The Amazing Spider-Man Revamps The Film Franchise
The Amazing Spider-Man was Sony Pictures' reboot of the Spider-Man movie franchise after director Sam Raimi and actor Tobey Macguire left the franchise after Spider-Man 3. The remake was pretty well received with critics and fans, made lots of money at the box office and reinvigorated the film series. Spider-Man's cinematic revamping continues with this year's The Amazing Spider-Man 2, but let's quickly look at its predecessor.
Some fans complained about the remake but objectively, The Amazing Spider-Man is actually quite good, much better than other recent comic book adaptations. It felt more like the Ultimate Spider-Man comic book, than the traditional Spidey comic books since it takes place in high school and Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) has been remade into a perky, moody loser.
The story is very similar to the original Spider-Man movie, but there are some important changes. It still is about a misfit high school student who gets bitten by a genetically altered spider and gains spider powers. He doesn't automatically become a superhero but becomes one after his selfish behavior leads to the death of a family member.
The movie also introduces a villain who has ties to Peter's parents, which was different than Raimi's first Spider-Man film. What was good was that Spider-Man's origin is now tied to the mystery of his absent parents. It's a new twist that wasn't in comics and adds neat layers to his background.
Much of the success of The Amazing Spider-Man has to do with the great casting. Martin Sheen and Sally Field had terrific chemistry as Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Rhys Ifans made Dr. Curt Connors/the Lizard less sympathetic than in the comics whereas the original Connors in the Raimi films (Dylan Baker) was much more mild mannered. You could feel the intensity of Connors with Ifans' performance even before he is transformed into the Lizard.
Now the absolutely perfect casting in the film was with Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy. Stone is beautiful, smart and a much better love interest than Mary Jane Watson. She looked just like how John Romita drew the character in the comic books.
Of course, the entire movie has to rely on the casting of Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Andrew Garfield was fantastic. Not to take away anything from Tobey Maguire but Garfield is so much better in the title role than Maguire. He is much more expressive and it seems as if Garfield took cues on the character from the Stan Lee/Steve Ditko version of Spider-Man.
The movie is very different from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films. Raimi tended to make the films bombastic and in your face but at time they could be cheesy. That doesn't happen with this reboot. The film's tone is similar to Batman Begins and for that reason I liked it a lot.
GEO