The Amazing Spider-Man

“The Amazing Spider-Man” is a reboot of a blockbusting franchise that got off to a good start with “Spider-Man” in 2002, web-slung to towering new heights with “Spider-Man 2” in 2004, and lost its footing with “Spider-Man 3” in 2007. While each of those films were helmed by horror maestro Sam Raimi, this redo is directed by indie newbie Marc Webb, who may or may not have been hired for his eerily appropriate surname. Webb was a good choice: he displays a deft hand at directing drama, romance and action in “The Amazing Spider-Man,” and balances them with profound ease and impressive skill. Once again, a “Spider-Man” franchise gets off to a good start. I look forward to its inevitable sequel and look warily upon its probable threequel.

The Peter Parker, and indeed Spider-Man, of Raimi’s trilogy was played by Tobey Maguire, who was 27 years of age when he first played the super-powered high-schooler. In Webb’s film, Peter is played by Andrew Garfield, who is now 28 years old. In spite of the one-year advantage Maguire had over Garfield in playing a teen, I found Garfield more convincing in the role: the L.A.-born English actor, utterly enchanting as Eduardo Saverin in David Fincher’s “The Social Network,” has one of those faces that looks perpetually young or, more specifically, adolescent. Teenage girls could take him home to show daddy, and daddy wouldn’t bat an eyelid.

We all know the story. Peter Parker, socially inept science geek, is bitten by a genetically engineered spider and gains arachnid-themed special abilities. In Raimi’s 2002 version, Peter was bitten while attending a field trip to a genetics laboratory. Here, the scenario is a little different: Peter is bitten while snooping around the private labs of Oscorp Industries to find clues about the mysterious disappearance of his parents, both scientists, many years ago. Peter has been living in the suburbs with his beloved Aunt May (Sally Field, “Forrest Gump”) and Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen, “The West Wing”) since mum and dad without warning left him in their care. Uncle Ben, of course, plays a vital part in Peter’s development as a person and as a hero, and teaches him a lesson he will never forget.

Peter wakes up to find he has powers beyond his wildest dreams. On a subway train, he inadvertently beats up a gang of low-life thugs, the palm of his hand hopelessly stuck to a metal pole, which he accidentally and clumsily dislodges. In the Parker bathroom, he discovers that he no longer knows his own strength, shooting out the entire contents of a toothpaste tube with a single squeeze and yanking off the knob of a tap while casually turning it, causing water to gush out at him. He experiments with his powers and learns to harness them. He cannot, however, resist using them to humiliate Flash Thompson (Chris Zylka, “Piranha 3DD”), the school bully, who in an earlier scene beat Peter up for no good reason. Peter gets his revenge in glorious, basketball hoop-destroying fashion.

As masked vigilante Spider-Man, Peter becomes a hero of New York City, but not to Police Captain Stacy (Denis Leary, “Ice Age”). Stacy sees Spider-Man as a crook, as a fiend, as an amateur trying to do his job for him. On that last part, he is correct. Comic-book fans will know that Captain Stacy is the father of young Gwen Stacy, who is here played by Emma Stone (“Crazy, Stupid, Love”). Gwen is one of Peter’s classmates and serves the same role that Kirsten Dunst did in the previous three “Spider-Man” films as Peter’s girlfriend, Mary-Jane Watson. I much preferred Gwen to Mary-Jane, who Raimi always left dangling helplessly from something or other. Gwen is smart, funny and heroic, unafraid of bonking a big mutant reptile over the head with a golden trophy.

Ah yes, that big mutant reptile. This is the Lizard, the villain of “The Amazing Spider-Man.” He is the alter-ego of Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans, “Anonymous”), a brilliant scientist working in the field of cross-species genetics. Connors is obsessed with regaining his right arm, which he lost many years ago and hopes to regrow by injecting himself with lizard DNA (lizards have startling healing powers, apparently, and can regrow their tails). One fateful night, he takes a chance with the serum and soon transforms into a snarling monster fitted with a slithering tail and scaly green skin. Rampaging down a suspension bridge and sending automobiles flying hither and thither, he looks like a mini Godzilla, albeit without the snout and with the ability to speak eloquently worded sentences.

