I’ll admit it, I’m on the fence about The Amazing Spider-Man. I have been since it was announced. If you ask me, a franchise shouldn’t be rebooted when the last film is less than 20 years old, and it’s only 5 years since Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3. 5 years! That’s nothing. I still remember it clear as day, why do we need new Spidey so soon?
Money is the answer, but I won’t let my inherent dislike of Hollywood money-grabbing spoil this preview. So yes – The Amazing Spider-Man (named, of course, after the classic comic series) is a new Spider-Man origin story. If anything, it’s slightly truer to the comics – Peter’s love interest is Gwen Stacey, his original love interest in the comics (Mary Jane came later). The villain is still different (the Lizard in the film as opposed to the Chameleon in the comics), but other than that, pretty good. You already know how Spider-Man’s origins go, unless you’ve been living under a rock since the 1960′s, so I won’t bother detailing it here. But I will talk about the cast, director, and first impressions from the trailer.
The cast is solid. Andrew Garfield is a good actor, and although a little old to be Peter Parker (he’s 28), he approached the role in the right way – as a Spider-Man fan. Emma Stone (Gwen Stacey) is equally good, and of course Rhys Ifans will turn in a good performance. Speaking of turning in good performances, the legend that is Martin Sheen has taken on the pivotal role of Uncle Ben, and will play it (credit to Empire for the brilliant quote) with maximum ‘Martin-Sheeniness’. So no problems with the cast here, and Marc Webb is a good director too. Spidey is a bit of a step from (the brilliant) 500 Days Of Summer, but a good director will direct well.
Going from the trailers, The Amazing Spider-Man will, undoubtedly, be visually stunning. They seem to have taken what is becoming known as the ‘Nolan’ look, and darkened the superhero’s world in pursuit of gritty realism, a la Batman Begins. This is the major departure from Raimi’s films. Raimi embraced the comic book camp, as Bruce Campbell’s cameos proved. This is a darker, more adult Spider-Man. I’ll reserve judgement until I see it, but I’m not expecting this (unnecessary?) reboot to reach the lofty heights of Spider-Man 2, the benchmark for comic book films.
