The Amazing Spider-Man movie review

 

The Amazing Spider-Man movie review

Movie makers have become fond of using a franchise reboot to get a popular movie juggernaut on track and from recent efforts, this has largely worked. Sam Raimi and Tobey MaGuire have done a tremendous trilogy recently and in particular, Spiderman II has shown that sequels can be better than the original, but producers have deemed it necessary to reboot the series anyway, and introduce Andrew Garfield as the new Spiderman and bring the storyline a little further back to when Spidey was a teenager in high school.

Does the rehash work? Well, this story has it’s strengths and weakness. First, I will venture to suggest what could have made it better. IMO, they should have just gone for Spiderman IV, and continued where Tobey/Raimi left over. Thn intrdocue Lizard Man as a nasty villain, and he was indeed a formidable opponent in this show. Instead, they had to re-tell the story of how Spidey came to be, and the loss of Uncle Ben, who, was pretty well played by Martin Sheen.

You don’t get the line about responsibility and power, but you get the spider bite, the transition from a shy retiring teenager to a powerful superhero, and this time the love interest is Gwen instead of MJ. Gwen is a tad too old, and the romance doesn’t quite take off, but if you want to know if a woman is keen on you, watch this show, and see the words and body language of Gwen.. I mean, she says ‘yes’ to Peter Parker, even without knowing what he was asking for… and shoves her address and phone into his hands, and she has obviously told her family about him, which is always a good sign… none of that ‘keep in touch’ crap… this girl could donate her kidneys to ol’ Spidey if he asked…

Even so, Kirsten was a better MJ than Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, and you don’t get any upside down acrobatic kisses. And I guess that is the main issue. With the memory of Tobey’s Spiderman still fresh in the minds of the paying audience, comparisons are bound to happen. Garfield does a good Spidey, and he does try to make the character his own, and the supporting cast are working hard too, but you get the feel that it’s same old same old. That is not a bad thing, and you get emotional scenes interspersed with the action. However for the action buffs, you really only get two big action sequences here, as they have to build up the history and how Spiderman came to be part again in the first half of the story, so things only start to get hot in the latter half.

Lizard Man is a pretty well played villain and he does look capable of beating Spiderman, and you see that Spidey need some help in beating the Lizard. Marc Webb the director steers the action well enough, but he comes from a romance story background and tries to give this reboot an emotional feel, and perhaps he tries a tad hard, with dad, girlfriend and other issues thrown in for good measure. Fans will need to have patience, and see this as a first of many movies so they don’t get restless with the dearth of big fight scenes. This is of course dependant on box office receipts, and with pretty decent returns so far, this reboot of a reboot will probably see Spiderman swinging in for a few more movies.

Sally Field IMO never puts a foot wrong, and even with limited screen time, she has so much expression... but she is up against Rosemary Harris, who is still the quintessential Aunt May, bar none...

Plot 3.5/5

Action 3/5 – good surround use, and bass was used for ambience as well as explosions, this has potential for a good Blu Ray despite the scarcity of action scenes.

Chick Factor 3/5

I must say that Cinema 9 in Vivo has a very awesome subwoofer ensemble and will give that kick in the chest, which isn’t often feel in cinemas – instead HT fans are often more likely to have better subs in the confines of their homes. But do check out that cinema.

Definitely worth a rental, and as a Peter, I would like to buy my namesake’s movie on Blu Ray when it comes out.

I have no financial interest or other interests in any of the items / events I write about.