With Great Power Comes Great Rebootability: The Amazing Spider-Man Review

It's a funny sort of world we live in when a film franchise that's merely ten years old can be rebooted without a second thought. Sam Raimi's goofy, but highly entertaining and endearing first Spider-Man flick was released to rave reviews and huge box office numbers on May 3rd, 2002. Thanks to a splendidly touching performance by Tobey Maguire and the apt direction of Mr. Raimi, the superhero genre reached a whole new level of heartfelt quality. It was quickly followed by the far superior Spider-Man 2, which is easily one of the greatest superhero films of all time, upping the emotional stakes as well as the quality of its action sequences. Sure, Spider-Man 3 had to come along and ruin everyone's fun, but the lasting legacy of the first two Spidey entries in Raimi's trilogy are so strong and they offer such pure, heartfelt entertainment that this painfully awful 3rd entry could easily be forgiven. After all, it was earnest enough and eager to please despite all of it's painful missteps. It would have been very easy for Raimi to dust himself off and pick up where he left off, but, in this world of Batman Beginnings and Casino Royales, I suppose the suits at Sony decided that would be too much trouble and instead opted to hop the reboot train to start again with a fresh slate. As a result, only five years after Spider-Man 3 disappointed expectations, we find ourselves with a film like The Amazing Spider-Man - A mixed bag of far too much familiar and not nearly enough fresh that offers highly satisfactory entertainment without quite living up to its namesake.

At its core, The Amazing Spider-Man has no particular reason to exist. When it came to Batman Begins, Casino Royale, or even the spectacular J.J. Abrams Star Trek, each respective franchise had found itself at the end of its creative rope in dire need of rejuvenation making the prospect of starting over a promising one. Not only that, but each one of these reboots managed to bring something fresh to the table story and character-wise, making each film an exhilarating take on well-worn legends: Batman Begins told the story of how Bruce Wayne came to don the cape and cowl; Casino Royale showed us a Bond who was more brutal and human as opposed to the invincible super spy that had grown stale over the years; Star Trek re-invigorated a stale franchise with its exciting take on the story of how the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise came to be, while, even more impressively, honoring the canon of the Star Trek saga. The Amazing Spider-Man never gives us any reason why Spidey's origin needed to be retold and, as a result, retreading this territory makes the first hour or so feel remarkably blah. We find ourselves hitting every single story beat that has already been flawlessly presented to us in Raimi's film. (The infamous spider bite, discovering powers, using said powers to get back at school bully, Uncle's death, etc.) Even worse, completely misguided alterations to the classic origin story (What is, in this writer's humble opinion, the best superhero origin story out there) change the fundamental core of Spider-Man's character and why he does what he does. Now it appears he's just another brooding vigilante as opposed to a guilt-stricken young man who learns a powerful lesson about responsibility. Not only is this change painfully uninspired, but it threatens to turn everyone's favorite wall-crawler into another wannabe Dark Knight.

Sony, let's get one thing straight:

SPIDER-MAN IS NOT BATMAN.

I cannot stress this enough. Peter Parker is not driven by a desire for revenge. He is driven by the guilt he feels for playing a part in the murder of his Uncle Ben. His selfish inaction - Inaction which directly resulted in his uncle's untimely demise - drives him to be the hero that we all know and love. Spider-Man's motivation for what he does is not about vengeance; it's about penance. Instead of trying to take advantage of the success of Christopher Nolan's masterpiece, why not embrace the character of Spider-Man as he already is, because that story in and of itself is so rich with drama and inspiration that there's no need to foolishly mimic a franchise so removed from Spidey's core essence that trying to take a page from its book only goes to show how little you knew about his character in the first place. The changes made to Spidey's origin here ultimately hurt this story and this clear lack of inspiration plays a big part in why this film is not nearly as good as it could have been.

Phew, now that I've gotten that little rant out of the way, let's get back to business.

Despite these fundamental flaws, The Amazing Spider-Man is still quality summer entertainment and the main reason it cannot be dismissed entirely is due to one beautifully brilliant and gifted actor:

Stan Lee.

Just playin. (She needs a golden calculator to divide...) Though, his cameo here is probably his best yet.

