The Amazing Spider-Man
Year: 2012
Director: Marc Webb
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Rhys Ifans & Emma Stone
Runtime: 136 mins
BBFC: 12
Published: 12/04/22
Director: Marc Webb
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Rhys Ifans & Emma Stone
Runtime: 136 mins
BBFC: 12
Published: 12/04/22
Following the underwhelming critical response to Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3, as well as the rift it caused between the director and executives at Sony, the resulting Spider-Man 4 was scrapped, and the franchise was rebooted instead. This was no doubt in part caused by the birth of the MCU and the shockwave that was Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight as Sony’s direction moving forward with this new set of Spider-Man films was primarily to set up a Spider-Man cinematic universe, and also considerably darker in tone than the Sam Raimi films. It was certainly a big gamble, but personally I feel like 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man actually pulled it all off reasonably well.
Left in the care of his Aunt May (Sally Field) and Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) shortly before his parents’ disappearance, Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) has grown into a science obsessed photography nerd who secretly has the hots for classmate Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone). But when Peter begins digging into his father’s past, he discovers that he worked at Oscorp with Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans) investigating genetic enhancement using animal DNA. When bitten by one of his father’s experimental spiders, Peter is gifted with extraordinary powers that he must choose to use to avenge the death of his uncle or help the citizens of New York City.
Left in the care of his Aunt May (Sally Field) and Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) shortly before his parents’ disappearance, Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) has grown into a science obsessed photography nerd who secretly has the hots for classmate Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone). But when Peter begins digging into his father’s past, he discovers that he worked at Oscorp with Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans) investigating genetic enhancement using animal DNA. When bitten by one of his father’s experimental spiders, Peter is gifted with extraordinary powers that he must choose to use to avenge the death of his uncle or help the citizens of New York City.
The Amazing Spider-Man approaches our friendly neighbourhood hero in a way that is simultaneously more faithful to the comics it is adapted from than the Raimi films ever were, but also helps modernise the character for the digital age, and update attitudes to align with younger generations.
Whilst Peter is a science geek, he is no longer some frail bookworm. Now Peter is an introverted skater who has a passion for technology. At the start of the film, he’s already outgoing and willing to put himself in harm’s way for the greater good, but usually in an attempt to give his reputation a boost to earn the affections of Gwen. This ties in really well with Peter’s handling of Uncle Ben’s death where he hunts down ‘bad guys’ to hurt and humiliate them but only to make himself feel better. Garfield provides an excellent performance as Peter, managing to hit not only the expected action movie highs but also some powerfully emotional lows. Garfield’s Spider-Man really gets his ass handed to him a lot in this film, and it does take its toll on his mental state which is something rare to see in a superhero film and extremely welcome here adding a wealth of layers to Marvel’s most beloved hero.
One complaint I levelled against Raimi’s 2002 Spider-Man was that the supporting characters often felt like they weren’t doing very much, with Harry and MJ only really coming into their own in the sequels. Amazing Spider-Man addresses this with the supporting cast getting some actual depth and development right out of the gate. Gwen’s family life is explored for some time, with her Chief of Police father (Denis Leary) also getting his moment to shine.
Connors not only has his own wants and desires, but helps Peter become a better scientist and ultimately build better tools for being Spider-Man, as well as providing some interesting insight into Peter’s family history.
I also love the action sequences in this film. They feel grand, and the way they have been shot and edited is not only extremely clean but also carry a lot of momentum. There’s also a number of sequences where the camera swings through the city in a first person view, giving us an idea of what it is like to be Spider-Man and I never fail to get giddy like a child during these scenes.
In fact, when comparing Amazing Spider-Man to Raimi’s original film, I find it difficult to discern a true favourite amongst them. Amazing Spider-Man addresses almost all the problems I had with 2002’s Spider-Man, what with its better character development and a less cheesy script. However, it does bring about some problems of its own.
Whilst Peter is a science geek, he is no longer some frail bookworm. Now Peter is an introverted skater who has a passion for technology. At the start of the film, he’s already outgoing and willing to put himself in harm’s way for the greater good, but usually in an attempt to give his reputation a boost to earn the affections of Gwen. This ties in really well with Peter’s handling of Uncle Ben’s death where he hunts down ‘bad guys’ to hurt and humiliate them but only to make himself feel better. Garfield provides an excellent performance as Peter, managing to hit not only the expected action movie highs but also some powerfully emotional lows. Garfield’s Spider-Man really gets his ass handed to him a lot in this film, and it does take its toll on his mental state which is something rare to see in a superhero film and extremely welcome here adding a wealth of layers to Marvel’s most beloved hero.
