Garfield and Stone Shine in a Franchise Reboot That Has Arrived Far Too Soon

Rating: 6/10 (9 July 2012)

A reboot of the Spider-Man franchise feels awfully premature given it's only been a decade since the first Sam Raimi-directed epic hit the big screen with Tobey Maguire in the title role, and it's been just five years since the release of "Spider-Man 3". Moreover, some of us have had the misfortune of seeing the bombastic Broadway debacle that is "Spider- Man: Turn Off the Dark" this past year complete with an unmemorably deafening score by Bono. Here is yet another version of the superhero's familiar origin story presented in this 2012 adventure epic from director Marc Webb ("(500) Days of Summer") and a trio of accomplished screenwriters - James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent (who co-wrote 2 and 3 of the previous trilogy as well as several classic films), and Steve Kloves (who adapted most of the "Harry Potter" series). Although they go back to Peter Parker's tragic childhood in the prologue, the set-up is otherwise identical to the previous iterations except aspiring actress Mary Jane Watson is nowhere to be seen. Instead, there is spunky Gwen Stacy, a police captain's daughter, the chief intern at the OsCorp Corporation, and Peter's high school crush.
Webb focuses much of his movie, especially the first half, to the burgeoning relationship between Peter and Gwen, and this turns out to be a smart move since the screenwriters appear otherwise strait-jacketed by the recognizable constraints of the back story. Raised by his kindly Uncle Ben and Aunt May, Peter is the same brilliant geek and social outcast in this movie, but he's given a more brooding sense of anguish by Andrew Garfield ("The Social Network") - who at 28, can still get away with playing a teen. The plot starts to accelerate when Peter stumbles upon his father's old briefcase filled with complex formulas that lead him to an old colleague of his father's, Dr. Curt Connors, now a top scientist at OsCorp. Connors' focus is on cross-species genetics which he hopes will produce "a world without weakness", a personal cause to him since losing his right arm. While at OsCorp, Peter gets bitten by a spider that gives birth to his super powers. When Uncle Ben is later killed by a thief during a sidewalk scuffle, Peter decides to become a vigilante hero who is at odds with the police, which of course, means butting heads with Gwen's by-the-book father.
However, things really come to a head with the appearance of the Lizard, who causes havoc first in a fatalistic traffic jam on the Williamsburg Bridge and then at Peter's high school. The inevitable battle of good versus evil takes its toll on the city and on our beleaguered hero with the requisite special effects given a full showcase to bring the movie to a rousing finish. That finish occurs over a wearying 136-minute running time, fairly excessive given the familiarity of the story. Perhaps if the Lizard represented something more interesting than a straight-up Jekyll-and-Hyde metamorphosis, it wouldn't have felt quite as long. Although Webb handles the numerous action scenes with surprising acuity given this is only his second feature film as a director, he brings a level of personal intimacy to the movie that a typical action director would likely have bypassed so as not to alienate the fanboy audience. It's also a good thing that Webb hired two bright actors to bring human scale to the love story at the center of this comic book adventure. Beyond Garfield's solid work, a blonde Emma Stone brings her innately sharp manner to a character that could have easily turned into a simplistic damsel in distress.
Together the two attractive leads have a palpable chemistry that bodes well for the inevitable sequels. Last seen as the suspicious academic in "The Five-Year Engagement", Rhys Ifans plays Connors with similar caginess and with the help of CGI effects, fulfills his villainous quotient fitfully. The rest of the stellar supporting cast feels somewhat underserved within the story's dimensions. Denis Leary plays Gwen's father with his trademark casual authority but perhaps at the expense of the character's needed gravitas toward the end. With two Oscars, Sally Field can certainly do more than look constantly concerned, the basic requirement here, but leave it to the veteran actress to provide more depth to the fretful Aunt May. Martin Sheen seems to have the best grasp on his character's blue-collar sensibilities as Uncle Ben. James Horner's music struck me as overly bombastic for the stealth-like movements of Spider-Man, while John Schwartzman's cinematography is a bit on the murky side during the nighttime shots, especially during the climax. I just wish the whole venture could have enthralled me more, but despite some clear virtues with this latest installment, Sam Raimi still casts too foreboding a shadow from my perspective.