- Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man is an impressive (if not quite amazing) reminder of the varied forms cinematic originality can take. When the film was first announced as a reboot of Sam Raimi's increasingly dubious Spider-Man series, the internet went berserk with cries of "too soon!" I would counter with the argument that it is never too soon to reinvent a failed and disappointing franchise, so long as you improve upon it as much as this film does. The Amazing Spider-Man is admittedly far from perfect, but it is easily the best Spider-Man movie yet made and a promising launching point for what one hopes will be a consistently smart and fun series.
- Key to The Amazing Spider-Man's success is its casting and characterization of Peter Parker, played by Andrew Garfield. Simply put, Peter is the quintessential sci-tech nerd. Back in 1962, this meant a tie-and-vested 97-pound weakling who tinkered with chemistry sets and took up photography as a hobby. The modern analogue is a hoodie-wearing computer geek who skateboards around, mumbling inarticulately. No wonder the casting team came up with Garfield, whose performance in The Social Network demonstrated his penchant for geek chic. More striking, however, is how well he conveys that troubled side of Peter's psyche which originally made his character such a revelation in the comics world. With Spider-Man, the death of his parents and strained relationships with Aunt May (Sally Field) and Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) are more than just backstory -- they're in many ways the story itself.
- Reflecting their updated depiction in the Ultimate Spider-Man comic series, May and Ben aren't the frail, unaware seniors they once were. Instead, May retains plenty of color in her hair, and Ben demonstrates a razor wit, particularly when commenting on Peter's clumsy interactions with fellow science student Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone). The trouble is, Peter is at that age where he just can't do anything right. He forgets to pick up groceries and even neglects to escort his aunt home one night after work. Speaking of work, Peter recently stumbled into assisting Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans) with his research on genetically enhanced limb regeneration. In fact, it is while touring the research institute Oscorp that the spider bite occurs, just like it always does, and Peter soon finds himself struggling (to great comedic effect) with his new powers. A similar experiment is intentionally undertaken by Dr. Connors on himself, but with dramatically different results.
- It may seem like I've gotten pretty far in the review without discussing the villain of the piece, but there's good reason for that. In fact, Connor's alter ego "The Lizard," a towering CGI-rendered Mr. Hyde to Connor's Dr. Jekyll, is the least inspired part of the film, through no fault of Ifans'. Frankly, I can live with a superhero movie whose weakest parts are its relatively rare eruptions of underwhelming visual effects. What this film gets right are instead the human characters, including not only the Parker family and Gwen, but also Gwen's authoritarian father Captain Stacy (Denis Leary) and Connors' creepy supervisor Dr. Ratha (Irrfan Khan). The ubiquitous web-swinging, much of which was accomplished with wires, is as convincing as can be, and finally a film manages to capture Spider-Man's infamous wisecracking. Finally and perhaps most notably, The Amazing Spider-Man's multiple moments of pathos are completely unforced and compelling. I actually find myself looking forward to the sequel, which is something I rarely say about action films these days.
- In a moment that is absurd even by his standards, Stan Lee cameos as an inattentive librarian.
- There's a forgettable post-credits sequence in which somebody who may or may not be Norman Osborn hints at a (gasp) conspiracy behind what happened to Peter's parents.
