Amazing Spider-Man review

The first question is “Why?” Why does Spider-Man need a reboot so soon after the last movie? It’s been 5 years since the atrocity known as Spider-Man 3 and apparently the powers that be felt the need to retcon our terrible memories of Emo-Tobey and start afresh. I’m not saying it’s the worst idea. There were plans for a Spider-man 4 and the Vulture(an 80 year old flying man) was supposed to be the villain. But the reboot is an idea that could have waited at least another year or two.

For all you super nerds out there, you know the reason. If Sony (who owns the movie rights to Spider-man) doesn’t make a spider movie every 7 years they would lose the character to Marvel/Disney. Same thing goes for Fox and the X-Men series.

It all just seems too soon.

That aside, what does this movie bring to the table that justifies a reboot? Andrew Garfield.

Garfield plays Peter Parker who is of course back in high school. The movie actually begins with the set-up of Peter’s parents leaving him with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben (love his rice) as they go into hiding fearing their employer, Oscorp. This will be a different take for audiences that only know Spider-man from the movies. No mention of his parents were ever made and in this series (yes there will be more) their disappearance is the driving force. Back to high school, where Peter is the apathetic outsider just trying to get through school as fast as possible. The movie actually spends near an hour before we ever see him in his suit and it doesn’t suffer for it. It’s the Batman Begins approach that I can respect. In class and in his pursuit to find out what happened to his parents he begins spending time with his true first love, Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone). Meanwhile, a lead researcher for Oscorp, Curt Connors is dealing with lizard DNA experiments, and you can see where that goes.

For all of you Tobey Maguire haters out there, you cannot complain about Garfield (the actor, not the 2 terrible movies). He has the acting chops and is entirely relatable. He’s popping wisecracks when he needs to, and is able to show true emotion when it’s called for. If you become a fan of Garfield, check him out in a british miniseries called “Red Riding Trilogy” on Netflix. He was also great in Social Network but Spider-man will be his big break.

“With Great Power, comes Great Responsibility…in under 30 seconds”

Martin Sheen plays Uncle Ben and is good, but the impact of his inevitable death is not as good as Raimi’s version. Plus he never utters his classic line that makes Spider-Man who he is. Sally Field plays Aunt May and is passable but I can never see her not be Sally Field.

I haven’t liked Emma Stone since Superbad. I think it was “Easy A”(smuggest movie of 2010) that really turned me off of her. But she is quite decent in an understated role that doesn’t require her to kiss Spider-man in the rain, while not wearing a bra. Her hard-nosed father, Captain Stacy (Dennis Leary) easily has the best lines in the movie and provides the most emotion. A lot of like/dislike will ride on Rhys Ifans and his CG lizard form. I didn’t hate it. The graphics were great, but it’s difficult to feel a large threat from a mini dinosaur.

I really wish the origin of Spider-Man was told in the opening credits and we were allowed to watch a new story. I liked seeing Garfield’s take on Peter Parker, but much of the origin was either shot-for-shot or less impacting because we’ve seen it all before. I must say that the action scenes and battles Spider-Man and the Lizard have are pure nerd eye candy. I’m no entomologist but it doesn’t feel like he is just a strong guy in a suit when he fights, he actually attacks/defends like a spider. While I’m talking about visuals, I must say that seeing him in swinging from building to building is what I go to movies for. Spider-Man invented the superhero money shot!

I love what Sam Raimi did with the first two Spider-Man films (I blame Sony for the 3rd). And now we have Marc Webb, who was behind the indie masterpiece “500..days of Summer.” He is a skilled filmmaker, but I want to see more of his creative vision on the screen.

Is this the best Spider-Man movie? No. I save that for Spider-Man 2. But it is on par with the first flick. it really just makes me excited for a sequel and no more origin. It is definitely worth seeing! I would also say this movie will stay with me longer than The Avengers has. Yes that movie is more fun, but I cannot remember one scene that doesn’t involve the Hulk doing something funny.

The Amazing Spider-Man gets a B+