The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
Starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Irrfan Khan, Sally Field, and Martin Sheen
Directed by Marc Webb
Despite better direction of the film's quieter moments and much more talent in the acting department across the board than the 2002 version of nearly the exact same tale, The Amazing Spider-Man is a movie that I watch and can't fathom why it was made. The Tobey Maguire-Kirsten Dunst origin tale of this masked crusader has not aged well in my book, but we're only a decade removed from the first of that trilogy and only five years from its finale, and this film comes much too soon on those heels to tell this story again.
You all know the tale -- Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) gets bit by a spider while touring the labs of Curt Conners (Rhys Ifans) and turns into this spider/human melding who decides to fight crime after his uncle (Martin Sheen) is murdered in a horrible random crime. Sure, in this version, Peter falls for the smart Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) instead of Mary Jane, but that makes little difference in the grand scheme of things. Granted, that's not the only minor difference -- Curt Connors turns into a giant lizard as opposed to Norman Osborn turning into the Green Goblin, there's no J. Jonah Jameson as the kooky editor of The Daily Bugle -- but we're looking at essentially the same plot.
With the exception of the special effects (which are admittedly important in a film like this and prove to be a bit to fake-looking for my liking), everything about this 2012 version of the Spider-Man origin tale is better than the former...which is why it's even more of a shame that the former exists. Overall, I think the Spider-Man origin story is too silly to craft a film as dark and intense as the recent Batman trilogy, but at least this movie abandons the almost cartoonish look of the original Sam Raimi-directed films. However, during the film's special effects-heavy scenes, there are moments that prove to be almost laughable in terms of how poorly they are conceived. However, I felt very much the same about the effects in the original trilogy so I think it's just impossible to make a man look real as he flies through the New York skyline with the help of spiderwebs.
Still, credit must be given to Andrew Garfield whose Peter Parker is less wide-eyed and dumbfounded than Mr. Maguire upon his discovery of his newfound powers. Garfield delves a bit emotionally darker which is a welcome addition. Similarly, Emma Stone isn't given much to do, but provides a more believable love interest than Ms. Dunst despite the infamous upside-down kissing scene in the older trilogy. Stone is a stronger chick (I don't know if that's due to her different character or if that's just Stone's overall persona) and she also screeches and screams nary a once and, if I remember correctly, there was a lot of whiny eeking by Dunst in her film's finale. There are also some very nice smaller turns from Martin Sheen, Sally Field, and Denis Leary.
The Amazing Spider-Man would not have been a perfect movie even if the earlier version of Spider-Man hadn't existed. However, because the story is so darn familiar, the whole thing feels like it's always lagging as the audience longs for something they haven't seen before. And unfortunately, there's nothing new here. That being said, if you've never seen the Sam Raimi-directed original films, don't start there. Go with this new version and you'll likely give it a much higher rating than I did below.
The RyMickey Rating: C
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