The Amazing Spider-Man

My initial thought a year ago on hearing that there was a new re-booted Spiderman film being planned was the same as most people it appears, i.e. do we really need another one? Well, if you want an un-thrilling effects heavy cheese fest then your prayers have been answered. In The Amazing Spider-Man Andrew Garfield dons the costume with Rhys Ifans taking baddie duties as Dr Curt Conners / The Lizard and Emma Stone being token totty Gwen Stacy. It’s a nice gag to say that director Marc Webb helped get the gig on that surname alone, but his previous film was the highly enjoyable and original (500) Days Of Summer. Its irony ahoy then that whilst this is a film regarding the origins of Spider-Man, there’s virtually nothing original here in the telling of that story. Peter Parker is a nerdy teen, gets bitten by a dodgy spider, fights the baddie and saves some peeps. It’s all here and it’s all been seen before. In addition, despite the film allegedly utilising “spectacularly advanced technology” the effects work isn’t all that great, especially with The Lizard which looks like it was designed using mid 1990’s computers. Has this been mis-cast as well? Garfield’s already proved himself in other films, but he’s pretty laid back here and doesn’t really convince as a superhero or as a standard teen. It’s similar for Stone who doesn’t even bother getting out of first gear, not helped by the fact that despite being only 23 she looks about ten years older than the character she’s playing. Oddest of all is that despite becoming a couple during shooting there is zero chemistry between Garfield and Stone and their scenes together smack of sixth form acting classes as opposed to big screen romance. Plus Martin Sheen and Sally Field as Parker’s respective uncle and aunt barely register. On the plus side, Ifans continues his recent upsurge in Hollywood with a decent performance and Denis Leary (in his first live action film appearance for ten years) is fun and believable as Stacey’s humourless police chief dad. Other good stuff includes the scenes where Parker starts to develop superhuman strength, the decision to revert to the original comic idea regarding the web slingers, a few decent laughs and the best Stan Lee cameo for ages. At least it’s a slight improvement on Sam Raimi’s disastrous last spidey effort as well.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
An un-amazing film. Rating: 5/10.