26
Jun
The Amazing Spider-Man was indeed ‘amazing’
As many of you may be feeling at the moment, my expectations for this movie were somewhat non-existent. I had not seen the trailer but knowing that there would be a new Spider-Man played by Andrew Garfield who, yes, is a fabulous actor based on his roles in ‘The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus’, ‘Never Let Me Go’ and fundamentally ‘The Social Network’, I just couldn’t help but crumble a little inside knowing that Tobey Maguire would no longer be the cute dorky Spider-Man who had graced our big screens for so long. What’s more, I honestly could not fathom how they could develop or even ‘improve’ Parker’s character by placing him in a high school ‘coming of age’ environment, where most if not all cliched stereotypes are born, bread and ‘buttered’*.
Nonetheless, after what was a seemingly ‘slow’ start to the movie which remained quite close to the establishment of Parker’s arachnid powers and catalyst for revenge in Sam Raimi’s ‘Spider-Man’ back in 2002, ‘The Amazing Spiderman’ culminated on an absolute high.
Features of old favourites such as Uncle Ben and Aunt May accentuated the humanity of Spiderman whilst the undulating comic nature of the plot was emphasised throughout with several scenes dedicated purely to the notion of Peter Parker vs the World. A hilarious basketball scene between Parker and the classic high school bully, Flash Thompson (Chris Zylka) is definitely one to watch out for. I must say that the relationship and chemistry between Garfield and Emma Stone was incredible; I have loved Stone since her lead roles in ‘Easy A’ and ‘The Help’ so it was quite nice to see her back in her ‘comfort zone’ as an effortless Gwen Stacy.
Ultimately, Marc Webb’s (pun intended?) ‘The Amazing Spiderman’ has allowed for the audience to realise the fundamental connections between Parker and his parent’s disappearance, which was only vaguely mentioned in ‘Spider-Man’, as well as the significance of Dr Curt Connors as Richard Parker’s scientific partner. I am not usually a fan of 3D movies as I always feel that wearing the glasses provided takes away from the overall quality and colour depth of the original footage, yet the CGI in this movie was particularly well done during the fight/action scenes between ‘The Lizard’ and Spider-Man for which I have decided to rate this movie a 7.5 out of 10. From the tight spandex superhero suit Garfield pulled off ever so well to the comical and banterous escapades between Garfield and his victims (particularly the car thief scene) ‘The Amazing Spiderman’ had everyone in the audience hooked from start to finish.
The Amazing Spiderman is released in UK movie theatres nationwide on 3rd July 2012
*Obviously, this was ignorance of the comic books and whole Spiderman fandom speaking
