The Amazing Spider-Man

This time the climbing hero chose a battle he could hardly win. Ten years after the universally popular film that first introduced us to the spider on the big screen, a reboot is such a risky step that its more than solid box office revenues had already shocked me beforehand. And yet despite the lukewarm critical reviews, for me, The Amazing Spider-Man is more comic book-like, playful, and indeed also slightly better than the original Sam Raimi vision, even though I like that one as well. Some people complain about Peter/Spidey's awkwardness and the fact that Tobey Maguire was a smiling friend in adversity, while Andrew Garfield boldly cracks jokes and struggles with puberty. But that's exactly how the main comic book hero and hero of my favorite animated series is supposed to be and that's how I want to see him. Outspoken and more unrestrained. The boy next door who sometimes has a big problem being Aunt May's nephew, whom she needs. And it must be said that Garfield was born for this role. It is all that much more regrettable that I can't say the same for Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy. In her portrayal, Gwen is not Gwen, but just any one of Emma's witty roles, like in Easy A. The chemistry of the main duo works, and it works great, but she herself does not fit into this universe. Despite having one of the more everyday Spider-Man villains, for some reason, I can watch this movie anytime. It simply has a specific mood that is irresistible, even if it ultimately fails to live up to being one of the best comic book efforts, as I concluded after a second viewing. (10/29/2012)

I hoped that after the new Batman episodes and the reboot of the series, whose old episodes are basically forgotten or, at best, set aside, filmmakers had finally understood how to adapt comics. Unfortunately, they did not. While Spiderman could have similar attributes to the torn hero Bruce Wayne, there is a difference. Unlike the millionaire, we have a simple guy who has his own problems with identifying with his alter ego. But there is a complete lack of fatefulness and the further you go into the film, the more you can feel the flaws from previous episodes: sentimentality, righteousness, last-minute help, the transformation from a bad boy to a good boy, a caring aunt and a proper uncle – by the way, Martin Sheen is excellent. Ladies and gentlemen, it's boring. The action is decent, the first-person shots are innovative (otherwise, the technical aspect is hardly distinguishable from the older films), but there is no deeper meaning, no thrilling scenes. The film works best (intentionally?) as a story of two teenagers getting to know each other – the chemistry between Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone is captivating. I expected more, but the only reboot is maybe only from a commercial perspective. (07/21/2012)

The high school introduction reminds us where Webb's roots are and with them the solid ground beneath his feet. The moment Peter Parker becomes Spider-Man, the creative cluelessness is on full display. It doesn't work in regard to the catchphrases, and motivations, and especially not in the action, which may have squeezed a lot of processor cores, but the virtual camera can fly all it wants - there's not one bit of real physicality in there. The fact that the crane operators work well in the film is just the bizarre icing on this overblown yet perfectly empty cake. (07/15/2015)

The Amazing Spider-Man is fine (actually, I liked it more than the ones by Raimi – though I’m not entirely sure, I hardly remember them), but it’s a real shame that it doesn’t try go any further (an not only it doesn’t try, it even ignores what it has right under its nose, e.g. the guilt for the death of the uncle). Basically, it’s your typical bland super-hero origin story that it’s pulled up by the likeable guy in the main role. In contrast, the Lizard is the least charismatic villain since the evil cosmic cloud in Green Lantern. In short, a nice but in no way exceptional comic-book routine that’s also very painfully edited or re-written – the haphazard / jumpy / shallow way it delivers some of the twists and reveals (Peter’s discovery of the identity of the Lizard, his coming to terms with the death of his uncle, the change in the behaviour of Flash, etc., etc.) is almost amazing. 7/10 (07/15/2012)

The main motto of Spider-Man, “With great power comes great responsibility”, was stretched out over the entire film. Fulfilling this concept brings greater satisfaction to both the protagonist and the viewer than a battle between a spider and a lizard on the streets of New York. The new Spider-Man is for the most part a (well-directed) high school comedy about the troubles of growing up, in which a spider bite serves primarily as an accelerator of hormonal development. The attempt to combine the school and superhero aspects comes across as half-baked (the scene of intoxication after the first date with Gwen is excellent, for example) not because of the believably shy Garfield, but because of the matter-of-factness with which the other characters – e.g. the dream girl and the school bully – accept him in his new role. As in other recent comic-book adaptations, The Amazing Spider-Man is most entertaining in the moments when the traditional hero concept is called into question in various ways. It goes even farther in this regard than those other films, as the nerdy protagonist plays with the bad guys rather than terrifying them (like Batman), and until the moment of his awakening, he plays solely for fun, with a similar light-heartedness as if he were playing a video game (probably Mirror’s Edge). The needlessly drawn-out final third replaces the model of the irresponsible boy with that of a man who takes responsibility, which surprisingly is weighed down with pathos as could be expected, though we can wonder how seriously Webb intended some of the scenes with subversive potential (e.g. the eggs). Thanks to the connection between Peter, seeking a surrogate father figure, to the other male characters (his uncle, Gwen’s father and, at first, Dr. Connors), the transformation is unabridged and psychologically comprehensible, with the only digression from it being the “sunny” shot before the credits, which at most is understandable from the commercial perspective. Like its protagonist, The Amazing Spider-Man is somewhat inconsistent and slightly comic-bookish, and a bit (more) of a romantic comedy, but – like the protagonist – it is likable in that it doesn’t show off too much, has a sense of humour and doesn’t make an epic tragedy out of the fact that one crackpot scientist decided to give backward humanity a bit of an upgrade. 70% (07/12/2012)