Film Review: The Amazing Spider-Man

The Amazing Spider-Man is the latest film centring around Peter Parker and is a reboot of the franchise starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone.  It’s only director Marc Webb’s second film, after (500) Days of Summer (he has, however, been directing music videos for over a decade).  Despite this, and how different it is to (500) Days of Summer, it’s still marvellously directed.  Andrew Garfield plays the awkward geek well, and he also does it with a cuteness that’s hard to resist, even if you don’t understand the appeal when you first sit down to watch the film.  There’s obvious chemistry between he and Emma Stone, so it’s no surprise that they’re (possibly) now a real life couple, too.

Rhys Ifans also does a fantastic job, but of all the villains that they could’ve chosen, Lizard isn’t the most terrifying or spectacular.  Bringing him into it did tie in well with the rest of the story, however, and whilst the writing wasn’t anything amazing, there were some good one-liners.  The plot was also well done, aside from the backstory about Peter and his parents, which felt somewhat unnecessary given how many unanswered questions it left, but with them wanting to turn it into (another) franchise, these will most likely be answered in future instalments.

The inevitable scene where Uncle Ben dies isn’t as tragic as in the Sam Raimi version – Andrew Garfield’s fake crying is a little scary – but you did feel for the characters, particularly as he was killed.

There’s no upside down kiss this time, either, but there is a cute scene where Peter tells Gwen that he’s Spider-Man and he pulls her in with his homemade webbing.

Some CGI scenes were poorly done, which pulled you out of it, but the quality of some other scenes drew you back in.

Overall, the film isn’t as amazing as it could have been, but it’s an alternative to the Sam Raimi version which many people grew tired of towards the end, and some would argue that Garfield makes a better (and more attractive) Peter Parker.