The Amazing Spider-Man

            The moment it was announced that Spider-Man was going to undergo a full reboot, the world groaned.  “We all know the origins,” yelled the huddled masses.  “Spider-Man came just came out a decade ago.  Hell, it’s responsible for kick starting the current Marvel movie franchise.  Seriously, can’t you just pick up where he’s 30 or something?  Find a different storyline!”

            I was definitely one of those angry voices in the crowd masses.  There are so many Spider-Man stories out there; it seemed a waste to make another 2-hour movie about his origins.  Couldn’t Marvel have selected one of the many fantastic stories involving adult Peter Parker?

            At the very least, couldn’t they have cast someone who wasn’t almost 30 to play the teenager?

            I’ve since learned that our fears were unfounded, and that the guy they cast was perfect for the role, Dr. Who hair or no.

            I’ve also learned that people shouldn’t take a bored, hyperactive 5 year-old to a 136 minute film.

            On to the review!

            TheAmazing Spider-Man is 2012’s answer to 2002’s Spider-Man.  Gone are Tobey Maguire, super-whiney Kirsten Dunst and director Sam Raimi.  While I have and will always love most Sam Raimi films, his take on Spider-Man always had a tint of whimsy and it always seemed too self-aware, as if everyone walked around with a knowing half-smirk on their lips.  By allowing a new director to take the helm we’ve been given a chance to see the Spider-Man universe through a much more realistic tint.

            Marc Webb primarily did music videos before directing the only other film to his credit.  That film turned out to be 2009’s amazing (500) Days of Summer, which, on a completely unrelated note, you should watch.  Fortunately for us, despite his relative freshness to the world of mega-movie franchises, he has displayed a very deft hand and given us a whole new world to explore. 

            The one argument that was made by many, many people when the Amazing Spider-Man trailer dropped was that it looked too much like another gritty reboot.  Honestly, it looked to me like Marvel to imitate Christopher Nolan’s Batman films.  I’m here to tell you that I was absolutely wrong.  Yes, it is more realistic.  No, realism does not automatically imply grittiness.

            At the start of the film we’re given a very quick introduction to Peter Parker’s real parents, as a very young Peter discovers a break-in at their home, causing mom and dad Parker to flee the house, leave Peter with his Aunt May (Sally Field) and Uncle Ben (Martin freaking Sheen), and then die in a plane crash. 

            Cut to ‘now’ and Peter is a fantastically awkward high school teenager, whose only talents seem to be photography and being a brainiac.  Neither of these talents endears him to his fellow High School students.  (Peter Parker is now played by 29 year old Andrew Garfield, who has the sort of face that will get him carded for cigarettes when he’s 50).  It doesn’t much matter to him, however, as the only person he wants to notice him is the lovely Gwen Stacy, played by the lovely Emma Stone. 

            Once we’ve gotten through the awkwardness that is Peter’s normal day, the plot picks up.  Peter discovers some old paperwork of his father’s that concerns combining human and animal DNA.  This was apparently an attempt to help people heal from untreatable injuries.  This leads him to Oscorp to seek out his father’s old partner, Dr. Connors (Rhys Ifans).  Then yadda-yadda, radioactive spider, super powers, blah blah blah.

            At this point Marvel tries something different.  Whereas the 2002 Peter Parker sort of reveled in his newfound powers and spent time letting it go to his head, the 2012 version spends a lot of time trying to adapt to it.  This time our character wants to understand just what the hell is going on, rather than reacting like he just won the lottery.

            Don’t get me wrong, there’s still an incident between Peter and his tormenter Flash Thompson (Chris Zylka), but this time it actually serves a purpose aside from simple showing off.

            Then comes the moment we all knew was going to happen.  Due to a series of very unfortunate events, Uncle Ben is gunned down.  Thing is, Peter got a good look at the assailant and he becomes a sort of vigilante, desperately wanting to bring his Uncle’s killer to justice. 

Unfortunately for him, the city of New York doesn’t take kindly to vigilantism, so Captain Stacy (Denis Leary, also Gwen’s father) declares Spider-Man a wanted criminal.

At this point, poor one-armed Dr. Connors jumps the gun on his experimentation in an attempt to regrow his arm.  He only does this because the Oscorp suits follow through with their threat to begin human trials of the new drug.  As we all know from the trailers, it doesn’t quite go right and he is transformed into The Lizard, and also a raving psychopath.

All if this happens in the first 90 minutes or so, leaving the last 45 minutes for plot fulfillment and fantastic action scenes.  The special effects are amazing, and I have to admit that I was glad I went to the 3D version as it really, truly added to the spectacle.  I think 3D is starting to get used enough that Hollywood has worked a lot of the kinks out of the system, and action spectacles are the best place to show off the technology.

Most importantly-- even more important than how well filmed the fight scenes are-- is the fact that everyone in this movie acts.  Yes, it’s Martin freaking Sheen, but holy crap he is Uncle Ben.  Every person cast for their role falls into it so well that you are rarely distracted by all the well-known big-name actors. 

Like I mentioned before, this film is realistic.  I mean that in the sense that everything flows naturally.  Everyone reacts in ways that are believable, and no part seems forced.  While there are moments of heroism, they make sense to the situation.  I was really and truly enraptured for the entire length of the film.  Despite the best attempts of distraction by someone’s very bored, very young child sitting next to me who enjoyed kicking the side of his armrest or doing bicycle kicks, I still loved going to the theater for this film.  On the plus side, that kid’s going to have some killer leg strength when he grows up.

I would like to now go on record as having enjoyed The Amazing Spider-Man even more than I enjoyed The Avengers.  Every piece of this movie fit perfectly into the larger puzzle, and I’m very excited for the sequel.  Yes, Marvel finally got their Batman Begins, because just like Nolan’s movie, Webb has made a film so fantastic that you can barely remember the films that came before it.