Spidey's Webb

This is it, the first of 2012's Great Triumvirate: "The Amazing Spider-Man", "The Dark Knight Rises" and "The Hobbit". OK, I've been corrected, I should say the second of this year's Great... um... Quadrumvirate? Anyway, No.1 was "The Avengers" which did reach all hopes. Not expectations, it exceeded those, but hopes! Anyway, back to the actual topic here, "The Amazing Spider-Man"!

First of all though, what kind of a film comes out on a Tuesday? Who goes to the cinema on a Tuesday? I know Wednesday has it's films, but let's be honest, it's all about Friday. There was a time, not more than a month ago, when I wouldn't have cared about the release date as I didn't have a job and I could go to the cinema whatever day I wanted, ensuring I could see all the important films the day they were released! Alas, not any more! But, again, back to the point, I saw TAS today, something I've been excited about for so long! I'm sure I first heard of this film about two years ago when I discovered that some guy called Mark Webb had cast the nerdy, English, relatively unknown Andrew Garfield as my favourite super hero of all time! Did it reach expectations as "Avengers Assemble" did? I'm not so sure, but it definitely entertained and it definitely did not disappoint!

Starting with the cast, because we all know I LOVE Emma Stone and am hugely fond of Andrew Garfield, this film has done very well, it cannot be denied. Garfield, though approaching 30, is a brilliant choice to play the awkward but intelligent and emotionally complex teenage Spider-Man, or Peter Parker to his friends. One of Spider-Man's strengths as a comic is the character depth and interesting backgrounds of its leads, especially the eponymous hero. In this film especially there is a focus on the absence of Peter's parents and their strange disappearance, leaving him to live with Aunt May and Uncle Ben, two of the Spider-Man universe's most well-known characters. Garfield has to balance some strong emotions and life changes in this film: the loss of his parents; the discovery of a possible clue to why they disappeared ten years after it happened; the fresh loss of another loved one; first love; and to top all this off, intense physical transformations and, as we all know, the great responsibility that comes with great power. This isn't as easy a role to play as one might expect from a super hero franchise. Spider-Man has emotional depth perhaps only matched in comics by DC's Batman. Andrew Garfield has proved time and again that he is a diverse and powerful actor and this performance did not not slip from that. He also has a great charisma and likeabiltiy which I believe is key to Peter Parker and the script has tried hard to stay true to Spider-Man's wise-cracking, humorous side as he arrests car thief after car thief, all delivered very naturally by Garfield.

Emma Stone can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned, though it must be acknowledge that this part is not the most challenging of her career. She's sweet and witty and completely believable as a girl in her late teens despite again being 5 or 6 years older than her character. The chemistry between Stone and Garfield is obvious, probably helped by their real-life relationship (that lucky bastard!). Ifans is another actor who never fails to deliver a stand-out performance. Though I don't believe Curt Connors proved as interesting a villain as the Green Goblin in 2002's "Spider-Man" or Doctor Octopus in 2004's "Spider-Man 2", as a character he is made very three dimensional. An old colleague of Peter's father, Richard Parker, he is a scientist at Oscorp (run by Norman Osbourne, the Green Goblin himself, though not yet in this instalment) who dreams of a human race without weakness and strives to find the cures for human diseases in animal genes. His own personal tragedy, the loss of an arm, is the main force that drives him, and like many of Spider-Man's enemies, he is a well-meaning, gentle man, driven to madness and villainy by horrific events in his life and a lab experiment gone very wrong. When will they learn? After Spidey, these experiments never go right! Ifans masters both the sweet but troubled Curt Connors and the cruel and ambitious Lizard. He is not just a Hollywood actor, he is a real actor with great range and a strong presence and this film is no exception to that. Also, I love Sally Field as Aunt May! She is the perfect mother figure and a genuinely good actress.


The visuals and the graphics are also to be praised. Spider-Man's new outfit is very cool. I've always loved his spandex suit, it's complex and well designed, it looks bad ass despite the fact that he's covered himself in blue and red skin-tight fabric, and it's just practical! Plus his entire face is covered, unlike say Super-Man or the Green Lantern, so we do not have to suspend belief when a family member doesn't recognise him. Where costumes are concerned, I actually believe Webb's film beats Raimi's. Maguire's outfit was very cool, but this new version is darker and looks more like its designed for battle. The Lizard is a formidable looking foe and Ifans' face has been well incorporated into it's lizardy facade. As with the first films, your breath catches in your throat and shivers run down your spine in the scenes where Spidey swings through the great heights of New York City, though I find these scenes too few and far between.

As to plot, I love the detail of the back story which this film provides. Adding the intrigue into Peter's parents is the main aspect which sets this apart from Raimi's films. Luckily this film got its villain right, unlike "Spider-Man 3", whose main flaw is its attempt to fit three complex villains into one plot: Sandman, Green Goblin 2, and Venom. The Lizard is a very interesting character in this film. I believe he is generally one of the stronger Spidey villains, and he has been allocated a strong back story as Spider-Man has. I never understood Raimi's choice of the Sandman in SM3, I've always found him a dull baddy. Furthermore, at no point does this film slow down or bore because it fits so much plot in.  There's a blooming romance; the mystery surrounding Peter's parents; the contentious relationship between Peter and his surrogate parents, May and Ben; the foreboding and invisible presence of Norman Osbourne; all on top of the Spider-Man origin story and then the ongoing battle between Spider-Man and the Lizard. 

That said, I did not enjoy it as much as, or believe it was as good a film as, "Spider-Man" or SM2. Let's pretend 3 didn't happen, shall we? The main reason I love the character of Spider-Man is because I believe he has the best powers and, with good special effects, watching Spidey swing through Manhatten, climb vertical structures, shoot web and just generally do some bad ass gymnastics is all breath-taking and I think this film's main flaw is that, although these were all done brilliantly and the fight with the Lizard in the high school is amazing and thrilling to watch, there isn't enough time dedicated to fights and to Spidey, especially with all the focus on the Peter half of him. This was a great film, just not as great as its forerunners.

Despite this, I thoroughly enjoyed this film, would rate it AT LEAST 8/10 and will be incredibly disappointed if a sequel isn't announced soon. Garfield deserves to be a massive star and this franchise has fantastic potential to keep getting better. If you haven't seen it yet, make sure you wait when the credits start for an extra scene a few minutes in. Gosh, I do love Marvel so!