Simply put, “The Amazing Spider-Man” is a film that should not have been made for another 15 years. By then you could slap on the ‘remake’ tag and take liberties with its storyline without incurring the wrath of its ever-irritable following. The whole film suffers from a distinct case of rebootitis. Director Marc Webb clearly struggled tiptoeing on the eggshells laid by Maguire and Raimi. He cuts out the secondary characters that helped make the first installment great (see Harry Osborn and Jonah Jameson), placing the film squarely on the barely-capable shoulders of our new Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield.
We meet him as a 6-year-old boy who is mysteriously abandoned by his parents. In an all too familiar plotline, he goes to live with his aunt and uncle, played by Martin Sheen and Sally Field. They turn out to be quite well cast and give the film some much-needed comic relief. As Peter gets increasingly curious about his father’s past, he is led to the lab of one-armed Dr. Curt Connors, played by a horrible miscast, Rhys Ifans, a former friend and business associate of his father. You guessed it: Peter gets a little too snoopy with the doctor’s interspecies gene splicing experiments and finds himself with a nasty spider bite. The film toys with a ‘discovering powers’ montage, but unlike the original, it is neither particularly fun nor interesting. Again, Webb seemed to be wary of copying the original and in the process missed out on what should be the most fun part of the movie.
As Peter deals with his newfound powers, a potential girlfriend (played well by Emma Stone), and the death of his uncle, Dr. Connors takes a sinister turn. His limb-replacing serum is rushed to human trials, and the doctor volunteers to test it on himself. Next thing you know, he is a giant lizard with a British accent and a nasty disposition. The lizard is a second-tier villain in the comics and the movie really doesn’t do much to help his case. He can’t touch Willem Dafoe’s menacing Green Goblin performance or Alfred Molina’s utterly tragic Doctor Octopus. He’s just a ho-hum, watered down version of his predecessors. His ultimate evil plot is rushed and predicable, and there’s never any real doubt that Spidey will save the day.
While “The Amazing Spider-Man” has its moments (Stan Lee’s cameo is itself worth the price of admission), it is a film that leaves you unsatisfied. It lacks the spectacle of “The Avengers” and the depth and brilliant performances of “The Dark Knight.” But where it fails most miserably is when it’s stacked up against the original Spider-Man. While the series may have run its course with the mediocre Spider-Man 3, it was in no need of an update. Andrew Garfield does his job, but isn’t particularly funny or as loveable as Maguire. Emma Stone is solid as Gwen Stacey and the chemistry between the young stars is one of the best parts of the film. The best compliment that I can pay “The Amazing Spider-Man” is that it’s efficient. It delivers enough romance and eye candy to please the summer movie-goer and will surely haul in hundreds of millions of dollars. But in the end, any fan of the original will find this new interpretation quite lacking. Perhaps the sequel will be able to find its footing, but until then this Spidey is stuck swinging around in boots that are far too big.
Grade: C
