The Amazing Spider-Man

*Spoiler Alert, maybe.*
Spider-Man has been one of Marvel's most famous superheroes for decades. In terms of movies, Spider-Man found success in Sam Raimi's successful first film released in 2002. The villain of the film was Norman Osborne, a.k.a The Green Goblin, played by Willem Defoe. A sequel came in 2004 which saw the web-slinger lose his powers and the villain was Dr. Octopus, played by Alfred Molina. In 2007, the thematically weakest of the bunch was released. It saw, not one, not two, but THREE super-villains. Sandman, played by Thomas Haden Church, Harry Osborne, played by James Franco and Venom, played by Topher Grace. While it was spectacular in the visual effects department, Spider-Man 3 suffered from having too many villains in one film and having Peter Parker become emo. I guess they wanted to show Peter Parker having a dark-side, but all we got was a bad hair day and cartoonish musical numbers. The only villain in the film that really had any substance was Sandman, who was a bank robber, but he needed the money for his sick daughter. He was fairly compelling, and Thomas Haden Church did a fantastic job with the character. Eddie Brock, a.k.a Venom was a complete joke, with Venom only being part of the film, because the studio wanted him to be. Venom deserves a movie of his own, I think. Overall Spider-Man 3 was a wreck of a film, and as a result, Sony Entertainment who owns the rights to Spider-Man put the series on the back-burner. While there was talk of a fourth film with Tobey Maguire, and having The Lizard as the villain, but Sony decided a sequel wasn't really the best option, so they opted to re-boot the series. It's unusual because Sam Raimi's trilogy isn't even a decade old yet. But it may have paid off in the end.

The film opens as Peter Parker(Andrew Garfield)is going to high school with Gwen Stacy(Emma Stone), a girl he's become infatuated with. When he gets home, his uncle Ben(Martin Sheen)has him help clean out the basement when Peter discovers a briefcase belonging to his actual father. Turns out his father worked with a fellow scientist Curt Conners(Rhys Ifans) to develop a syrum that could help people regenerate lost limbs. But Parker's father disappeared before that could happen. So, Parker pays a visit to Oscorp and ends up getting bitten by one of the genetically engineered spiders. Parker soon discovers that his strength has been enhanced, he's faster, can climb up walls and has a unique "spider-sense." Afterwards, Conners gets the formula for the syrum and injects himself with it, unintentionally becoming a ruthless reptilian monster. Meanwhile, Gwen's father, Captain Stacy(Denis Leary)is on Spider-Man's trail.

Sam Raimi's first film of Spider-Man was an origin story, that turned out to be fantastic and a whole lot of fun. The Amazing Spider-Man is also an orgin story, and it covers some of the same ground as Raimi's film, but it tweaks some of it to make it fresh and exciting. For example, in the re-boot, Parker's love interest is Gwen Stacy, who is not a damsel in distress in this, but also as smart as Peter. No Mary Jane Watson in this one, folks. Emma Stone does a fantastic job. Rhys Ifans, who plays Dr. Connors, is simply amazing as a doctor who's frustrated at having only one arm and trying develop a cure of sorts, that will give him his arm back. Connors is very compelling villain, in that he doesn't come off as a villain, but as someone who's desperate to fix his own situation. Martin Sheen is fantastic as Ben Parker. When Parker lost his parents, Ben comes in to take over and brings a very fatherly stature to the character. He's great. Denis Leary surprised me as Captain Stacy. Usually, Denis Leary is a very sarcastic and snarky stand-up comedian, but he brings an authority to the character, that I've seldom seen from Leary, as the movie progresses, his opinion of Spider-Man changes. But the real revelation here is Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker. Unlike Tobey Maguire's turn as the social outcast, Garfield's character is an outcast by choice, preferring to keep to himself. And, unlike, Maguire's version, Garfield's Parker isn't a master of his abilities almost overnight. In fact, he makes quite a few mistakes and gets really bruised and beaten up. His motivations for using his powers are also selfish and fall a little on the dark side, when his uncle is killed by a robber. He eventually does end up becoming a hero, but it takes a while for him to get there, and I think that makes for a far more compelling Spider-Man than what Sam Raimi did.

The visual effects are fantastic, as you see Spider-Man swing around the city, but in many of the shots that are closer to the ground, it's actual stuntmen that are flying around. On wires, to be sure, but still, it's good to see actual people doing this stuff on screen rather than a CGI character. When the Lizard enters the fray, he HAS to be CG, otherwise it come off as ludicrously horrendous. The action set pieces are amazing, especially towards the end of the film. Also, it should be mentioned, that when Parker uses his web, he uses web shooters that he designed himself, like in the comics.

At the end of the day, however, it's the characters that help drive the story, and the characters are driven by some really great performances from the cast. It's usually well over a decade before you see a re-boot of a popular film series, but in Spider-Man's case, it was less than a decade. And I have to say it was the right decision to make. I don't think I could've stomached another Spider-Man film by Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire in the lead. I was never a big fan of Tobey in that role. Also, having only one super-villain in the film helps keep it grounded. So, with fantastic performances from Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Denis Leary, Martin Sheen and Rhys Ifans, The Amazing Spider-Man works a lot better than it should as a re-boot. I had a lot of fun with this one, and found it far more compelling than any of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films. This one gets a 9.5/10.