THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

With Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Martin Sheen, Sally Field, Denis Leary, Campbell Scott, Embeth Davidtz

Written by James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent, Steve Kloves (based on the comic books created by Stan Lee & Steve Ditko)

Directed by Marc Webb

Some people are still asking the question why this Spider-Man origin movie was made so short on the heels of Sam Raimi's highly successful and prominent trilogy (and I'm one of them). Recalibrating the mythology doesn't sit well, and on first hearing about it, I thought it was a separate entity making this, not Marvel (kind of like the Never Say Never Again 007 movie). But, this comes from the source, complete with Spider-Man comic creator Stan Lee in his prerequisite cameo role.

Living with his aunt and uncle, bullied at school, here Peter investigates what happened to his parents. It leads him to Dr. Curt Connors, his father's former science partner at Oscorp. Slipping into the facility, Peter is bitten by a specially developed spider, which gives him amazing powers like climbing walls (but no web expulsions; his swinging is accomplished by a special strong fiber from Oscorp which he rigs with a mechanism). While hiding his powers from most, he uses it to take down criminals.

Connors lost his arm and is working on a special regenerative process (like that of lizards who regrow discarded tails as a survival method), and Peter helps him perfect it. After rushing human testing on his own missing arm, the side-effects overtakes Connors, becoming The Lizard, a more formidable foe than Spider-Man's regular criminals and crooks he bashes in his spare time. There is also no Mary Jane as Peter's love interest, but a cop's daughter, Gwen.

An entertaining flick, yet one cannot help but feel it is just a bit too close to the Raimi's, and hardcore fans will not complain to get another dose of their favourite superhero. And as with many of the action sequences in Raimi's versions, you're very much aware of it being an artificial animated movie sequence, and not the real thing. Peter Parker is meant to be a dweeb, and Garfield fills that job well, but his dorky build disappears once he's in the CGI and stunt-man-in-suit versions.

[Mainly directing music videos and TV shows, Webb got quite the career boost being selected for this movie, after his romantic comedy (500) Days Of Summer]

Special features include: deleted scenes, stunt rehearsals, a commentary track, and a production art gallery).

3 / C
- Paul Blom

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- A - B - C

Sam Raimi's Spider-Man movies & soundtracks

A: Multiple Viewing Potential
B: Deserves Another Look
C: Once Should Suffice