The Amazing Spider-Man

The Amazing Spider-Man is best described with borrowed words from The Dark Knight. Specifically: he isn't the hero that we need right now. But he's the hero that we deserve.

After all, audiences were not exactly crying out for a Spider-Man reboot. The Sam Raimi trilogy only concluded five years ago and many still remember it fondly. 

And why not? Back in 2001, the reverse of the above statement was true: Raimi's Spider-Man was the hero that audiences needed. In the wake of 9/11, a dispirited country needed a film where an all-America hero saved New York from a maniacal terrorist. Peter Parker embodies the American dream as he journeys from zero to hero and his suit matches the colours of the American flag. The world needed Spidey and they also needed something to raise their spirits after the recent horrors inflicted on America and the resulting War on Terror. 

All of this was dutifully provided by Raimi. His Spider-Man trilogy is light-hearted, straight-forward entertainment: often fun, sometimes silly and always uncomplicated. Spidey gets the girl, beats the baddy and everyone goes home happy with a belly full of popcorn.

And so we didn't necessarily need a Spider-Man do-over. 

However, we certainly deserved one. There are numerous flaws with Raimi's Spider-Man films. The performances are forgettable, the script is bland and the action scenes look surprisingly dated. It's shocking how much CGI has evolved in the past decade. Plus, Raimi sat in the director's chair. It goes without saying that Raimi was a popular choice - this is the guy that directed Evil Dead 2! - but, on the other hand, this is the guy that directed Evil Dead 2, a horror renowned for being ridiculously entertaining but also completely ridiculous. 

As such, for every iconic upside-down Spidey kiss or Doc Ock splitscreen tentacle melee, we also have to endure a corny exchange with Aunt May or Spider-Man turning emo or an improvised jazz dance or an exposition-heavy British reporter. There is also far too much flag-waving patriotism, as seen when the citizens of New York start bombarding the Green Goblin with junk: "You mess with Spidey, you mess with New York!" My gag reflex is tingling.

As such, we deserved a reboot - whether we realised that we needed it or not - and thankfully Sony and director Marc Webb (most appropriate name ever) obliged.

Enter The Amazing Spider-Man: a sexier, cooler interpretation of Peter Parker's origin story, bursting with charisma and personality thanks to its talented cast members. Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker and Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy slip effortlessly into their lead roles and their natural likeability means they instantly outshine Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst from the Raimi trilogy, both of who were bland, whiny and uninspiring.

James Vanderbilt's script helps the performances. Every character is handled with care (even the school bully has a story arc) and the one-liners are generously shared out. Michael Sheen's Uncle Ben and Denis Leary's Captain Stacy raise the odd smile in their supporting roles, although the biggest laugh is courtesy of Peter Parker toying with a car-thief: "You discovered my weakness! Small knives! Achoo!" 

Vanderbilt's script is also a more modern take on the characters. He recognises that the leads are high-school kids and approaches the characters as such. We therefore get a Spider-Man who skateboards and shows-off and gets awkward around cute girls and plays games on his SmartPhone whilst waiting for the villain to arrive. We also get a 21st century Gwen Stacy who is smart and heroic, as opposed to Dunst's Mary Jane whose prime function was to dangle helplessly from various buildings.

The Amazing Spider-Man will also win favours amongst comic book purists. This Peter Parker designs his own web-slingers as depicted in the comics so the fans can finally stop complaining about Parker naturally spawning webs from his wrists as seen in the Raimi trilogy. Fans will equally be happy to see the Lizard on-screen, played by an oddly-cast Rhys Ifans, after teasing cameos in the earlier films of a pre-transformation Dr Curt Connors. And the traditional Stan Lee cameo is a particular treat.

As director, Marc Webb has assembled an immersive and engaging film. It would be tempting to say this is a darker and grittier Spider-Man but this is still a long way from the Dark Knight Nolanverse. But it does feel more real than the colourful Raimi offerings. Webb's attention-to-detail ensures that each location is true-to-life and more documentary than studio set. Webb is also an actor's director and naturally he gets some very believable performances from his cast, especially when utilising the chemistry between Garfield and Stone. No less than you would expect from the director of 500 Days of Summer.

The Amazing Spider-Man is not without problems, most caused from a horrible sense of deja vu. After all, we have seen the Peter Parker origin story before (getting bit, learning to swing, Uncle Ben's death) no matter how differently it is packaged. And how many times have we seen superheroes face-off on top of a skyscraper? Also, the Lizard is new to the bigscreen but hardly a villain to rave about. Presumably, the Lizard was chosen as the equivalent of Batman Begins' Scarecrow: a minor villain designed to test the hero without overshadowing him. Which begs the question, who will be Spider-Man's Joker?

But the reboot series is just getting started. Sony are clearly franchise-building and happy to take it slow. The film ends with both leads still in high-school so the Daily Bugle days could be entire films away. The opening intrigue surrounding Peter Parker's parents looks set to continue in a multi-film arc, as does the anonymous villain who cameos during the closing credits (blatantly Norman Osborne AKA The Green Goblin). They also made the smart move of keeping the Lizard alive so he can reappear throughout the sequels, again like Nolan's Scarecrow in his Bat trilogy. 

In any case, the release date for Spider-Man 2 has been set for 2 May 2014 and now that the origin has been dutifully revamped, the Sony team can start exploring some new (more amazing) territory in the sequel.

In the meantime, audiences have finally been given the Spider-Man film that they deserve.

★★★★