When I went to see this movie, I have to admit I was there for the masked icon—I wanted to see Spidey again in all his web-slinging glory, stopping evildoers and saving the day. And for the most part, it satisfied: I was impressed by its action, thrilled by its sequences, and was intrigued by its storytelling. But by the end of the movie, something strange happened. I no longer cared about all that, because the performers did the rare thing of making me fall in love with them.
The Amazing Spider-Man, directed by Marc Webb, who brought you the beloved 500 Days of Summer, enters new territory for the blockbuster line of superhero films — that is, a territory footed in the reality and the familiarity of the foolhardy jungle that is teen life.
But don’t worry, it’s still epic.The story follows Peter Parker, played this time around by Andrew Garfield, as he tries to uncover the mystery of his missing parents and accidentally conceives of the birth of a new villain, The Lizard.
Understanding his own mistakes, Parker embarks on a moral journey of responsibility which is the underpinning of the story’s theme and is one that certainly parallels that which Stan Lee initially set off to tell.Unexpected actress Emma Stone comes on board as Parker’s love interest in the character of Gwen Stacey, creating a surprising explosion of on-screen chemistry which can be attributed to the pairings’ knack for improv.
Garfield and Stone are not caricatures; their likability arises from the sense that these are real teens, ones that stumble on their words and don’t always know what to say. It is what captures the very heart in which this movie was made. The set pieces of the movie feel incredibly big-budget with a believable and menacing Lizard, and the cinematography takes you flying through the air as Spider-Man slings across the skyline with the signature whirl of his webs. It does all this whilst at the same time continuing to maintain that realistic flare that the movie has ingrained in itself so well. Tension is not built through its budget, it’s built through clever and impressive filmic techniques of suspense, score, and build up. What tops it all off is that the movie maintains an outstanding overlay of humour and wit that is consistent throughout the movie — a characteristic very appropriate to the ‘trickster’ side of Peter Parker, as Webb likes to refer to it.
With the onslaught of seemingly never ending superhero movies that our generation have grown up on, the paradigm of this part of the industry is beginning to seem cookie cutter to say the least. After watching the movie, I can say that it is very clear that director Marc Webb was well aware of this fact and set a goal to create something different and something fresh. He knew he needed to create something not without character and grit though not without elegance — that is, something real. I can attest to his achievement in this.
Rating 4/5
