MOVIE REVIEW: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

Rebooting a young franchise is tricky business so when Sony Pictures announced that Spider-Man would once again grace the silver screen with his origin story in this summer's The Amazing Spider-Man, many a fan aimed a dubious side-eye at the studio. Nay-sayers be silenced because director Marc Webb has successfully defied those low expectations and crafted a Spidey flick that lives up to its name. 

My biggest cause for concern had been the news that Peter Parker’s previously anonymous parents were being remade into an integral part of his origin. The magic of Spider-Man was that he was an aspirational character. Any awkward teenager could imagine themselves in Spidey’s red and blues. Spider-Man made superheroics seem tantalizingly possible. All you had to do was be in the right place at the right time and be lucky enough to get bitten by a radioactive Spider. Thankfully, Peter’s father, Richard, is treated as more of a convenient plot point to direct the soon-to-be wallcrawler to Oscorp’s labs, where he meets his father’s old partner, Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans).

Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker is arguably the most comic-accurate portrayal we've seen thus far (at least until Ultimate Spider-Man comes out in 2022 - kidding! Or am I?) The British actor, convincingly playing a character ten years younger than him, is entirely believable as the eponymous hero and his emotional arc is the film's beating heart. The family dynamic between Peter, Aunt May (Sally Fields) and Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) makes the inevitable tragedy that eventually drives Peter to use his great power for great responsibility all the more heartrending. Unlike in previous adaptations, Aunt May and Uncle Ben are real characters with depth and nuance. Sheen’s casting is a particular stroke of genius and we feel his loss as keenly as Peter does. 

The real hero of this film is Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy. Armed with her trademark bangs and 60s era thigh-highs, Gwen charms the skinny jeans right off of Peter (and us). More than just a pretty face, Gwen is also a bit of a scientific prodigy, surpassing even Peter. Gwen is anything but a damsel in distress or a formulaic love interest (*cough*Raimi’s Mary Jane*cough*). Without giving too much away, Gwen keeps Peter on his toes, proving that you don’t need a brightly colored costume to be a hero. Not once does this Gwen Stacy need saving. Not once. Though the day when we have a movie with a female superhero and a male love interest remains frustratingly far off, Amazing Spider-Man offers up as much of a partnership of equals as it can. The chemistry between Stone and Garfield is so undeniably visceral that some of their scenes are almost deliciously uncomfortable to watch as it feels like we’ve intruded on a private moment. In a case of life imitating art, the duo became a couple off-screen after meeting during Stone’s audition.

While a stellar ensemble may be the film’s greatest strength, the narrative gives the cast more than enough to work with. The pacing is perfect and the script is humorous without getting camp. In a move that’s truer to the comics than any other filmic adaptation we’ve seen, it doesn't shy away from the truly terrible things that can happen when you start fighting crime in home-sewn spandex. Ifans' mad scientist dances perilously close to Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin, but his motivations elevate him to the status of a truly compelling villain. The greatest villains are the kind that dares you not to sympathize with them. Dr. Connor’s own flawed humanity and misguided optimism are what drive him into the arms of evil and eventually into the body of a giant man-lizard.

ASM delivers a balance of angst and comedy that doesn’t sacrifice either one. Though some detractors have complained that the film was too angsty, it’s precisely that anguish and grief that makes Peter’s struggles and victories feel all the more honest. Spider-Man may always be ready with a clever quip in the chamber, but it's still tragedy that drives Peter Parker to refashion himself into a hero, not entirely unlike everyone’s favorite angst-ridden vigilante, Batman. The crushing guilt and sorrow of Uncle Ben's death casts a long shadow and considering the fact that it's an origin story, Peter's grief is wholly believable. As a film, it doesn't take the easy road at all, and the overall narrative is richer for it.

The visual splendor of ASM provides a dazzling backdrop for the all too human drama playing out on-screen.  A digitally rendered yet still convincing Spider-Man all but dances through panoramic shots of New York City like gravity is something he read about in a book once. When the citizens of New York rise up in support of their hometown hero in a particularly uplifting moment of the movie’s climax, Webb and his team take full advantage of 3D technology and it’s almost as though we’re swinging between skyscrapers with Spider-Man. Yet even with the advanced tech at his fingertips, Webb keeps the fighting scenes close-up and tight, while still allowing for Spidey to wow us with acrobatics that look like they leapt straight off the pages of Amazing Spider-Man.

The harshest criticism I can level at ASM is wholly separate from its own merits as a film.  As brightly as Spider-Man shines in Webb’s gritty, glittering New York, the fact remains that Sam Raimi’s first Spidey flick is barely a decade old. The handful of years that separate the two movies aren’t enough to keep origin story fatigue at bay. Though Spider-Man’s early days have long been a part of the cultural vernacular, it can be tiresome to see the same story played out on the silver screen one too many times. ASM’s all too close proximity to the Raimi films doesn't detract from its brilliance, but it’s nearly impossible not to compare the two origin stories. We are only human, after all. That being said, ASM does some very similar things as the 2002 film . . . it simply does them better. 

The Amazing Spider-Man will be released worldwide on July 3rd. 

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Written by Melissa Grey