Nothing new on the Marvel front

Rating: 7/10 (1 July 2012)

Ten years ago – I must have been 14 around that time – the world of cinema witnessed the beginning of a new, glorious superheroes era as Sam Raimi's super awesome "Spiderman" conquered the big screen, an era, temporarily culminated in the box office success "Marvel's: The Avengers", which swamped us with so many good and less good comic book adaptations and flushed so many billions of dollars into the coffers of the film production as well as comic book companies – such as Sony and Marvel in this case – that it seemed hardly ever to end, or more precisely, it was not allowed to end anymore. What enormous fun I had, how thrilled I was watching the fabulous Tobey Meguire swinging as Peter Parker, the friendly neighbourhood Spiderman, through the vertiginous street canyons of New York City fighting his own inner demons, his weaknesses, the guilty certainty of being responsible for his Oncle Ben's death, fighting for Mary Jane's love and against mighty villains that were never entirely evil but rather misguided. Spidey was carried by a simple message that with great powers there also comes great responsibility. Sam Raimi even managed to top it all with the sequel "Spiderman 2" which brought the action scenes to a whole new level in terms of tempo and choreography taking place in prodigious heights most of the times. This was original, unique and most of all, entirely new to the audience. However, the third and final part "Spiderman 3" could not reach up to the same quality of its predecessors, the end of Spiderman's film era seemed inevitable, yet Sony Pictures didn't want to lose their rights on the franchise, too much money was at stake, so they fired Raimi and Tobey and all the cast. The end became the beginning, the era continued, only five years after the finale, the producers started anew and created a remake titled "The Amazing Spiderman" with an incredibly sympathetic as well as well fitting Andrew Garfield for the leading role and Emma Stone as Peter's first high school love Gwen Stacy who is not only extremely sexy in her knee-long boots but also very smart and self-confident.
Nevertheless, as a remake this version by director Marc Webb retells a story that was perfectly fine the way it was without adding anything significantly new to it except for maybe some deeper insights of Parker's troubled self thus destroying a lot of former plot elements. For example, I was shocked to see what remained of the story concerning Oncle Ben's murder and the resulting consequences for Spidey. What the writers have left of it is as thin as a spider thread. The introduction of Parker's parents is an undeveloped idea leading to nowhere. The love story between him and Gwen ends before it even started properly. His new enemy "The Lizard", convincingly played by Rhys Ifans, cannot compete with Dr. Octopus when it comes to the action scenes that rarely take place over ground but which are still good enough to be exiting. At least, he is realistically animated. The film appears altogether in a much darker, dirtier shade and the 3D technology gives it a better sense of spatial depth especially when Spidey jumps from a building. I really missed the funny moments of the original trilogy. Peter Parker is known for his witticism and good sense of humour which the current teen Peter somehow seems to have lost over so much troubling. The second half of the film was far more entertaining as the pace started to grow affording one or two goosebumps moments like the one on the bridge when Spidey saved a child. Compared to that, the first half before the intermission felt like a burdensome necessity they easily could have done without just because no one needs another origin story of how Peter got his superpowers due to a spider bite.
In summary, I come to the conclusion that Webb's "The Amazing Spiderman." is a good,solid, well played and animated teen action film, partially amazing,never outstanding and always in the shadow of the first adaptation. You may enjoy it, especially if you're 14 as I was ten years before. The spirit of that time I could not feel again, Peter's message is somehow softened by a not fully developed script, however, the era of superhero films will live on and Spiderman will definitely return.