Usually I can review a film right after seeing it. This was not the case with The Amazing Spider-Man. I needed to take a couple of days and reflect upon it before writing. The reason for this is because this film is not bad but it's not great either. It's somewhere in between and those films are the toughest to review. I think the best approach is for me to discuss what I liked and what I didn't.
I'll admit that I went into this film with no expectations except for the hope that it'd be better than the Sam Raimi films. It's not that I hated them, at the time they were quirky and were the rebirth of the marvel hero film so to speak. But boy have we come a long way. We as viewers are no longer satisfied with a simple hero story anymore, we aren't as easy to please as we once were. With films like Thor, Iron Man and The Avengers the bar has been raised. We know what great cinema is and we won't settle for less. The Amazing Spider-Man is much better than the Raimi films for reasons I'll discuss further. However plot wise it is lacking and doesn't come close to the brilliant superhero films of late.
Let's get the bad over with shall we. The number one problem with this film is the script. The first third of the film takes its time setting up the plot, Peter Parker's (Andrew Garfield) abandonment issues and teen angst, his inevitable transformation into Spider-Man, and Uncle Ben's (Martin Sheen) untimely demise. In the first act we see Parker go from nerd to vengeful super human. The problem however is that a whole third of the film is dedicated to what we already saw in Raimi's 2002 Spider-Man. So much time is dedicated to what we already know is going to happen that the second and third acts feel rushed, leaving many plot holes and unanswered questions. I have a feeling that director Marc Webb (yep, that's his name!) wanted to allude to plot points, leave some ambiguity, however you have to be a very talented director, aka Chris Nolan, to pull this off, and unfortunately Webb does not possess skills like Nolan.
The main plot points of this film are a: Parker's transformation into Spider-Man, b: Parker's desire to know why his parents left him, c: Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans) transformation into The Lizard, and d. Parker's choice to go from vengeful vigilante to super hero. Plot point a is rushed to the point that you ask yourself how he learnt so quickly to control impulses that in the last scene destroyed his bathroom. Plot point b goes completely off screen after the first act. I imagine Webb has decided to leave this for the sequel but still, some indication of that would be nice. Plot point c in my opinion could have completely disappeared from the film. I know we need a villain but I think it would have been more interesting to focus on Parker's transformation and the city's response to this rather than play it out against a giant lizard. Plot point d is done relatively well but I found myself wondering if he would ever catch his Uncle's murderer, rather than just give up the search all together.
So as you can see the script definitely had glitches, and there are many other unanswered questions. What happened to Rajit Ratha after the bridge? And what happened to all those released scenes leading up to the film? None of them were actually in the film. The reason Parker climbs the fire escape to Gwen Stacy's (Emma Stone) apartment is because in a removed scene the doorman wouldn't let him in. This scene is available on YouTube here: Doorman Scene. Supposedly Ratha had a scene that showed his death but that was left on the cutting room floor too. I understand the need to cut scenes for timing but to cut plot points seems a little risky.
Technically speaking I saw a few odd edits that made me lose immersion briefly, it's not often there are editing problems in a big budget film like this but I noticed at least two. I also wasn't a fan of the music choices. I love Coldplay, don't get me wrong, but was "Till Kingdom Come" the best song to play as Parker discovers his new skills? Maybe a more upbeat up tempo song might have worked better. And while we're on it I don't think 3-D lent anything extra to the film. A few of the POV shots were great but apart from that it wasn't necesary. But now I'm just getting picky so let's move on shall we?
You must be wondering after all that what I can say that is good about this film. Well there is one thing that saved it from its limited script - the acting. I was really impressed by Garfield as Parker/Spider-Man. He bought a raw emotion to the role that Toby Maquire was unable to do. I found myself connecting to this lost and fragile yet indestructible hero. He also bought an endearing awkwardness to the role. Add to that Emma Stone as Parker's love interest and you have a winning combination. Their chemistry on screen was off the charts, it's not surprising they've been dating since the shoot. Webb obviously noticed their ability to light up the screen together and used it to his advantage. Martin Sheen played a loveable Uncle Ben and the wonderful Sally Field was charming yet underused as Aunt May. Denis Leary was great as Captain Stacy, Gwen's father. He had a great character arc throughout the film and bought that Leary charm we all know and love.
So as you can see I'm a little torn in regards to this film. I didn't like the script but loved the acting. The plot lacked completion but the performances were great. Technically I think the film was out of it's depth but once again you can lose yourself in the characters and not get too caught up on it. It's almost unfortunate that a film like The Avengers came along because so few films are going to be able to do what it did - combine wonderful SFX with an intriguing and complete story, spectacular characters and a talented cast. If I'd seen this film first perhaps I would have been less critical but alas, I am a spoiled viewer and have had a taste of greatness and now it's all I want. So my advice is that you should see this film, let yourself be entertained and try not to ask too many questions afterwards. Perhaps if we're lucky Joss Whedon will take on the sequel.
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