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As much as comics captured my attention as a child, I spent more time reading Marvel comics than DC, but I did not read Spider-Man. I was more interested in The Punisher and Xavier’s X-Men, with the former being my favourite character, which is ironic. As for Spider-Man, he is one of Marvel’s flagship figures and has already had a successful film series. Its premier film was a hit, and, despite not completely following Sam Raimi’s comic adaptations, they did make superheroes reach blockbuster status. Unlike other Marvel films, Sam’s trilogy left a pretty sour taste to fans, which is why I never thought Spider-Man would require a total makeover. Especially considering the hate that his last entry in 2007 received, which is probably the reason why Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man receives mixed to average reviews from the general public.
Webb’s (no laughter, please) adaptation of the character uses a less literal translation to the character’s origin as this is a reboot and at heart an origin story. Peter Parker, portrayed by Andrew Garfield, gets bitten while on an intern tour which he snuck into by masquerading as someone else to look for documents in his dad’s briefcase. This leads him closer to Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) and Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans). The story is mainly about Peter & Gwen and how in love they are, but they haven’t quite managed to sync their timelines. This Peter Parker is an isolated teenage boy simply trying to survive while being a model student and an adopted son by Aunt May (Sally Field) & Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen). Once he learns that being bitten by an irradiated spider gives him a sticky problem, he is then thrust into a life of vigilantism after Uncle Ben gets killed.
Peter’s backstory about being an orphan who was picked up by Aunt May (Sally Field) and Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) has always been rather vague in the comics. The film tries to connect the dots by linking them to the Oscorp corporation. This is when we begin to understand that these characters spatially exist within a city that Oscorp controls. Changing the comic of course is one thing, but this leads to some very welcomed developments on the previous adaptations as well as the overall narrative. It does appear that Spidey’s original tale got some loose ends, and the screenplay by James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent and Steve Kloves does commendable work at trying to make a cohesive piece out of that mess, and indeed, Spidey seems to have a decided fare more fleshed out origin than he did before. Unfortunately, some of the excess padding that is fairly obvious could have been cut out. Gwen Stacy’s father, the police captain, is introduced as a character who, after a time, could be fleshed out, but doesn’t get that treatment, leaving the audience feeling that he should never have been introduced in the first place, which by the conclusion of the film certainly is the case.
His only purpose is to initiate a manhunt for the vigilante calling himself Spider-Man, and his only action is to let him go when he figures out who the man is. Another strange aspect about The Amazing Spider-Man is it looks like a bizarre universe movie. It is one of those films that works in completely ignoring any of Raimi’s films but still has a third act that feels like it was written after the September 11th terrorist attacks. The American flag, for what you can get out of this movie, and community become a focus for this final act. It is so distorted that it almost makes me sick in a certain way. It is pathetic, stupid, and sadly too much of a waste of time.
What Webb does get right is the emotional aspects relating to the characters and Parker. After the realization of who Spidey is, the childish nature of the character is replaced by sarcasm and borderline emotional abuse. There is no way you will ever hear “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” from this version of the web-slinger.
I regret to inform you that I think there was not enough of a time gap provided to viewers and the film will be judged on the preceding entries. This movie is, for better or worse, self-sustaining and I really appreciate this new version of Spider-Man, I do believe Garfield is a far better actor than Tobey Maguire ever was in the role, but Tobey Maguire knew how to blend everything together whilst Webb seems to be a bit shaky on the execution and story. Given the context of the box office and all of the blitz from The Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man will come across to the majority of people as a disappointment. There is a great deal to appreciate with this version, one just has to endure some of the stale, cobwebbed corners of it.
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