Apart from The Dark Knight Rises (opening next week!) and The Avengers , I think this was one of the most anticipated films this summer. I have to say that I'm not a huge fan of the original Sam Raimi's trilogy. It's good, but I always felt that it fell into the category of films that could have been so much more. There was nothing wrong, but there was something missing.
So I had high hopes for this and I let out a really girlish squeal, when it was announced that Andrew Garfield would play the new Spider-Man. I like him, I think he's done really great roles an´d he's going to go far. But I did have doubts as well, I thought (like everyone else...) that it was a bit stupid to reboot a film series that ended just a few years ago. But when the whole cast and director were announced, I was more optimistic. How could they go wrong with these people?
They couldn't.
So we have Andrew Garfield playing Peter Parker, who gets bitten by a spider and suddenly is able to kick everyone's ass and climb really tall buildings. But at the same time, there's a new species roaming around New York and our very own Peter Parker has something to do with it and has to take responsibility for his actions and rise to the occasion and save the world... New York, I mean. All while dealing with your typical high school problems like girls and bullies. Talk about a rough day.
It's a very traditional story, but it works. The story in this film and the original is very similar, but for me, this works better than the one in the original Spider-Man, because this has more heart in it and we play with emotions like guilt and responsibility more.
Rhys Ifans is the star of the film, giving a superb performance as Dr. Curt Connors who turns into Lizard, who is for me, the most interesting villain in the Spider-Man universe. Emma Stone is feisty as Gwen Stacy, but sadly the character turns out to be a bit underwritten and boring, but I'm hoping that we see more of her in the sequels. I'm sure the writers had their hands full with the whole "rebooting a super popular film franchasise while trying to convince the audience that we're not in this just for the money", I get it. And Sally Field and Martin Sheen. What can be said? You take two amazing actors and give them two very lovable characters, you just can't go wrong. These characters are very different from Raimi's characters, but I fell in love with them.
I am very happy that Andrew Garfield was able to support the weight of a character like this. I read a few reviews and they said that Garfield was born to play Spider-Man and I do have to say, I agree. His take on the character was really different from Tobey Maguire's Spidey, but I like them both. Maguire's Parker is a really awkward boy, while Garfield makes his Parker young, but fun, very light sometimes. Despite this, Garfield is able to bring depth to Parker, who, in the end, is a very damaged and hurt character, who has lost his parents and is suddenly struggling with a power he doesn't understand.
The Lizard... A great character, very complex. As I said, Rhys Ifans did a marvellous job with it, but I still hoped for something more. I wanted to see the difference between Dr. Connors and Lizard, how they are not the same, but one can't exist without the other. I wanted to see more Dr. Connors battling his inner demons and his desire to have his missing arm back. I also wanted for him to pose a real threat to Spider-Man. Not at any point did I suspect that Spidey couldn't win this fight, it was more of a question if Spidey could save Connors while capturing The Lizard. And I did have a slight problem with The Lizard's looks. He looked... bald? I was impressed at first, but after watching close-ups, it just started to look a little funny. But all in all, a great villain for this film.
Marc Webb is fast becoming one of the most promising directors in Hollywood. I was a big fan of his music videos and who doens't loe (500) Days of Summer? And he just did the impossible; he successfully rebooted a franchasise that didn't need rebooting. So I will definately be watching what he does next.
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