As the saying goes…with great special effects and budget come great responsibility.
So altogether now: Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can – and now he’s back with an all new take on the original story of how young nerdy Peter Parker (Andrew ‘Social Network’ Garfield), gets his arachnid super powers.
It’s not easy being a New York high schooler whose parents have abandoned him, with only his Aunt May (Sally Field) and Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) to call family.
Then to make matters worse he gets bitten by a bio-engineered spider – but along with a painful bite mark, Parker gets super agility, strength and wall-crawling abilities so it’s not all bad.
Cue a revamped Spiderman, complete with new spider suit, mechanical web shooters, a sharper sense of humour, and a new baddie to defeat in the shape of Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans) who becomes a mutated giant lizard.
Everything about this reboot works really well. Garfield is excellent in the lead role and he is ably supported by a decent script, jaw dropping CGI effects and new improved hottie love interest in the shapely form of Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone).
There is some real on screen chemistry between two, which apparently spilled over into real world romance off set.
The Amazing Spiderman channels a stronger vibe of conflicted adolescence when the responsibility of super powers are added to the mix, like Kick Ass or Chronicle did so well.
Spidey still rocks some great action moves and the joy of watching his web slingling/swinging antics is stronger than ever.
Garfield makes the role his own – his sarcastic wisecracks are especially welcome and make this Spiderman more like the original comic book one.
My sons bought right into the new version and were impressed by the package overall, especially when the New York blue-collar workers use their cranes to give Spiderman a boost in his final battle.
If you want to nit pick you could say that the Lizard versus Spidey smackdown feels a little bit ‘by the numbers’ but that would be petty as these numbers are pretty impressive to start with.
It looks like adding the word ‘Amazing’ to the title wasn’t too much of a brag, and more like an honest appraisal
Here’s to some further amazing Spiderman adventures before too long