensely underdeveloped  his motivations are unclear and his eventual preposterous plan makes even less sense. There are some weird creative choices as well  like having The Lizard speak intelligible makes him look dumb stalking around, "I'm going to get you Parker". Add to that the film's other retread of a villain who yells at himself akin to multiple personality disorder and you have an uninteresting and silly antagonist.

The Unremarkable Spider-Man is a more appropriate title to this movie. There are no new ideas and the plot is frighteningly close to the original, like grounds for a legal suit similar. But underneath a general feeling of sameness there are great performances from the two love bird leads and a snarky kinda asshole Spider-Man. Quips and smart remarks are abundant and the fight in the highschool is what every Spider-Man fan has been waiting to see, and its the best fight in the movie. There was one scene in the movie that I adored, and its something I'm a sucker for, and that's the every-man blue collar worker banning together for the greater good. When Spider-Man is shot and is having a hard time making it to the OsCorp building where The Lizard is planning to disperse his toxin. A construction worker who had his son rescued by Spider-Man earlier in the film calls all his buddies up and tells them to swing all their cranes over 59th Ave. to give Spider-Man an easy route. I nearly sprang outta my seat cheering and crying. It is touching scene and embodies one of Spider-Mans greatest qualities, his inspiring attitude to do the right thing simply because you can. All the elements of a possibly great Spider-Man film are here, but a ridiculous villain and a origin story retread hold back a new trilogy brimming with potential.

(3 out of 5)