If there's one thing audiences can never get enough of, it's comic book heroes.
There's something about the masked vigilantes that we all love, regardless of age, gender or taste in movies. So when one of the world's favourite superheroes was set to be swinging back onto cinema screens near us once again, the anticipation began to grow. Cast two of the hottest young names in Hollywood to play Peter Parker and his girlfriend, Gwen Stacey and you've got yourself a sure-fire Summer blockbuster on your hands.
The film focuses on Peter Parker, a young, intelligent teenager who lives with his Aunt and Uncle after his parents went missing when he was only a child. After finding a briefcase belonging to his father, he decides to investigate their disappearance, leading him to Oscorp, a company where his father's old work partner, Dr Curt Connors, is employed. Upon getting bitten by a genetically engineered spider, Parker begins to develop superpowers. As Connors goes to extreme lengths to find ways to allow humans to regrow missing body-parts, Parker must use his new found powers to protect the city from the scientist's terrifying alter-ego, The Lizard, as well as finding ways to woo his first love Gwen Stacey and coming to terms with grief and feelings of abandonment.
'The Amazing Spider-man' takes what we all know and love about the hero and improves on it. The combination of ambitious director Marc Webb with the talented cast and crew of the film results in a visually breath-taking and stunningly well-acted movie that audiences of all ages can enjoy.
Andrew Garfield plays the part of Peter Parker amazingly well, to the degree that it is difficult to envision any other actor ever being able to fulfill the role of Spider-man. Audiences are hard-pushed to find something to dislike in the actor's portrayal of Peter Parker. He's funny, charming, relateable and for a heroic teenager with spider-like powers, terribly sensitive. Hilarious scenes such as when Peter first discovers his powers are juxtaposed with emotionally charged ones such as Peter's grief after losing his Uncle and the rest of his school's reaction to him following it. Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield's chemistry was electric, and their scenes together were acted out so well that it became easy to forget that the two were only acting. The fact that the two stars are dating in real-life probably the cause of that. You can't beat genuine chemistry, no matter how good an actor or actress you are. Stone usually depicts comedic characters, so to see her play a more serious one in this film was a refreshing break. Her emotive scenes towards the end of the movie were particularly memorable.
Regardless of the brilliant performances that the cast gave, the film wouldn't have been half as good if it weren't for Marc Webb's directing.'The Amazing Spider-man' is undeniably stylish, but never loses focus of the story that it is trying to portray. Peter Parker's storyline is often quite emotionally charged, and has the cinematography and colour scheme to match. Spider-man's scenes however are more fun and allow Webb to stun audiences with breath-taking point of view shots, instantly transporting audiences into the mind-set of Spider-man.
The only thing that lets the film down is the scriptwriting. The last-line in particular caused some controversy within the fanbase, with moviegoers claiming that it undermines everything that the film worked upon to create the character of Peter Parker. I feel as though the relatively unexplained motives of why The Lizard wanted to turn the whole of the city into an army of reptiles could have probably used some clarification too...
I recommend going to see this for Webb's stylish directing and Garfield's charming performance as Spider-man. Let's face it, until 'The Dark Knight Rises' comes out, what else could match the geeky charm of 'The Amazing Spider-man'?
