With Re-boots comes great responsibility.......

Rating: 2/10 (17 July 2012)

Lets get Sam Raimi's trilogy out of the way first. Spider-Man - Awesome, Spider-Man 2 - IMO the perfect superhero movie, Spider-Man 3 - A fitting end to a fantastic series of movies. Tobey Maguire's portrayal of not only Spider-Man, but more importantly, Peter Parker was as if it was lifted straight out of the comic books. His raw emotion, his battle with his inner demons and his fight to keep his own life balanced came across in floods, and that made me believe that this character was real. The supporting cast throughout the 3 movies were top draw, and this just went on to prove that casting the right choices for the right roles, with the right script makes all of the difference.
I wanted The Amazing Spiderman to be up there with these iconic superhero movies. I wanted Marc Webb to take me on a journey that would make me feel as alive and excited as Sam Raimi's vision did. But i'm afraid it fell way short of doing that, and I feel so bad to say it. Whilst I admire Andrew Garfield as an actor, I can't admire his take on Peter Parker/Spiderman. There was too much arrogance in his Spiderman, too cocky when he was called into action. Yes, I admit that Peter Parker did have a certain air of arrogance in the comic books but not to this extent. That was what Spider-Man 3 was all about.....Peter getting way too cocky and paying the price for it. He couldn't seem to convey the weight of responsibility and emotional heartache that his losses and his new gifts were giving him. Tobey looked nerdy, looked like he was a person that could be bullied and he played it perfectly. Andrew Garfield came across as directed.....a good looking skateboarder who had no problems with the girls. Martin Sheen and Sally Field, whilst they perform their roles beautifully, I couldn't help seeing Rosemary Harris and Cliff Robertson as May & Ben Parker. At times I felt the direction in the action sequences was erratic, and badly thought out, whilst the scenes between Gwen and Peter didn't convey to me the same chemistry as Maguire and Dunst did. They were believable. The amount of bad luck and sheer heartache that Maguire delivers in Spider-Man 2 has the power to bring tears to the eyes. His exchanges with Dunst about him not being an empty seat, his struggle to keep Spider-Man out of his life, yet his final understanding that he IS Spider-man, and he must embrace it and sacrifice the things he loves the most to protect them is brilliantly delivered. Amazing Spiderman never brings these qualities over to me. I could bring up Rhys Ifans performance as Dr Connors/Lizard, Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy and many other things but I fail to see the point. Whilst this movie will make a huge amount of money, will be successful, will make stars out of it's two leads, it doesn't bring anything new to the table. It doesn't expand the story, it just tells the same thing we have already seen, but on a below par level.
Maybe the inevitable sequels will give Marc Webb a chance to grapple with the material and get it right, but my main point is that we are still only 5 years down the line since Spider-Man 3. It's just not long enough. Sony should have really given Raimi back all the creative control he had in Spider-Man 1 & 2 and made Spider-Man 4 the movie many of us fans know he could have delivered. I wanted to see Maguire's Peter Parker/Spider-Man come up against more menacing villains, encounter other heartaches, grow a little older and take us on his journey, but that will never happen.
My last point about this movie comes down to the script. James Vanderbilt wrote the script for Zodiac for crying out loud. This is a guy who can write extremely good material. Here though, I really think he fails to grasp the concept. One point that really had my blood boiling was amount of times that Garfield was required to take the mask off. They might just as well of sewn his name on the back of the suit just in case you forgot the face. Isn't this the whole point of a superhero?? Conseal your identity to protect not only your alter ego, but also the people you love? So I go back to my review title...With Re-boots comes great responsibility...and in my opinion, Sony have thrown that responsibility back into the faces of the people who truly wanted something that was going to be special.....it just isn't.