**Warning: Minor spoilers ahead**
Let’s just get this out of the way
first: I don’t particularly like Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy. I found the first one mildly enjoyable, the
second one alright but not nearly the masterpiece that some people make it out
to be and the third one a farcical mess whose lone saving grace is James
Franco’s performance as Harry Osbourne. So, when I heard that Sony was planning
a complete makeover of everyone’s friendly neighborhood superhero even though
the original franchise had jumpstarted a mere ten years ago, I honestly could
not make much of a fuss. Sorry, if you want someone with whom to share your
outrage over the idea of a tentpole blockbuster that exists for the sole
purpose of maintaining the rights to a character, you’ll have to look
elsewhere. Don’t get me wrong – this is a shameless, contemptible cash-grab,
and I suppose that, as a staunch advocate for artistic integrity and whatnot,
I’m obligated to root for The Amazing
Spider-Man to fail on principle alone. But as a fan of Andrew Garfield,
Emma Stone and (500) Days of Summer, it
was impossible to contain my excitement for Marc Webb’s take on the
now-ubiquitous superhero genre; if nothing else, it was sure to be interesting,
perhaps unlike any comic book movie we’ve seen before.
Admittedly, it’s been a while since
I last watched any of the Raimi Spider-Man
movies, so my memory of them is probably rusty (who knows? Maybe if I watched
it again, I’d realize that Spider-Man 2
is, in fact, as great a superhero movie as The
Dark Knight). But suffice to say that the two versions are as different
as any films with essentially the same plot can be. Whereas the original movies
had a jokey, almost tongue-in-cheek vibe, Webb’s reboot injects a sprinkling of
existential angst into the proceedings, making The Amazing Spider-Man perhaps the first superhero movie to combine
the adventurous spirit of a standard Marvel blockbuster with the intimate
emotionality of a coming-of-age drama. The news that Webb would be taking
over the Spider-Man franchise despite
having only one feature film to his name (the quirky, love-it-or-hate-it indie
romance (500) Days of Summer) was
greeted with predictable skepticism from fans, yet for the most part, the
director navigates the minefield of ever-shifting tones with the deft ease of a
veteran, seamlessly transitioning from comedy to drama to action spectacle.
In fact, Webb’s relative lack of
experience, his outsider-ness, may be precisely what makes The Amazing Spider-Man work. Let’s face it: the story itself is not
all that groundbreaking, memorable or even particularly exciting. Although Rhys
Ifans’s villain, Dr. Curt Connors, has a sympathetic side that elevates him
slightly above the average superhero antagonist (it’s easy to imagine him in an
episode of Fringe), the plot feels
very been-there-done-that, from the by-the-numbers origin story to Martin
Sheen’s monologue about responsibility that sounds like a feeble attempt to
recreate a certain iconic quote from the original Spider-Man. In short, this
probably would have been a forgettable entry in the superhero genre along the
lines of The Incredible Hulk or Ghost Rider if not for the playful
exuberance that Webb brings to the director’s chair. Each scene, whether it’s
an awkward conversation between Peter and Gwen or a chaotic, CGI-heavy showdown
between Spider-Man and the Lizard, practically glows with energy, the kind of starry-eyed enthusiasm that you would
never see in a film-maker who has been
in the business long enough to grow jaded. It’s ironic that this
movie has been regarded with such bitterness and doubt because, whatever Sony’s
reason for rebooting the franchise so soon, Webb clearly poured his heart into
it. The Amazing Spider-Man is the
opposite of cynical; it’s the lively, unabashedly optimistic manifestation of a
fanboy’s dream come true.
Just look at the action sequences. On
the surface, they aren’t particularly remarkable or unique, not like the
zero-gravity fight scene from Inception
or the heart-stopping Burj Khalifa set piece from Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (to name a couple recent
examples), and I’d be hard-pressed to remember specific details from any of
them. Yet I’d also be hard-pressed to think of many action scenes, especially
from superhero movies, that are as flat-out exhilarating as the ones in The Amazing Spider-Man. It’s like a rush
of adrenaline: the sensation wears off quickly afterward, but when you’re in the
moment, watching it unfold before you on a 20-foot screen, it’s simply
overwhelming. Webb uses fluid, fast-paced camerawork to create a feeling of
constant movement, watching as Spider-Man swoops from building to building and
kicks criminal ass with the feverish glee of a kid playing with his new video
game and showing an admirable lack of restraint in his use of 3D (The Amazing Spider-Man joins a short
list of films like Avatar and Hugo in which the extra dimension not
only enhances the experience but is practically required for viewing). Although
many people will probably write off the over-the-top cinematography as
distracting and gimmicky, it lends a visceral thrill to the otherwise generic –
not to mention lengthy – action sequences; at times, it feels as though you’re
right there with Spider-Man, soaring across the New York City skyline.
If the visuals give the movie its
sense of mythological grandeur, then the actors are what keep it anchored in
reality, or at least something close to reality. The supporting cast is solid
all around, with the aforementioned Rhys Ifans turning in a surprisingly low-key
performance as Dr. Connors (though he is rendered semi-irrelevant once Connors
becomes the computer-generated Lizard) and Martin Sheen and Sally Field
providing the film’s pitch-perfect emotional core as Uncle Ben and Aunt May,
respectively. On paper, Gwen Stacey feels a tad underdeveloped, and we don’t
find out a whole lot about her besides the fact that she’s brainy, sensible and
kind of flawless, but Emma Stone gives her an unaffected, down-to-earth poise
that feels refreshing in comparison to the delicate, hysterical damsels-in-distress
that usually populate blockbusters (perhaps, with Gwen and The Avengers’s Black Widow, the portrayal of women in comic book
movies is taking a turn for the better?). She also shares natural chemistry
with Andrew Garfield, and their sweet, largely chaste romance might be the best
I’ve ever seen in a superhero movie. Hopefully, the already-announced sequel will expand
upon Gwen’s character, along with the mystery of Peter’s absent parents.
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