And here we are: The Amazing Spider-Man, attempt 1 at rebooting the franchise.

It’s…okay.

The Amazing Spider-Man does A LOT right. However, you’ll be hard-pressed to remember any of it when the credits roll.

Sins of the Father

The Amazing Spider-Man buys into an aspect of Spider-Man’s long and varied history that I have never cared for. I’m just not that interested in the story of Peter’s parents. I’m of the opinion that their story cheapens Peter’s.

Part of the appeal of Spider-Man is that he’s the everyman hero. Anybody can become Spider-Man, as long as they have the drive and the moral fiber. Peter became Spider-Man because of one unfortunate accident, not because his parentage meant he was born for it. This is the essential truth that Into the Spider-Verse hammered home on its beeline to success, but which The Amazing Spider-Man simplydoes not understand.

Richard Parker’s research informs the entire plot of the film. It DRIVES the entire plot of the film. And in doing so, by making Peter Parker MORE special, it makes Spider-Man less.

The Plot

When you strip away the familial aspects of the film, you aren’t left with much else. The Amazing Spider-Man rehashes the origin and combines it with a generic Lizard story. I’m not really going to go into it in detail because it doesn’t matter all that much. Again, it’s VERY generic.

But there’s something to be said for execution. Because while the narrative is just okay, what story we get is very well executed. A modicum of focus gives this film much stronger pacing than its predecessors. While it’s no faster at getting to the action than Spider-Man (and in fact takes even longer), it decides to focus wholly on Peter Parker’s ongoing life instead of a scattered progression split between Peter and his adversary. The result makes for a more cohesive and MUCH more watchable film.

The Amazing Spider-Man probably has too many gratuitous music video sequences though.

Cast

The Amazing Spider-Man

Andrew Garfield represents the opposite problem from Tobey Maguire. He nails Spider-Man, but he just doesn’t work as Peter Parker. He’s too Hollywood. He gets the raw tragedy, but he can’t capture the sheer uncoolness of Peter.

The high school setting is very standard, with a traditional social hierarchy. Yet we’re supposed to buy that this charming hipster genius is a nerdy social outcast? He plays more like the misunderstood kid from the wrong side of the tracks, and that’s just not Peter Parker. If you’re going to cast a guy that looks like Andrew Garfield, you’re going to have to put in some extra work to make him a believable Pete.

That all being said, Garfield does a great job in the masked alter-ego part of the job. He understands the humor and manic energy of the character in a way that Raimi and Maguire never did. This Spidey actually mocks the people he fights. Maguire’s Spidey cracked maybe four jokes across three films, and the delivery was weak. Spider-Man’s jokes may be bad, but he believes in them. Garfield gets that part of the character.

Gwen Stacy

The Amazing Spider-Man wisely elects to not rehash the MJ romance of the Raimi films, instead using an earlier love interest. Emma Stone makes for a pitch perfect Gwen Stacy. She effectively updates the character for a modern era, showing more than enough wit and charm to keep pace with Garfield. Some of the best scenes of the film are just her and Garfield talking to each other. She gets both agency and vulnerability, leaving her a well-rounded character.

Stone’s turn as Gwen is so good that it has led to a renaissance for the character. I think it’s fair to say you don’t get Spider-Gwen without this performance. Stone transformed a damsel in distress into a hero, even if she didn’t get to play the character at the far end of the transformation.

The Lizard

In an effort to avoid retreading a villain already covered in the previous films right off the bat, The Amazing Spider-Man uses Curt Connors/the Lizard as its main villain.

Yeah, I know, it’s a weird pick.

Rhys Ifans makes for an adequate villain. I honestly think he could be more, but the film can’t decide on what type of villain he should be playing. It seems like they’re overall going for a tragic take, but early in the film there are some implications that Connors may not be all that innocent before his transformation. It’s not all that interesting either way, as it’s just rehashing the basic arcs of Norman Osborn and Otto Octavius from the Raimi films. Going too far in the pursuit of science is old hat for Spidey’s Rogues Gallery.

Supporting Cast

Martin Sheen is such a great casting as Uncle Ben that it almost makes up for the fact that they’re rehashing the origin story. He perfectly captures the common decency and wisdom of the character in his few scenes. Sally Field makes for a good Aunt May, but the film lacks interest in exploring her character. She has even fewer scenes than Rosemary Harris did in Spider-Man.

Denis Leary is in this movie. Leary plays Captain Stacy, Gwen’s father. He exists to be a generic cop antagonist who then dies so the hero can angst about it.

Production Design

The visual effects are pretty good overall, but the CGI Lizard looks terrible. I don’t even necessarily think it’s the effects work. I think I might just hate the design. They went with a more humanoid take, especially on the head, probably so they could use facial capture. It looks…weird.

I don’t love the Spider-Suit design either. The suit is too busy. It keeps the raised webs of the Raimi suit without trying to adapt the clean, classic look. It’s too much.

The stunts and fights are weaker than they were in the Raimi movies. They aren’t bad, per se. They just lack ambition. Spidey has a versatile power set that makes him incredibly mobile. The action scenes in The Amazing Spider-Man don’t really reflect that. I think it’s partially because of the camera work. Say what you will about Raimi, but his action shots were fairly dynamic. I feel like we get a lot more static placements here.

Assorted Other Notes

-I like the twist on Uncle Ben’s death. The idea that he was out looking for Peter after an argument is a gut-wrenching variation on the story.

-The scene with the cranes is too much. Not every Spider-Man movie has to have a sequence where the working people of New York step up and help the hero win. It feels contrived and emotionally manipulative. Plus, it was already done better in the Raimi movies.

Conclusion

I’m going to go a bit more into the weeds with my ranking this time, because I’ve got a bit of a conundrum here. The nature of The Amazing Spider-Man makes it very hard to rank compared to the previous Spider-Man movies.

On the one hand, on a technical level I think it’s objectively a better film than any of the Raimi films. I honestly believe that. The production quality is better almost entirely across the board. The narrative is better paced and better structured. Raimi’s films generally have better villains, and they don’t misstep with the origin story quite as hard, but that’s about it.

But The Amazing Spider-Man is just not that memorable. Sure, the Raimi films have flaws, but they also produced some legitimately unforgettable scenes. There’s something to be said for sticking in the mind of the viewer after everything is said and done. And the overall bump in quality doesn’t negate that.

Ultimately, I’m going to rank The Amazing Spider-Man between Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man. The general boost in production value and narrative delivery is enough to get it past the first and third Raimi films, but not enough to get past 2.

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