But, the real star of the show is Andrew Garfield. I've been rather vocal about my love for Mr. Garfield and my admiration for his acting chops, but it's his humanity and love for the character of Spider-Man that really won me over. He is what saves this premature reboot from falling apart completely as the superfluous money-snatching gesture it's desperately trying not to be. His Peter Parker may be a bit too confident and a bit too James Dean for my taste, but Garfield nails the core of what makes this character tick and I loved every moment of his performance. Not only that, but he helps reinvigorate the character as a wise-cracking smartass, which is such a huge part of the character and was sorely absent in Raimi's trilogy.

But, like most elements of this reboot, Garfield finds himself the victim of a shallow screenplay. Parker doesn't have much of a character arc. At the film's start, he's a snarky, confident, wise-cracking nerd who gets the girl. By the film's end, he's a snarky, confident, wise-cracking nerd who gets the girl and has superpowers. There's practically no arc. Raimi's depiction of Peter Parker was spot-on. Peter is supposed to be shy, insecure, unpopular, and, most of all, unconfident. When he obtains his superpowers, it helps him discover his confidence and a sense of self-worth that he never had before. When Maguire's Parker discovers his powers, we feel his excitement because it's clear that this is a huge change for him. For Garfield, it just feels like another day in the life and it's not nearly as much fun watching him discover his abilities. Garfield's Parker is also able to get the girl without much work and it makes their relationship much less exciting to watch, regardless of the fact that Garfield and Stone have wonderful chemistry. I went into this film completely ready to embrace Garfield as the new Spidey, but, surprisingly, I found myself missing the genuine, all-around brilliance of Maguire's performance. Still, Garfield gives it his all and is a joy to watch. Here's to hoping that, come sequel time, the story will serve him better.

Other cast members are more or less successful in their roles. Emma Stone is a wonder to behold as always and has natural chemistry with Garfield that makes their relationship feel real and entrancing. Other cast members such as Rhys Ifans, Dennis Leary, and Martin Sheen are also effective. The script never feels the need to full flesh out the character of Curt Connors/The Lizard, but Ifans performs admirably and cannot be faulted for the shallowness of the screenwriting. The same can be said for Leary who always manages to give top-notch performances even here when his character is rather one-note. The only actor who seems painfully miscast is Sally Field as Aunt May. Not only does Aunt May serve practically no purpose in this story, but Field is so completely contrary to the actual character that one wonders what exactly the producers were thinking when they chose to cast her. She is the sole poor casting choice in an otherwise strong ensemble.

(And where the hell is J. Jonah Jameson??? I guess the producers realized that there was no possible way they could live up to J.K. Simmons' flawless performance in the Raimi trilogy, so they figured they'd buy themselves some time by not introducing him in this movie. His presence is sorely missed though)

Credit must also be given to Marc Webb. By the deft talent that is on display here, you would never guess that this is only his second full-length feature. He seems to have a mastery of the trade that, while still a bit shaky, only goes to show that, once his skills are a bit more fine-tuned, he will be a directing force to be reckoned with. His action sequences are fun, fast-paced, and thrilling in a way that Raimi's trilogy never quite managed to achieve. (Minus that phenomenal train sequence from Spider-Man 2) When Spidey finally gets to duke it out with the Lizard, the action seems to be pulled straight from the pages of the comics. The effects are also top-notch and the integration of reality vs. CG is mostly seamless and impressive. The Lizard looks a bit too much like the goombas from the Super Mario Bros. movie, but he's actually a bit more effective than I thought he'd be judging from production stills and the random snippets of clips that are floating around on the internet. Webb also injects a wealth of humor into the proceedings, that keeps the film light on its feet, even when it's trying too hard to live up to Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy.

The Amazing Spider-Man might not be necessary and it may not ever answer the question as to why we needed this series to be rebooted so soon, but, somehow, despite its flaws, it still works. The seeds are planted for what could be a really great new take on the beloved character and, if executed correctly, these future stories could more than make up for the lack of the originality on display here. One can only hope that the storytellers involved seek out their own identity instead of adopting other successful franchise identities as their own.

FINAL RATING: 3.5/5