THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures

America’s favorite web-slinger gets a new look with THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN.  The film franchise made popular by actors Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco and director Sam Raimi, now features THE SOCIAL NETWORK’s Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and director Marc Webb.  

The new Spidey starts from ground zero, with an introduction to Peter Parker, played by Garfield, and his new love interest, Gwen,  played by Stone.  This time around Peter is a full-fledged high school student, dabbling in photography, and at the outset of THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN he still has both of his parents.  

After the death of his parents, early in the film, Parker wants to discover what led to their deaths and he begins by investigating his father’s scientist colleague Dr. Curt Connors, played by Rhys Ifans.  After a visit to Connor’s laboratory, full of information and a spider bite, Parker’s senses are extremely astute and his strength overwhelming.

                                                                       

Minus the effective melodrama and bigger names, THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN serves as a worthy reboot to one of Marvel’s most popular superheroes.  

Webb captures the excitement and wonder of a high school student obtaining superpowers, and weaves an entertaining tale based on Stan Lee’s comic book adventure.  Although sometimes distracting due to the similarities between the original film SPIDER-MAN, THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN establishes its own identity with a slightly different Parker, a fresh face and character in Gwen and a backstory that could be more compelling than Raimi’s films.

Garfield’s Parker isn’t as obviously nerdy as Maguire’s, but he is still far enough from the fray of high school normalcy to be a compelling underdog.  The romance that instills between he and Gwen works, thanks in large part to Garfield and Stone, but also due to the fact that these characters aren’t polar opposites when it comes to popularity, intellect or appearance.  

Ifans is also a nice fit as Connors, aka The Lizard.  Although veering on insanity, Ifans delivers a broad, but relatively dark performance, a welcomed surprise from the typical comic relief role he provides.  

The film also delivers fun and thrilling moments from Parker’s basketball moves disrespecting the school bully to a nail-biting scene between The Lizard and Spidey on a hanging bridge.  THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it does deliver a sometimes funny and often entertaining comic book movie.

Grade: B-