(2012)
Tonally, Marc Webb’s reboot of Marvel’s
comic book hero this is all over the place. This is in part surely a symptom of
the kind of “too many cooks” meddling that marred Sam Raimi’s third Spider-Man film. But it’s also due to
the absence of a director with a clear vision for the series. Webb seems to
have got the job through the assurance that he could work magic with the
Peter-Gwen relationship, having scored a minor hit with young love comedy (500) Days of Summer. And that aspect
works reasonably well, but he comes unstuck blending it with the requirements
of superhero storytelling. In particular, he's uncertain how to approach the
action.
At times the film goes for the Nolan Batman
aesthetic, with stuntman Spider-Man seeming almost as grounded and
unspectacular in his capabilities as the '70s TV version. And getting very
beaten up, which takes him much longer to heal from than you'd expect (this
Spidey really suffers, you know). But
there are also sequences where I got the impression that the more real-world
approach was used as a crutch to hide Webb's inexperience, evidence by choppy
editing and confused geography. Having dissed him a bit, I'll give credit it
where it's due, he does manage to build up a palpable sense of threat from the
villain at times, most notably when Spider-Man is perched in wait in the
sewers. And his rescue of the child on the bridge also sees suspense chosen over
wall-to-wall CGI to good effect. But Webb lacks Raimi's skill with making the
separate elements of a film flow together; even the overloaded Spider-Man 3 is
more coherent than this.
Then there's the choice of the Lizard as
villain, which actively works against keeping a foot (or missing arm) in the
real world. Everything about the character, from choice of actor for Dr Curt Connors
to design of the creature, pulls towards the cartoonish rather than the
believable. If Dylan Baker had been swapped places with Rhys Ifans they'd both
have felt more at home in the different Spider-verses. Ifans is okay, but
nothing about his Connors makes much of an impact. He struggles against the
over-familiarity of yet another damaged scientist with yet another diabolical
ticking clock plan. Design-wise the Lizard has been compared to Goomba from Super Mario Bros, and that's not far
from the truth. He's not a patch on the design of the comics; they've adopted
change for change’s sake.
I could merrily pick away at elements of
the plot, but if reports are to be believed big chunks of it went AWOL in the
editing stage. I didn't particularly mind the unnecessary rewriting of the
origins, but I found it difficult to believe the genetically modified spiders
had been weaving away for 10 years without further investigation into their
properties. Maybe they encouraged them to bite a few volunteers and they all
died?
Of the rest of he cast, Emma Stone stood
out and brought enormous charm to a largely reactive role. She had fantastic
chemistry with Dennis Leary too; there was no stretch at all in seeing them as
father and daughter. Martin "dentures" Sheen and Sally Field were
also very winning.
I was less convinced by Andrew Garfield.
His natural charisma worked in the character's favour, but he over-invests in a
role where that level of turmoil felt inappropriate and indulgent (I know he’s a teenager, but really). It
belonged in a different movie with a different character (the Nolan-verse,
perhaps). In any emotionally charged scene the characterisation felt
over-cooked and overwrought. Maguire may not have brought enough wise-cracking
fun to the part, and Garfield makes the most of the scenes where he gets to
indulge that side, but at least he didn't run the danger of becoming a
tiresomely petulant brat. After yet another bruised and taciturn entrance at
the end I was wondering why on earth Aunt May was putting up with him. The last
scene between Peter and Mary only compounded this. I can accept that Parker has
a lot to learn, but was the best way to tell us this having a laugh about
breaking his vow to Captain Stacey (promises you can't keep are "the best kind")?
A few random thoughts. The music was rather
sucky (I'm surprised to see James Horner was the composer); intrusive and
simultaneously unmemorable. The Stan Lee cameo was blissful (Webb directs this
scene with aplomb - so why do other sequences feel so flat?) The New Yorkers
unite to aid Spider-Man with their cranes was appalling; the writers appear to
have been inspired by various other nauseating scenes of plucky and rousing American
spirit winning out (The ferry sequence in The
Dark Knight and protecting Spidey in Spider-Man
2). And the most bizarre moment. So unexpected and bad taste it could have
been excised from an early Peter Jackson film; the lizard mouse, snarling amid
the remains of his poor cage mate. More warped inspiration along those lines
might have given The Amazing Spider-Man the
edge it needed to wash away the memory of the Raimi trilogy.
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