Marc Webb Spins His Magic on The Amazing SpiderMan
Release Date: July 3, 2012 (3D/2D theaters and IMAX 3D)
Studio: Columbia Pictures (Sony)
Director: Marc Webb
Screenwriter: James Vanderbilt
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Campbell Scott, Irrfan Khan, Martin Sheen, Sally Field
Genre: Action, Adventure
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for sequences of action and violence)
Official Website:TheAmazingSpiderMan.com
Review: 4 out of 5Â web-shooters
Grown-up boys and actual children alike agree that the age of the superheroes is here, and they are loving every minute of it. Marvel heroes have stepped up the game in the new The Avengers film and now the reboot of The Amazing Spider-Man hits theaters to our collective delight.
So far, we have only seen Director Marc Webb direct one other film, and that would be the much-loved 500 Days of Summer starring Zoe Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Next to Webb’s direction, James Vanderbilt who wrote Zodiac (2007) was in charge of the story and part of the writing duties. Being that this is the first go at a remaking of the Spider-Man movie franchise, there is a lot riding on their final product.
Coming into this movie, there were so many expectations on the acting and the story of it. I could trust already that they would have great special effects that would allow us to really get into the movie. And all the things we kept hearing, all the speculation surrounding this movie did nothing to appease my nerves. Nobody wants to go to watch this movie and feel the disappointment that we all felt when Tobey Maguire last donned the spidey suit in the ill-famed Spider-Man 3.
Fans will be pleasantly pleased with the result of this film. There is a lot of things that have changed, in fact, this is not the same guy who saw in the previous movies, but more in tune with the 90’s cartoon series. The Peter Parker that you’ll see will more closely resemble that awkward teenager that we all know him to be, and with whom we can identify more.
As a young child, the life of Peter Parker changed abruptly leaving him with many unresolved questions. At the tender age of 4, his parents are being persecuted by someone unknown, which leads them to entrust the care of Peter to Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) and Aunt May (Sally Field).
Many years later, Parker (Andrew Garfield) is still searching for his place in this world and living with his uncle and aunt. One day he finds a brief-case that gives him clues into finding out why his parents left him behind without any explanation. Bent on finding answers, Parker heads on over to the OSCORP laboratories where he befriends Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans), colleague and close friend of his father.
After a series of fortunate events coincide with Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), he awkwardly makes his move right when his whole life is about to get upside-down. Full of teenage angst, and the emergence of new found powers (SPOILER: He gets bitten by a spider), he feels responsible for the death of his uncle Ben. He swings around town trying to find the murderer and builds an infamous reputation with Captain Stacy (Denis Leary), father of his new girlfriend. Just when things seem to be going well for Spider-Man, Dr. Connors – who longs to be able to grow an arm – becomes the victim of the secondary effects and becomes The Lizard who rampages through the city with an evil plan.
Compared to other origin stories, this one doesn’t take too much in building up the main character, which would be very wrong in other films but not this one. It builds seamlessly into the story, showing short montages of his process of becoming the famous web-slinger. I also would like to point out that for a dude or comic book story – this is obviously the opinion of a guy who doesn’t read comic books – the movie was surprisingly lovey-dovey romantic. I went to watch Magic Mike, which is supposed to be a chick-flick and it definitely had less romance. I am in no way complaining about the amount of awkward flirting and actual romantic scenes in the movie. Also, judging by the sold-out showing I attended, every guy sighed and shrieked like a girl during those scenes as much as women do in their romantic comedies –and yes, me too -.
I found very refreshing to see Peter Parker be more lighthearted and teenager-ish with his powers. It reminds me more to the TV series I watched when younger, when Parker would always have witty comments and little gags here and there. I liked the acting all around, very deep and pleasing to my young impressionable mind.
I don’t, however, agree with the look of The Lizard. I feel that there could have been a lot more they could have done to make him look cooler. He looks fake – yes of course, because we have all seen real lizard men walking around delivering the Sunday paper and taking care of our pest infestations…like those pesky crows -, and I can see what they tried to do, by modeling Rhys Ifans’ face into the lizard to make them become one. Also a big concern with the movie is that people die, how is it that I can forget that Uncle Ben is killed, which pushes Peter to become a masked crusader. I knew it was coming but somehow, I secretly wished that Uncle Ben would come through and be in the hospital recovering from that severe gun wound. Sigh*
Go watch the movie, let us know what you think and if you actually enjoyed it as much as myself. I went to watch it with high expectations and it delivered exactly what I expected. There was no disappointment, and no OH MY FRUITY GOSH type of reaction from me. I am glad they redid it the way they did and can’t wait for the next one (2014) to be released already. Also, stay into the credits so you can watch an additional scene that will cliff-hang you ‘till 2014’s sequel.
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