Unnecessary? Perhaps. But it sure lives up to its title.
**** ½ out of 5
136 minutes
Rated PG-13 for sequences of action and violence
Columbia
Pictures
I still remember when Sam Raimi’s first “
Spider-Man” arrived in theaters like it
was yesterday. It was only ten years ago after all. That, along with Bryan
Singer’s first “
X-Men”
ushered in a new wave of superhero gluttony that even now seems overbearing.
Ironically, both of these series have the same thing in common, the second
feature of their original trilogies stood as the best of the best until a
fourth film comes along to reboot things. But while “
X-Men: First Class”
now stands as the best of that series, director Marc Webb (who made a brilliant
debut with “
(500)
Days of Summer”) brings us Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s “
The Amazing Spider-Man,”
a film that can at least stand alongside “
Spider-Man 2” even if it doesn’t best
it.
In this new chapter of our friendly neighborhood “
Spider-man,”
we meet young Peter Parker (Max Charles) playing a night game of hide and seek.
When Peter discovers someone has broken into his father Richard’s (Campbell
Scott) office, Richard grabs Peter, mother Mary (Embeth Davidtz), and a
satchel. They make their way to Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) and Aunt May’s (Sally
Field) house where Peter is left to live with them. Now in his teens, Peter
(Andrew Garfield) is the awkward teen we know and love who pines for Gwen Stacy
(Emma Stone), walks around with his camera in tow, and takes a beating by Flash
Thompson (Chris Zylka) for standing up for the little man at Midtown Science
High School.
When Uncle Ben has Peter look into their flooding basement, Peter discovers
his father’s satchel. In it, Peter finds an Oscorp employee badge and a photo
of his father with the one-armed scientist, Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans). Curt
Connors worked with Richard, and is obsessed with regenerating his right arm,
but hasn’t been seen or heard from since Richard and Mary abandoned Peter.
Peter finagles his way into Oscorp pretending to be an intern only to run into
Gwen who works directly under Dr. Connors. It’s here that Peter sneaks away to
the “Biocable Development Unit” where what could be thousands of genetically
altered arachnids are contributing to the making of a new kind of super strong
cable and Peter is of course bitten.
After hilariously discovering his newfound powers Peter is anxious to learn
what his father was working on called the Decay Rate Algorithm and Dr. Connors
wants the missing formula, which makes the algorithm complete. With Rajit Ratha
(Irrfan Khan) breathing down Dr. Connors’ neck to make their way to human
testing, pulling the plug on the project to use it on volunteers at a VA
hospital, Connors uses the concoction on himself, unleashing our villain, The
Lizard, upon Manhattan. Meanwhile, Peter is also looking for the thief who
gunned down Uncle Ben and Captain Stacy (Denis Leary) is hunting down the
unitard-wearing vigilante. Now Peter is caught in a web looking for the truth
behind his missing parents, keeping Gwen out of harm’s way, and trying to stop
The Lizard from unleashing the drug using a cloud-forming device conveniently
located in the Oscorp building.
Most of the story remains the same, but as it’s based on the comic book that
should come as no surprise. Yes, Andrew Garfield looks too old to be playing a
high schooler, but a 28-year-old was probably cast in order to have the same
actor for multiple films; as should be the case for all franchises. Thankfully,
with Spider-Man, Marvel has never gone the route of The Hulk where he’s been
played by a new actor at every turn. Gwen Stacy, as played by Emma Stone, is a
far better love interest than Mary Jane Watson. Garfield and Stone have more chemistry than
most actors could ever dream of having on screen. It comes as no surprise the
two are currently dating in real life and only adds more depth to the fate that
could belie their relationship.
Denis Leary gets the funniest line in my opinion, Stan Lee makes his
requisite cameo (his funniest to date), and of course there’s a pay off scene
hidden in the end credits. So while Marc Webb may have been an odd choice,
(considering the script could have been a complete disaster with three credited
writers: James Vanderbilt (“
Zodiac”), Alvin Sargent (“
Spider-Man 2” and “
3”), and Steve
Kloves (who wrote all but one of the “
Harry Potter” films). But Webb delivers
some astounding action sequences while dousing the proceedings with the
appropriate amount of characterization, only further helping make “
The Amazing Spider-man”
live up to its name and relaunch the series to new heights.
Photos courtesy
Columbia Pictures
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