Disposable Comic Book Entertainment; I Miss Raimi Already...

Rating: 7/10 (28 January 2013)

How many times must Uncle Ben die for our amusement? If ever there was a movie franchise that embodied modern Hollywood's obsession with rebooting and reimagining the past, THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN is it. It's only been ten years since Sam Raimi brought the web-slinger to the big screen and helped jump-start the comic book movie craze, and it's only been five years since the trilogy came to an embarrassing end with the dud that was SPIDER-MAN 3. Now, rather than pick up where the last films left off and continue on in exciting new directions with a new director, Sony Pictures decided we might as well just start fresh. And that means a reintroduction to Spider-Man's origins, despite the fact that everyone knows by now how Peter Parker came to be New York's web-slinging superhero. I have no problem with rebooting a character franchise and handing the direction over to a new talent, but I don't see why we need to retread old ground. The entire first hour of THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN rehashes everything we've already seen in Raimi's SPIDER-MAN in 2002. Except this one is handled a bit differently, which I suppose is why it's supposed to be all right. Parker's parents are more of a central focus in his eventual decision to become Spider-Man and it's his investigation that leads him to his encounter with the radioactive spider in the first place. I'm not sure why it couldn't have been handled in a ten or fifteen minute flashback. When you think about it, Uncle Ben's death was retconned and altered the story with a few flashbacks in SPIDER-MAN 3 and it worked all right without spending an hour going over the whole scenario again.
The aggravating part is, once the first hour is done and the groundwork for the Parker parents storyline is laid out, the movie shifts gears into a generic superhero storyline that loses interest. Spider-Man's first challenge in his new role is battling the Lizard. Dr. Connors was introduced in SPIDER-MAN 2 and maintained a presence through the last two Raimi movies, so we knew the Lizard was eventually going to make an appearance. I just wonder if Raimi would've handled him better as a villain. Raimi's villains were always interesting. Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus were near perfect, and even the villains in 3 weren't bad for the extent that Raimi was able to use them when crammed into a single movie. Connors has the appropriate motivation (regrowing his missing arm with cross-species genetics) and the Lizard's arrival on the scene is handled well, but his overall plan is just generic. It's a plan we've seen countless times before in other action films, both superhero and normal. As a result, the movie loses a lot of steam and only becomes interesting again when Spider-Man and the Lizard are battling it out on screen. I enjoyed the movie when I first saw it in theaters, even while recognizing that it had some problems. But each subsequent viewing has weakened it and now I'm mostly bored with the whole thing.
My biggest complaint with THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN is that it doesn't feel like a Spider-Man movie. I know the character has been involved in some darker stories but I've always seen the Spider-Man series as a more light-hearted, fun series. Marc Webb's reboot is almost depressing. There's a lot of low lighting and dark colors. Characters always act depressed and angry. Spider-Man fits in a handful of good quips when he's doing his crime-fighting bit but the majority of the movie feels like a downer. Cheer up, people. It's Spider-Man. Leave the gloom for Batman or the Punisher. On a more positive note, the casting was great. Andrew Garfield will make a fine replacement for Tobey Maguire if the filmmakers can lay off the drama and let him have some fun. Emma Stone is a beautiful Gwen Stacy and brings the most levity to the movie. Regardless of how depressing the movie gets, her character's bright eyes and optimistic demeanor comes through. Rhys Ifans was great as Connors, though it's a shame his CG Lizard reminds me of a Goomba from the miserable SUPER MARIO BROS movie. I suppose it's just the lack of a protruding snout. The filmmakers claim they did away with the snout because they couldn't really make him speak with it. That may be so, but at least he would look like a Goomba on steroids. Martin Sheen is wasted as Uncle Ben, and Denis Leary is one of the better characters with Captain Stacy. Really, for the most part, the casting was perfect and should've made for a better movie.
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN is mediocre summer fun. If this had debuted in a year with weaker competition, it might've stood out more. But no, sorry, this movie has nothing on Whedon's AVENGERS or Nolan's DARK KNIGHT RISES. As a result, the introductory film in Sony's new Spider-Man series falls pretty flat and I doubt most people will find much more in it than throwaway entertainment before moving on to bigger and better comic book films. It doesn't live up to Raimi's first two Spider-Man films, but at least I can honestly say it was better than SPIDER-MAN 3.