Obligation over choice

Rating: 6/10 (14 February 2020)

"The Amazing Spider-Man" is a 2012 comic book adaptation directed by Marc Webb starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. As many of my longtime followers may know, the annual rewatch of this flick is part of my Valentine's Day tradition. "Why exactly this one?" some of you may ask legitimately. I'll tell you. I started this ritual when I was around thirteen years old and this film was one of my all time favourites. So, I said to myself, you either gonna have a date on the day of love or watch Spider-Man instead. What am I to say? For the past several years it has always been the adventure of the arachnid avenger and I gave this old DVD more spins than any spintop I have ever owned. Cupid hasn't been the best shooter in my case, so that's the way it is. First of all, I wanna make it clear that my personal taste in cinema has absolutely changed since then and that this film definitely isn't one of the greatest ever. You know, it's still not bad though. As someone born around the new millennium, I happen to have grown up with every single interpretation of the most famous web slinger. Maguire was the man during my childhood years, Garfield was there when I was in my early teen years and Holland is there now that I have reached maturity (at least, by law). So, I can actually enjoy every adaptation of the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. I gotta admit though that I now realize some definite flaws. The most indisputable problem of this flick is that it's obviously spinning it's web around the foundation of the Raimi trilogy instead of building something original in the first place. There are countless stories in the comic books it could have adapted in a way never seen before, but it rather insisted on following the same pattern and sometimes using the same scenes with only mildly changed dialogue. This is where it really shows that it's a reboot rather than an all new adaptation. Aside from these decisions that were probably mostly made by Avi Arad, the director Marc Webb who was literally born for this job (at least, by name) did decent work. He managed well to direct a magnificent cast that consists of academy award winners and nominees. Even though Garfield and Stone are slightly too old to portray high school teenagers (this has always been a problem for the casting directors when it comes to casting them) they still looked wonderful in their respective roles and, in the case of the first, acted superbly in the context of the format. Also, I'd like to point out the atmospheric score of James Horner that is hands down the best aspect of this flick. The screenplay shows both greatness and debacles. First, it's cool that they finally brought The Lizard to the big screen with actually impressive CGI. I've never seen a Lizard speaking with such a prominent English accent before, so that's an achievement. Second, the chemistry between the protagonists is so lovely and some scenes had surprisingly well written dialogue (the dinner discussion!) and the new style of the suit is amazing (pun intended) too. So is the action in the fight sequences that finally contain new camera angles and shots that use the power of swinging for the first time. This innovation is apparently ignored by the most and definitely needs to be appreciated more! Well, but let's get to the negative aspects as well: The film is basically too long with a runtime of more than two hours while one third consists of the origin story that we've all been knowing about and that was at times recreated scene by scene from Raimi's features. Also, the whole "responsibility" aspect was altered into something less inspiring and only used as a side theme that never fully reached its whole potential in the story. Additionally, what's the point of building up this whole "obligation over choice" symbolism only to destroy and negate it with the last lines? It's undeniably a dumb decision, even if it means that Gwen and Peter can become a couple in the obviously set up sequel. Oh, the immense disrespect to Captain Stacy whose last wish was that his daughter would be left out of it ... Well, we all know how that ends eventually. All in all, this extended Sony advertisment in a Marvel adaptation is a decent fun nevertheless. I'm probably a bit biased, but not that much. It's nice mindless fun for in between and although it's not remembered or appreciated in the pop culture, definitely played a significant role in the history of the hero's films. It's highly influenced by Sam Raimi and suffers from the lack of originality, but remains a childhood pleasure. I'm not sure if I'm gonna revisit it ever again. Let's hope I have a date on Valentine's Day next year. Otherwise, you all know where I'm gonna swing by.