Just above average spider man

Rating: 6/10 (3 July 2012)

You would think someone named Mark Webb would be a shoe in to direct a movie version of Spider man with that name. You would also think a movie entitled the amazing spider man would be in in fact an amazing take on the material. On both of these accounts you'd be wrong. Not to say the film doesn't have moments and is generally entertaining but for the most part it's kind of a mess. This time around the take on Peter Parker is a more realistic one. He's a little annoying, a little selfish, a lot more sarcastic so your normal teenager. The events in the film transpire accordingly with the bite of the spider and the death of his parents and than Uncle. But the film unravels in an interesting way making the material seem fresh and mostly unvisited. What the film gets wrong mostly lies in it's direction. Despite a few stabs at the darker side of things this seems like spidey light. It's very comical, with lots of jokes and a sort of disneyish generic atmosphere. Which is all fine and dandy but the film just doesn't mesh well. It moves sloppily back and forth beneath genres and subplots without building a realistic engagement to the events depicted. The good lies in the films interesting and inspired casting choices Andrew Garfield is geekyily gorgeous in the lead and although his character is somewhat angsty he manages to make him likable and is truly gifted at being emotionally resonant. Emma Stone is cute but unnecessary as his love interest and even though the 2 share winning chemistry their relationship isn't allowed time to develop appropriately and seems a little forced. Sally Field also adds some solid support as Aunt May. The film sports nice special effects but the 3D is just so so. A better take on the material would have been a darker one such as as the dark knight is to Batman franchise. I do think they made the right decision in rebooting the material as the last installment in the previous franchise had worn out it's welcome. As Spider Man films go this one falls into being the second best. However, it should be noted that although I enjoyed the original film immensely I wasn't a big fan of the others. There's a lot to enjoy here and I would welcome another installment but I do hope Marc Webb is not a part of it as well as the screenwriters that penned this installment. Although a piece of passable Hollywood blockbuster entertainment the film admirably works better on it's human levels which is a great feat to accomplish. That being said the film ends up being a just above average spider man than an amazing one.