With the imminent launch of the sequel, I feel like now is the perfect time to talk about the first entry of the Amazing Spider-Man trilogy. Reboots for franchises aren’t really necessary but the argument here is that director Marc Webb (no pun intended) wanted to bring something we’ve never seen before in Sam Raimi’s adaptations. Now that a sequel is looming over our heads, should you bother to watch the first one?
Let’s face it, we all know the origin story of Spider-Man. High school kid gets bitten by a radio-active spider, his uncle Ben gets shot and he dons the classic red and blue costume. What’s different this time around is that the film actually introduces Peter Parker’s parents. Throughout the movie the new Peter Parker (played perfectly by Andrew Garfield) tries to find out the mystery behind his parents disappearance.
That’s not all that’s new in this film. Instead of ushering in Mary Jane they decided to go the comic book route with Peter Parker’s first love, Gwen Stacy. Emma Stone plays the web-crawler’s love interest and brings a certain kind of freshness to the on screen romances in comic book movies. Perhaps, it could be that actors Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are romantically involved in real life? Who knows, but it absolutely works in the movie.
You can’t have a superhero movie without an antagonist, and you can’t have a Spider-Man movie without a relate-able down on his luck villain. Rhys Ifans plays Dr. Curtis Connors in the Amazing Spider-Man, who eventually turns into the Lizard. Mr. Ifans does a wonderful job portraying a father like figure to Peter but when he finally turns into the Lizard it often feels like a cliché of the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde story. Lizard wasn’t a terrible villain by any means, he just wasn’t that refreshing when we’ve seen so many villains like him before on the silver screen.
Besides Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, the other actor that I really enjoyed seeing in the Amazing Spider-Man was Martin Sheen as Uncle Ben. I know some people who thought it was an odd casting choice, but as a Spider-Man fan, I think it was the right choice to follow up on Cliff Robertson from the Sam Raimi trilogy. Sally Field was a good Aunt May as well but she wasn’t in the movie long enough to have a lasting impression on the viewer.
If I had one big gripe about the movie it has to be that it’s pretty much an origin story once again. Like I previously mentioned, we all pretty much know the story of Peter Parker. It would’ve been a wonderful idea to have what they featured in 2008′s Incredible Hulk, where the opening credits refreshed the viewer on how the hero got his powers and started from there. Sure, The Amazing Spider-Man’s version of the origin story was still enjoyable, it just wasn’t necessary and I think they could have gotten away without including it.
Another minor problem with the movie is that it honestly tries too hard to be something it’s not. Spider-Man is not a dark character and throughout the movie I felt like it had an overbearing and brooding filter. Peter Parker/Spider-Man is the polar opposite of someone like Bruce Wayne/Batman, we don’t need the hero to be darker. Look how well it worked out in Spider-Man 3! That being said, the character isn’t evil by any means, the movie just seems like its set in a much grittier world.
The Amazing Spider-Man was a good movie through and through, if you take it for what it is and just roll with it, you’ll find yourself thoroughly entertained. You can be incredibly nit-picky about certain aspects, from Peter Parker’s sudden interesting in skate boarding to Gwen Stacy’s high socks, but generally the spirit of all the characters is there. Director Marc Webb delivered a solid, more edgy superhero. With Amazing Spider-Man 2, it looks like Marc Webb will fix all what was wrong with this one. I suppose we can expect something more amazing.