Movies, like good books, should mostly be
viewed as separate entities from one another- each needs to be given the
opportunity to present itself without be
afflicted/propelled by the failures/successes of its counterparts. That being
said when you re-launch a series only 10 years after its last stint, you can expect audiences to be thoroughly annoyed, especially when
the original is so good. You genuinely have to believe you can bring something
that can utterly decimate the original, lest your attempt be seen as a money
grab. ‘The Amazing Spider-man’ deserves the punishment (how ironic considering
the mastery of Sam Raimi’s original) of being bound to its previous efforts.
Let me open by saying that Spidey’s latest
adventure is actually OK, in fact it is good. I am still pretty damn annoyed
though that this was a re-launch and not a continuation and the movie is
certainly not without fault. Actually, had it been released first it probably
would have been incredible. It doesn’t add to the mythos in a way that I think
is substantial enough to warrant this new beginning. That aside, lets take a
look at it.
Lets start with the good, and as most males
in my age-bracket can testify too, Emma Stone definitely falls into this
category. She really provides an interesting and endearing Gwen Stacy, the
original girlfriend of Peter Parker. As always Stone seems natural and her
character believable. That said: I really think that the relationship between
Gwen and Peter was a little too simplistic in this movie and needed to be more
developed. They just sort of aren’t
together and then kind of are and even though I am totally against
Twilightesque melodrama (the trailer for Breaking Dawn Part 2, that greeted us
prior Spider-man reeked of it), I really think that this romance could have been
played up a lot more, which in turn would have made the experience a whole lot
more emotionally significant.
Let’s get onto the big point of contention,
Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker. I know that this reboot was aimed at trying
to bring the films closer to the comicbook interpretation of Parker, but it
seemed like they probably drew him a little past that. He is still an outsider,
but his intelligence is downplayed and his nerdy persona has been outright dropped
in exchange for a sweet outsider type and I don’t know if it works. Pete was
still likeable and Garfields performance alright, but on the whole I felt as if
it wasn’t the Peter Parker I knew. He wasn’t as easy to empathise with, his
struggles didn’t seem to be as awful and his character didn’t seem to grow at
all over the movie. The powers had seemingly little affect on him and this was
certainly a disappointment. Spider-man as a comic’s strength has always been
that the man behind the mask is kind of a nerd who is really easy for the
target reader to empathise with. Garfield’s Pete seemed like the cool guy who
isn’t seen as cool, a bit of a metahuman James Dean… that no one in school
likes.
Spider-man himself was pretty awesome, The
new design is sleak and the overall appearance of the character much more in
tone with the lanky, web-slinger from the comics. The transitions between live
action and CGI were a little jarring. The first time it went from an animated
Spider-man swinging through the city to the costumed Garfield standing rooftop
felt very off. I’m not a CGI expert by any means but this definitely felt like
it needed more polishing, as this really didn’t seem like an issue in the
original trilogy.
The plot is the great weakness of the film.
It is clearly the intent that this be the first part of a series, in which we
find out what happened to Pete’s parents and Spider-man grows from boy to man.
Nothing about the story felt special, and its qualities were further dimmed by
how close the overall plot was to the 2002 Spiderman. The lizard is a thoroughly
unbelievable villain and his character twists felt unrealistic and to be blunt
lame. He made for good fights but that is about it. The story felt extremely
linear in the sense that there was no real development; the piece was entirely
propelled by plot. What I am trying to say is this movie lacks heart. Events
just sort of happen and as entertaining as they were there doesn’t seem to be a
unique or even slightly marked emotional journey here. Things happen,
characters move with them, like people strapped into a rollercoaster. Sure it
is exciting…. But I didn’t feel anything.
‘The Amazing Spider-man” is not a bad movie,
but due to its temporal proximity to the original trilogy it is always going to
live in its shadow. The action sequences are exciting and the characters
likeable. The effects are incredible, and Spider-man swinging over the Manhattan
skyline is addictive fun. Unfortunately, the film lacks the soul of the original
films. No emotional journey transpires. I have faith though that this could
expand into a very interesting series and perhaps in time it will stand alone
as a small part to a greater, sleaker, websling-ier spiderman franchise. As a
nerd I can only hope.
Alex,
Call
a doctor, my spider sense is tingling.
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