One complaint I levelled against Raimi’s 2002 Spider-Man was that the supporting characters often felt like they weren’t doing very much, with Harry and MJ only really coming into their own in the sequels. Amazing Spider-Man addresses this with the supporting cast getting some actual depth and development right out of the gate. Gwen’s family life is explored for some time, with her Chief of Police father (Denis Leary) also getting his moment to shine.
Connors not only has his own wants and desires, but helps Peter become a better scientist and ultimately build better tools for being Spider-Man, as well as providing some interesting insight into Peter’s family history.
I also love the action sequences in this film. They feel grand, and the way they have been shot and edited is not only extremely clean but also carry a lot of momentum. There’s also a number of sequences where the camera swings through the city in a first person view, giving us an idea of what it is like to be Spider-Man and I never fail to get giddy like a child during these scenes.
In fact, when comparing Amazing Spider-Man to Raimi’s original film, I find it difficult to discern a true favourite amongst them. Amazing Spider-Man addresses almost all the problems I had with 2002’s Spider-Man, what with its better character development and a less cheesy script. However, it does bring about some problems of its own.
The biggest issue I have with Amazing Spider-Man is that Sony were clearly using this to launch a cinematic universe and so a lot of time is spent sowing seeds for future storylines. Particularly when it comes to the Peter’s family history and his parents’ disappearance, there’s so much time spend building this mystery that ultimately is never given any actual meaningful development or resolution.
This also means that Amazing Spider-man can feel quite long, coming in at just shy of two hours and twenty minutes Amazing Spider-Man is longer than any of the Raimi films, but the cause of this is a lot of setup for events that have nothing related to the events of this film.
I’m also not keen on Lizard as the villain. Whilst Connors is a compelling character, Lizard is just a dumb but powerful CGI monster. His evil plan is turning NYC into lizard people because he can, not for any personal gain or misguided mission. Even in comparison to Spider-Man 3’s weak villain roster, Lizard is one of the weakest live action Spidey villains ever.
The film also feels like it’s lacking something truly special without Danny Elfman’s incredible score, James Horner acts as composer here but none of it is particularly memorable or manages to contain the same level of empowerment and emotional impact that Elfman’s score did for Raimi’s trilogy.
I feel like The Amazing Spider-Man films are often given a bad rap because the entire reason for their existence is questionable at best. But I feel like dismissing these films on the fact that they were studio mandated universe builders also doesn’t give the films the credit they deserve. Director Marc Webb has imbued a lot of heart into this first film and I would say it can stand toe to toe with Raimi’s 2002 film. With some great character development and awesome action sequences, The Amazing Spider-Man is a very enjoyable superhero film.
This also means that Amazing Spider-man can feel quite long, coming in at just shy of two hours and twenty minutes Amazing Spider-Man is longer than any of the Raimi films, but the cause of this is a lot of setup for events that have nothing related to the events of this film.
I’m also not keen on Lizard as the villain. Whilst Connors is a compelling character, Lizard is just a dumb but powerful CGI monster. His evil plan is turning NYC into lizard people because he can, not for any personal gain or misguided mission. Even in comparison to Spider-Man 3’s weak villain roster, Lizard is one of the weakest live action Spidey villains ever.
The film also feels like it’s lacking something truly special without Danny Elfman’s incredible score, James Horner acts as composer here but none of it is particularly memorable or manages to contain the same level of empowerment and emotional impact that Elfman’s score did for Raimi’s trilogy.
I feel like The Amazing Spider-Man films are often given a bad rap because the entire reason for their existence is questionable at best. But I feel like dismissing these films on the fact that they were studio mandated universe builders also doesn’t give the films the credit they deserve. Director Marc Webb has imbued a lot of heart into this first film and I would say it can stand toe to toe with Raimi’s 2002 film. With some great character development and awesome action sequences, The Amazing Spider-Man is a very enjoyable superhero film.