It is the Lizard’s evil plan to turn every citizen of New York City, and probably the world too, into a big mutant reptile, just like him. This, in his mad mind, would create a perfect world, free from sickness and human frailty. This decision came a little too abrupt for my taste: Dr. Curt Connors was, as far as I could tell, well-meaning and level-headed, refusing to experiment on live animals when his serums were not quite ready. Once he transforms into the Lizard he is all of a sudden an unthinking, unblinking psychopath, be he in scaly or non-scaly form. It is up to Spider-Man to thwart his plan, using his super-strength, Spidey-sense and web-shooters to his advantage. Notably, Spider-Man’s webbing is no longer organically produced like it was in Raimi’s films, instead shooting out from ingeniously designed devices strapped to his wrists, like it was in the original Marvel comics.

This inevitably leads to a tense situation in which Spidey’s webbing is no longer available, leaving him helplessly hurtling down the side of a skyscraper, unable to web-sling himself to safety. Don’t worry, though: somebody catches him. The battle between Spidey and the Lizard culminates atop the pointed peak of Oscorp Industries, where an electrifying, heart-stopping and world-endangering race against time ensues. An earlier scuffle inside the corridors, classrooms and library of Peter’s easily demolished high school is equally thrilling, and more than a little funny - deliberately, I mean.

Webb, once a music video maker, shows himself to be a capable creator of spectacle, delivering an action-packed blockbuster soaked not just in special effects but in practical effects too. Featurettes I found on YouTube show that much of the web-slinging is achieved through carefully executed stuntwork, and I believe I spotted the ever-awesome art of parkour at some points in the film. Most of it, though, does appear to be computer-generated, allowing us, through impossibly intricate camerawork, to follow Spidey as he catapults himself through the insides of tower cranes and elegantly glides between the concrete skyscrapers of NYC. Sometimes we are Spider-Man, Webb showing us the sky-high web-slinging from Spider-Man’s dizzying point of view. At times, it is heart-racing, and at others it is quite beautiful. One wonders, though, how well Peter can see out of those yellow-tinted lenses. I suspect his Spider-sense does some of the work there.

This is Webb’s second feature, coming after his 2009 indie hit “(500) Days of Summer.” That was a romantic comedy, and an authentically sentimental one with a convincing central romance. The same can be said for “The Amazing Spider-Man,” at the centre of which is another convincing romance. This is between Peter and Gwen, two young lovebirds whose scenes together are not cheesy but are touching and raise a heartfelt smile. Peter’s awkward proposal that Gwen go out with him, for example, is very sweet: “We could, uhh... or, if you don’t want to, we could, err...” he says, fidgeting. “Either one’s fine,” she replies, with the wryest of smiles. Their first kiss, taking place atop the roof of Gwen’s apartment building, is passionate and spontaneous, coming after Peter reveals a secret to her. Garfield and Stone, both up-and-comers of Hollywood, are a spirited and good-looking pair, and share the kind of bouncy chemistry Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel did in “(500) Days of Summer.” I think I loved Peter and Gwen just as much as I loved those two.

A charismatic screen presence, Garfield makes for an instantly likeable Peter Parker right from the second we see him squeezing his hand into his school locker, just barely pushing aside the canoodling couple leaning against its door. Peter is nerdy, but not too nerdy: he conjures up intricate algorithms with a quick scribble of his pen, but owns a skateboard, and rides it skillfully. He’s lanky and scrawny and fashions an uncombed Tintin quiff. When sliding on his blue-and-red spandex suit, his confidence grows, and he transforms into the chuckling, trash-talking hero we know and love from those classic comic books we used to read under the covers in the dead of night with a torch shining brightly on the vibrantly coloured pages. Garfield is perfect, almost inspired casting, both as Peter and as our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Garfield struggles to shake himself from Spidey’s web. One hopes he can, though.

Comparisons to Raimi’s original trilogy, so fresh in many viewers’ minds, are only inevitable, and I’m aware I have made several in this review. I will say that “Spider-Man 2,” with its riveting action sequences and deliciously menacing villain in the form of Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus, remains the high point of the “Spider-Man” franchise, and that “The Amazing Spider-Man” is about on a par with the first “Spider-Man,” which I enjoyed very much. There are times in Webb’s film when it is a true marvel to watch and to experience: it is a shameless summer blockbuster with an undying ability to entertain its audience. As I said earlier, I look forward to its sequel, which won’t have the added pressure of retelling a story we watched being told so recently. That is, unless the villain is the Green Goblin...

Note: I saw the film in 2D, so I cannot comment on the 3D. However, given that much of the film takes place at night-time and in dark and dingy sewers, I’m assuming that the black-tinted glasses would make for quite the eyesore. Save some dosh: go for the 2D.

8/10