The Amazing Spider-Man: The Good, The Bad & The Green Guy
The Good Stuff
Spider-Man on screen in what largely feels and indeed is Andrew Garfield in a suit (rather than a CGI creation) makes this movie the best depiction of Spider-Man on screen for me. He feels real. Hes looks like a guy in a red and blue jumpsuit and I loved it. On top of that he pulls more Spider-poses than I could grin at. Legs out, arms stretched every which Spidey-way, brought Spider-man to life like never before and that combined with the man-in-suit made Spidey feel more like the hero I loved growing up, rather than a computer effect that I know deep down isnt real, like the Raimi movies began to suffer from. I also really liked the slow progression from Spider-Boy: hunting for revenge, to Spider-Man: protector of the innocent. I felt why Parker progressed the way he did and even though his confidence with his powers and his sense of responsibility with The Lizard wasnt fully laid out, it was delivered with such conviction, I just went with it - which brings us to the reboots biggest draw. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. Their chemistry, their abilities to make every moment between them feel important and their simple likeability lifted this movie out of the origin hell it was never going to avoid and made it an easy watch of a story already told a thousand times. Garfield emits Peter Parker like a beacon. Hes charming and good willed and every decision he makes you go with, just because you like the guy. Stone has less to do as Gwen but with the screen time she has I just fell in love with her (again). I wasnt sure if shed play Gwen a little too cool but she doesnt. Shes still sweet and nice and still a strong female character to follow in the sequels and down the path Gwen Stacey has to go down. *Gulp*. Despite the negatives- and reading this back there are a fair few - I liked The Amazing Spider-Man. Its another enjoyable Spider-Man movie and that's enough to put a childish grin on my face. If it wasnt for The Avengers blowing the formula up and Batman reaching for new heights this year, Spider-Man might have been even better but the way I look at it, this is the start of something. The start of something potentially great and it absolutely needed to do this reboot in order to get the right foundations to travel through Peter and Gwen, arrive at a Green Goblin and make for a scope that could take Spider-Man into a more complex bit of storytelling rather than stick to the formula. Whether the sequels will be able to do that, whether Mark Webb will be able to do that and whether there will be another re-shuffle in two years is yet to be seen but what The Amazing Spider-man did well, it did better than the previous Raimi movies, what it repeated it did with charm and where it slipped, it bruised more than just a lizard's elbow but Spider-Man has a new film franchise on the go and with these solid foundations, great things must be ahead, it'll just be nice if they feel a bit fresher. rating: 3