It may seem longer but it's only been 10 years since
Spider-man first swung his way across the silver screen increasing the public
interest in seeing major films spun from comic book titles. And yet Sony has
decided that it needed something fresh, it needed a reboot to the series. This
could be because the stars would now be seeking bigger bucks when it came to
contract time. Or it could be that the success of the third film in that series
didn't live up to their expectations. In any event, a reboot was released and
now makes its way to DVD. Was it worth it?
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ups the ante by not just picking up
where the other films left off but starting from scratch. Instead of Peter
Parker (Andrew Garfield) automatically living with his Aunt May (Sally Field)
and Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen), we get to see a glimpse of his parents, secretive
scientists who whisk him away to the aunt and uncle when their home is broken
into leaving behind only Peter and a briefcase that comes into play later on.
Peter in this version isn't the stereotypical science nerd
as depicted in the first film or in the comics. He comes off more as a brooding
teen who still get picked on and who has yet decided to be a professional
photographer. He has issues with his adoptive parents like any teen and seeking
answers comes across the aforementioned briefcase with a hidden compartment
containing a formula and a picture of his father alongside another scientist,
Dr. Curt Conners (Rhys Ifans).
Sneaking in with a group in intern wannabes Peter discovers
Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), the girl he worships from afar, works for him as
Oscorp. During the tour he catches the attention of Connors and eventually
reveals that he is the son of his old friend. It is also during this visit that
Peter is bitten by a DNA enhances spider that provides him with the ever
popular hero's super powers, those of a spider. He explores just what these
will do and keeps his findings to himself.
Connors and Peter begin working together on the formula that
Peter found and apply it to a project Connors has been working on, combining
interspecies DNA in the hopes of finding cures such as a reptiles ability to
re-grow body parts. Connors has a personal interest in this as he lost an arm
years ago.
After forgetting to pick up his aunt one night, Peter and
his uncle get into a fight with Peter running off as a result. When Ben goes to
search for Peter, he is gunned down by a many Peter could have stopped who
robbed a grocery store. Now the character turns dark and seeks vengeance on the
man who killed his uncle, tracking down every punk criminal in a dark alley and
getting the police involved in searching for a masked vigilante in the process.
But here's the only problem I had with this movie. Connors
won't rush the test results of his project through to satisfy Oscorp so they
plan on canceling the project. That night he injects himself and not only does
his arm grow back, he changes into a giant lizard as well. When he wreaks havoc
on the city, Peter changes his plans and all thoughts about his uncle's killer
disappear and combating the Lizard takes center stage. There isn't a smooth
enough transition here and it makes the movie feel like two movies in one,
neither of which is complete.
Along the way to the inevitable final confrontation between
good guy and bad, Peter continues to fall in love with Gwen and find that love
returned, meets her father the police chief (Dennis Leary) who he argues with
over the objectives of Spider-man and continues to have problems at home and
school.
One thing those at Marvel have almost always done right is
hiring the perfect people to cast as their characters. There isn't a single
actor here who doesn't get the part and perform it well. None of them take the
performances of the previous actors and apply them here, instead making these
characters their own. Garfield in particular doesn't give off the total nerd
vibe that Tobey McGuire did so well, instead playing Peter as a teen filled
with the usual angst and rebellious nature that he must learn to control as
much as his powers.
As should be expected the effects are amazing, pun intended,
and the visual feel of the film goes the opposite of the original films.
Everything here seems dark, from the colors used for Spider-man's costume to
the settings. Most of the action takes place at night making the film at times
seem more along the lines of the Batman films than Spider-man which was always
a bright colored adventure in the comics.
All that aside, I actually found that I liked this film.
Perhaps not the first time I watched it, but on DVD certain things made more
sense to me. The skateboarding that Peter does connected with the poses used by
Spider-man as he leaps from building to building, web to web. As I said, with
the exception of the seemingly split storyline, the film is really quite
entertaining. Not only is this one a movie worth watching, its one worth adding
to your collection as well.
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