The Amazing Spider-Man Review

It’s been a decade since director Sam Raimi launched his series of Spider-Man movies and only five years since the last Spider-Man flick hit theaters. The original Spider-Man was one of the first movies I ever saw in a movie theater and I fell in love with it. I also greatly enjoyed the sequel, Spider-Man 2. So naturally, I was very concerned that a reboot of the series would arrive so shortly after Spider-Man 3. Fortunately, The Amazing Spider-Man succeeds in being different enough from the previous three Spider-Man incarnations to justify its existence.

A major strength of the movie is its uniformly excellent cast. The acting is subtle and believable, even in situations that are steeped in science fiction and absurdity. The humanity of the main characters gives the film a realistic feel, making it very easy to connect with the characters. Andrew Garfield (Spider-Man) and Emma Stone (Gwen Stacy) have a natural, endearing chemistry and their scenes together never feel disingenuous.

The plot of the movie is nothing new or very original for a superhero movie. The only new things this movie brings to the table are extra back story about Peter Parker’s parents, a new villain and a different love interest. The audience is given a great deal of exposition in the beginning of the movie about Peter’s parents and unfortunately there is not much payoff to this part of the story. It seems like the filmmakers just set up this aspect of the Spider-Man story to explore more in future films.

The villain to any superhero movie is key to its success. Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies heavily featured Dr. Curt Connors in the background. Comic book fans will know that Dr. Connors is transformed into the monstrous Lizard. Raimi’s films were criticized for never featuring the Lizard as a villain, despite showing Dr. Connors pretty frequently. The Amazing Spider-Man does not suffer from the same problem, as the Lizard is the main villain. Rhys Ifans portrays Dr. Connors well enough, but I wasn’t sold on his transformation from nice guy, ambitious scientist to vengeance seeker who hates Peter Parker. That fault lies more in the script than in Ifans’ performance though.

For those who have seen the other Spider-Man movies, you may be surprised that Peter Parker’s love interest in this movie is Gwen Stacy, not Mary Jane Watson. For me, I think Emma Stone does a better job as Gwen Stacy in this movie then Kirsten Dunst ever did in the other Spider-Man movies. Her chemistry with Andrew Garfield is genuine and adorable, not as cheesy and melodramatic as some of Kirsten Dunst’s scenes with Tobey Maguire.

Martin Sheen does a tremendous job portraying a different version of Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben. The late Cliff Robertson gave the ultimate screen interpretation of Uncle Ben in the original Spider-Man movies. Nevertheless, Martin Sheen wastes none of his screen time and it’s great to see an actor of his talent actually give a good performance again.

The action scenes and visuals are noticeably slick, but the movie shines most in its humor rather than in the action sequences. That’s probably because director Marc Webb (I kid you not) previously directed the indie romantic comedy (500) Days of Summer. In fact, certain scenes between Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone feel straight out of a romantic comedy.         

Rebooting the Spider-Man franchise was totally unnecessary but this movie is definitely worth checking out for die-hard fans and new viewers alike. In some ways, the movie improves on the occasionally corny Raimi films, but it is nowhere near as good as Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2. For what it is, it’s well made enough to get me excited for the inevitable sequel.