27 movies down, 4 more to go. Hard to believe I made it this far. Let's keep swingin' with...
A mere five years after his last big-screen appearance, the Spider-Man film franchise gets a reboot with The Amazing Spider-Man. In this version, Andrew Garfield plays Peter Parker, a brilliant high school scientist raised by his uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) and aunt May (Sally Field). Wanting to uncover the mystery behind the disappearance of his parents, Peter seeks out a genetics scientist, Curt Conners (Rhys Ifans), who once worked with his father and now is at OsCorp, researching reptile DNA. While sneaking around the labs of the OsCorp building, he is bitten by a radioactive spider, which gives him super-strength, super-agility, and the ability to climb walls. After his uncle is murdered, Peter creates a persona to use his powers to find the man who committed the crime. This creates a little unwanted attention from the cops, especially Captain George Stacy (played by Denis Leary), who just happens to be the father of Pete's new girlfriend, Gwen (Emma Stone). Meanwhile, Dr. Conners's self-experimentation results in him mutating into a giant, ferocious lizard bend on turning the population of New York into reptiles. It's up to the fledgling vigilante to set aside his personal quest to be a hero for the people.
The Amazing Spider-Man really is a damn good movie. It's a sweet fable about growing up, with great performances by its ensemble cast, stunning visual effects, an excellent score by James Horner, and a lot of credence to the comic book. Probably more so than the Sam Raimi pictures. I really love this movie. It just took me a couple of years to be okay with that.
Honestly, I was totally on board with the idea of rebooting the Spidey series. For totally personal reasons. Spider-Man 3 was such a huge, huge blemish on the Raimi trilogy, I kept away from the films altogether for a while. It also didn't help that each film was saddled with less than positive memories of those moments in time. Spidey is one of my very favorite superheroes, and it was difficult for me to separate the Raimi films from those points in my life. I was ready for a fresh start.
Okay, so I got what I wanted, right? I guess so. I liked The Amazing Spider-Man when it played in theaters, but I also didn't love it. It was not connecting with me the way the first Raimi film did. There were aspects I really liked, such as the wise-cracking Spidey, Martin Sheen and Sally Field, the score, the action scenes, Denis Leary. However, it didn't seem to be much fun. It felt all-too familiar. The conflicted emotions would haunt me every time I thought about the movie.
I had not seen the film in over a year. I figured, for the purposes of this project, I'd give it another go. It turns out, there is nothing wrong with The Amazing Spider-Man. There's no reason why there can't be another telling of the Spider-Man saga on the big screen. Sure, it did come along a little too soon. And, the aesthetic is very much dated next to The Avengers, which came out that same summer. Getting away from the studio's reasons for making the picture and from the initial release, I was able to let go and see the film with a whole new perspective. While it could use some more lightheartedness, watching The Amazing Spider-Man now warmed my heart and put a smile on my face. What I needed, in the end, was a little more time for me to fully embrace the fresh start.
The Amazing Spider-Man
4 out of 5 Cap shields
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