The Amazing Spider-Man is a reboot directed by Marc Webb and stars Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker who finds a clue to help him find the disappearance of his parents when he was young. His search puts him on a collision course with Dr. Curt Conners [Rhys Ifans- “Notting Hill”, “Little Nicky” “The Boat That Rocked”] who previously worked as a partner with his father.
The Amazing Spider-Man is an exciting, fresh and action-packed reboot which unlike the original Spider-Man trilogy which Toby Maguire focuses on the origins of Peter Parker and goes back to the source material of the comic books.
The good:
Andrew Garfield is a brilliant choice for being cast as Peter Parker as he brings vulnerability and likeness and when it’s the time to suit up has the ability to be tough and cool. This a great career move for Andrew Garfield, who after his commercial success in David Fincher’s “The Social Network”, saw him nominated for best supporting actor did not see him have the commercial success he deserves. The Amazing Spider-Man should do him justice and win him over a host of new fans. Unlike the Toby Maguire Peter Parker, Garfield’s is much more human and vulnerable and is someone you could relate to, he goes to school, studies, goes skateboarding as well as having an interest in photography.
The other highlight of the film is Rhys Ifans as Dr. Curt Conners also known as his alter ego, The Lizard who has a nice link to OsCorp the organisation in the first Spider-Man and this is in fact Rhys Ifan’s first blockbuster and handles it well and brings a great human quality to The Lizard who wants to do good and rid the world of “weakness” as the threat in this Spider-Man is more real and the bar is set higher.
There is no Mary Jane in sight and this time round stars Emma Stone as Peter Parker’s love interest, Gwen Stacy, who is a character from the comic books and Peter’s girlfriend before he started dating Mary Jane.
The other highlight of the film is the special effects as the films boasts of the some solid action scenes to showcase them, one in particular sees an attack on the Brooklyn Bridge in which we see Dr. Conners transform into the lizard for the first time as well as seeing Garfield’s Spider-Man swing into action.
The Amazing Spiderman Poster
The bad
The Amazing Spider-Man is not your typical summer blockbuster and isn’t just one action scene after another and for those who are expecting eye popping and endless action scenes will be disappointed.
The film mainly focuses on how Peter Parker got his powers and the human relationship between his Uncle Ben and Aunt May as well as solving the mystery of his parent’s disappearance. I would have liked to have seen more him experimenting with his powers for the first time. Although after he has been bitten there is a nice introduction to his superpowers on a subway train as he shows his reactions and his strength.
Conclusion:
Overall, The Amazing Spider-Man is an exciting and welcome reboot and an excellent performance by Andrew Garfield who makes for a great Peter Parker. The film also features solid action scenes and fresh new look and darker feel which we haven’t seen in the original films.