As the title of this post suggests there will be other superhero entertainment reviewed today (like the Broadway show “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” and what everyone is really waiting for “The Dark Knight Rises”) but for now let’s start with the movie that most people like but few people love “The Amazing Spider-Man” a sturdy, well-crafted but still unnecessary reboot of the Spider-Man franchise.
What Works: The best way to grade this film is to stack it against the very first Spider Man movie, in which case…Emma Stone is a vast improvement over Kristen Dunst as the “girl” of the franchise, and there’s no real denying that she certainly can generate a better heat with almost any male co-star than Dunst can, which brings out a much needed-romantic side to Andrew Garfield’s perhaps overly angsty take on Peter Parker. Also, while there were probably better actors to cast than Rhys Ifans as Dr.Connors/The Lizard (such as Willem Dafoe who played the villain in the first Spider-Man movie), The Lizard is a much more visceral villain than anything Sam Raimi gave us in the first three films, this director (Mark Webber) really enjoys bringing out a more dangerous energy to these action sequences and—-if pushed just a little bit further next go round—-he’ll really have something.
What Doesn’t Work: It’s largely a matter of preference, but if you like Peter Parker as an extremely introverted, troubled high school kid going through normal puberty problems, this is better for you…but if, like me, you enjoy him a little bit older and working at The Daily Bugle and the character of J. Jonah Jameson (the Bugle’s editor), this movie will seem like a step backwards. Because by now we are too familiar with Spider-Man’s origin story (it was covered less than a decade ago in the first spider man movie, and playing 8 shows a week on Broadway) and what the characters desperately need to do is move forward. I mean, what does Spider-Man look like at 30? I don’t know and nobody else does either, so maybe that’s where the story needs to head…and not just get rebooted again in ten years, when the action is really getting good.
What I Would Have Done Differently: Not much. This is an expertly well-crafted film and its obvious great thought went into the details and there aren’t many bad scenes in it (sure, Parker’s a little corny but he’s supposed to be). I guess I’m just interested in seeing Peter Parker finally, finally grow up.