The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

Director: Marc Webb

Cast: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans

Synopsis: After Peter Parker is bitten by a genetically altered spider, he gains newfound, spider-like powers and ventures out to solve the mystery of his parent’s mysterious death.

Arriving just five years after the final movie in Sam Raimi’s Spiderman trilogy, The Amazing Spider-Man would appear to be somewhat redundant. However, Marc Webb’s version provides more background detail than Raimi’s and takes the time to create a believable milieu in which Peter Parker’s back story develops. The teenage superhero is played by Andrew Garfield who, at 29, is perhaps a little too long in the tooth for the part, but acquits himself well, anyway. Parker’s transformation into Spider-Man is merged with the transformation of Dr Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans – The 51st State) into The Lizard, and while it is as far-fetched a tale as you’d expect from a superhero flick, Webb succeeds in grounding the action by combining the more fantastic aspects with typical teen elements of a tentative relationship with a fellow pupil Gwen Stacey (Emma Stone – The Help, Gangster Squad) and strife at home with Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen – Gandhi, The Departed) and Aunt May (Sally Field – Forrest Gump). It’s a decent enough stab at a familiar story which is enlivened by some impressive action sequences and spectacular point-of-view shots as Spidey swings through the glass-and-concrete canyons of the night-time city.

(Reviewed 13th December 2014)