'The Amazing Spider-Man' is a 2012 superhero film directed by Mark Webb based on the Marvel Comic' character Spider-Man. It is the fourth Columbia Pictures film that portrays Spider-Man in film and is a reboot of the Sam Raimi film series, with Andrew Garfield replacing Tobey Maquire as the lead role. The cast also includes Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy and Rhys Ifans and Dr. Curt Connors.
I'm going to begin with saying straight away that I really liked this movie, it was a damn sight better than 'Spider-Man 3'. The film is a lot more loyal to the comics that the original series, even the way Spider-Man interacts with villains is more like the source material. The film is more of an origins story, and spends a lot of the time telling that story (much like what DC did in 'Batman Begins'), we see Peter journey from a high school geek, to a full on superhero. I also like how his costume looks home made, and how we see him making part of it. In the original series the suit looks very high quality, almost production made, whereas in this one, it isn't as slick, it doesn't quite fit properly, it's a more realistic situation. They managed to make this film almost nothing like the original, they've tried to do everything differently.
I'm going to try my best to not compare it to the original trilogy form this point on, not making any promises though. I'll start with the story, the origin story feels like it drags a bit, like with any superhero film you just want to see him become the hero, but although it feels like it's dragging, by the end of the film you appreciate it, you understand why they had this big build to him becoming Spider-Man. They really play on the fact that Peter longs to know what happens to his parents, and you can constantly see that the answers are always just out of his reach, and we as the audience are given clues that Peter doesn't see. The film emphasizes Peter's intellect (showing him creating web shooters) and shows him as a cocky smartass even before he gets his powers (but at the same time being an outcast), which in turn goes on to make his Spider-Man character more believable. On to the cast, the cast is brilliant, Andrew Garfield is really good, he portrays a mirror image of the Peter Parker we see in the 60s comics. Emma Stone was also good, her and Garfield had great chemistry on screen, making the story again, more believable. Rhys Ifans was a big surprise to me, you can actually see him acting through the CGI of the lizard, you can see his character in it, he did a really good job, you can tell the difference between the character we see at the beginning of the film and the character after he has injected himself with the formula. The only thing I found disappointing was the use of Martin Sheen as Uncle Ben, he is a brilliant actor, but they didn't use him enough, we don't see the relationship between him and Peter. His Aunt and Uncle are very much just in the background and don't feel like a major part of the character for most the film. The question of everyone's lips at the moment is who was Michael Massee playing (if you've seen the movie then you know what I'm talking about)?
Next onto the effects, the web slinging looked amazing (haha), since Webb tried to use stunt work as much as possible it looks so much more real than in the original. Also the CGI on the Lizard was really good, I know a lot of complaints have came in about how the Lizard looks fake, but it's just the face, his face looks out of place, the rest of it looks brilliant. The Lizard design in this film looks like it has taken inspiration from one of the very first Spider-Man comics. The 3D element was no where near as good as it could have been. There were a few moments that were really good, mostly the first person crawling and web slinging, and some of the normal third person swinging, but there were a lot of wasted 3D moments, especially near the end. It almost feels like they're only using it for the money (duh) and haven't put real effort into it. They throw in a few good 3D moments but waste some obvious ones.
I could go on for ages about what's right about this film and what's wrong with it, in my opinion it's one of the best Spider-Man films, not the best. I could go on for ages about how it links in with the comics and what they should have done differently, but I'm just going to say this, this is a really good film, I was a bit worried because it had a lot of competition, not just from the previous Spider-Man films, but from other superhero movies that have came out this year (like 'The Avengers Assemble) and those that are still to come ('The Dark Knight Rises'), but I was pleasantly surprised, the story worked well, the acting was top notch and the action, oh my god the action was awesome! It was really well planned out and looked fantastic on screen (including the best cameo was Stan Lee ever!). So get yourself to see this movie, even if you weren't a fan of Sam Raimi's series, probably the action alone in this film makes it worthwhile. I am going to give 'The Amazing Spider-Man' an 8.5/10, and I can't wait for May 2nd 2014 for the sequel.
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