WORLD EXCLUSIVE: The Amazing Spider-Man Review

A swing in the right direction for Marvel's most beloved superhero?
It's been hard to get a shred of optimism in edgeways for the past year or so as film fans have been lamenting the rapid reboot of the Spider-Man movie franchise. Finally, though, The Amazing Spider-Man has arrived in cinemas and boy, is it worth the wait. As you would expect, the narrative still follows Peter Parker's ascent into the red-and-blue spandex of everyone's favourite webslinger, but as aimed for by director Marc Webb, this time around the whole plot feels more like the origins of Peter as a man and eventual hero rather than the costume and the legend itself. Through the introduction of the Parker parents, Gwen Stacy and indeed Dr Curt Connors (a man whose ambition will drive him towards becoming the Lizard) into the equation, the writing team have really managed to get the sense of the much-advertised 'untold story' of Spider-Man rather than simply retreading old ground. No more will you see the cackling menace of William Dafoe's Green Goblin usher in the reign of New York's famed superhero, yet instead it is the mystery of finding those who leave us when we're young and living beyond the realms of human capability that philisophically keeps the piece afloat in ways which are groundbreaking for the superhero film genre. Undoubtedly, the vistas are wonderful too, with a first-person view frequently adopted when Peter heads into superhero mode to great effect, and the visual setpieces dazzling even in 2D- best to stick with that format- along with some often impressive protagonist CGI. In terms of casting, the production team couldn't have done much better than Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, both of whom to a large extent shine far brighter than either of their predecessors did and thus make the flick for the majority a lot more watchable then the often melodramatic and pantomime-esque main trilogy. The chemistry between the on-screen couple is totally tangible, a factor which adds greatly to the realism of the piece along with modern elements like cell phones and mobile cranes thrown into the mix to keep things contemporary. There are a couple of minor shortcomings that keep this from reaching Avenger status, though- at first, the story is a little slow and mishandled, as Webb tries to send as much information our way as possible while still begging the question as to why this stuff couldn't have come in flashback form earlier, and more annoyingly still the CGI of the Lizard himself is just plain disappointing. In this day and age of creatures like Gollum and Caesar, you'd think we would get a truly realistic rendition of one of Spidey's most empathetic foes, but it really does little justice to Rhys Ifans' stardom, forcing him to veer between emotional and pantomime-esque performances to keep the villain true to its heritage. Nevertheless, The Amazing Spider-Man is a brilliant superhero movie that bests all three of its predecessors enormously, setting incredible foundations for the larger franchise and better still coming closer to reaching the quality of Avengers Assemble than ever we might have expected. If this goes down as the 'worst' superhero film of the Summer, then it really stands testament as to how far the superhero genre has developed in recent times!
4.5/5