Why fix it if it ain't broke...

Rating: 6/10 (10 August 2012)

While many people are asking "why reboot a movie just five years later", many others are still saying that Sam Raimi's trilogy swung into a brick wall after Spiderman 3 (2007). By the looks of it, this is not just a remake, but the re-boot of a new Marvel franchise. Is it needed? Well, if 2012 is the year of the superheroes, then more the merrier. Right?
Personally, I thought the whole movie is one misplaced pun with Marc Webb stepping in as the new director. The story however, is not new. As a high school teenager, Peter parker (Andrew Garfield) has issues of his own. Orphaned at a very young age, Peter has since lived with his uncle and aunt, but finds his parents' disappearance a hushed mystery. Additionally, he is bullied at school as a misfit and science geek. If all this were too much to bear, peer pressure blows a gasket when the inevitable happens – the bite of a genetically engineered spider that endows Peter with 'amazing' superhuman abilities. The rest, as any superhero aficionado will tell you, is history. That little synopsis should tell you that this is a remake that borrows, albeit heavily, from Raimi's screenplay that is just about 10 years old. For me this appears to be one major stumbling block. Sure, Webb spins his own yarn with little tidbits that seem to re-illustrate forgotten pages from our wall-crawler's Marvel origins; a web shooter, a bluer costume and some fancy fight moves to recall a few. Then there is the likable Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) instead of Mary Jane Watson, who by the way, has a fate that is altered for the movie but swapped less favorably by her father - NYPD Captain George Stacy (Dennis Leary).
Fresh as it may look, a remake in such a short span of cinematic memory can only mean that Webb has gone in guns blazing, or, was made to be the sacrificial lamb by studio bosses, should the cash cow refuse to budge. But as it seems, it's not all bad once the action starts. Cinematography although not picture perfect, works well as a mega teaser for New York City. Thanks to some first-person camera work, we not only see some of New York's vantage points, but also what it must feel like to crawl over and swing through those skyscrapers. Again, this is fairly rewarding for viewers opting for the pricier 3D tickets, but look around and you may find that just about every major blockbuster is released in 2D, 3D, and IMAX. Did someone mention cash cow? For this reviewer, the highpoint of this reboot are the character renditions by Garfield and Stone, both individually and as a pair of love-struck teens. Probably one of the very few areas where Webb has the one up on Raimi is Garfield's bolder Peter Parker, with or without the costume; an instantly noticeable upgrade on Toby Maguire's timid and hesitant Parker. Of course, every super hero must do battle with a super villain and this is the cue for Dr. Curtis Connors (Rhys Ifans), a scientific genius at Oscorp. If you asked me, Ifans does a better job as Dr. Connors as compared to when he turns into the reptilian humanoid called The Lizard. As literal as this may sound, the Lizard-man is the wrecking ball that manages to do more damage to the movie than any good at all. Perhaps I was the only gob smacked viewer in the auditorium, but my disbelief stems from my cemented opinion that the Lizard is a miniature (plasticky look and all) version of Godzilla and a bad replica at that. Seriously Webb? Ishirō Honda's "Godzilla" all but tore through cinema screens in 1954 but that is no excuse not to have used over 40 years of technological advancements to give the Lizard a palpable look and feel.
And so the answer to my question earlier remains a firm NO. There was no real need for this reboot given there was nothing really wrong with the preceding storyline. And trust me; we who love cinema are not short of celluloid memory. But now that we have a remake, Marc Webb can only redeem himself by bringing out a sequel that will win over the hoards of Sam Raimi fans. Including Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.