THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (2012)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
First problem is the casting of Andrew Garfield, last seen in the overrated and almost unwatchably self-conscious "The Social Network" (I liked it but I recommend it with very strong reservations). Garfield is better as a web-slinging- throwing-one-liners-at-a-fast-clip Spider-Man than at playing the insular, angst-ridden Peter Parker. My impression of Peter from the comics was not that he was angst-ridden or insular - it was as if he had to hold back his emotions and still remain jocular (something Tobey Maguire did perfectly). Garfield's Peter is too remote and aloof - something more suited for Bruce Wayne than a web-slinger. So when Spider-Man first approaches the criminals, the jokeyness and sass do not match the Peter Parker of Forest Hills, Queens. There is a divide and clash of personalities here - and it is hard to fathom what Garfield is doing under that mask (which of course means the spider suit could have been worn by anyone who imitated a spider's walk).
Emma Stone is far more interesting as Gwen Stacy - she has a magnetism that outshines almost everything else. She also shares one or two delightful moments with Denis Leary who plays her father, Captain Stacy. Sally Field displays a caring Aunt May but she is not someone I pictured in the role either. Martin Sheen is always a competent performer but he lacks some of the poignance that the late Cliff Robertson had as Uncle Ben. And we have a new villain, the Lizard, who looks like a mini-Godzilla that tears apart the Williamsburg Bridge in one hair-raising scene. Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Fans) is the geneticist with one arm who becomes the Lizard, though his performance is short-shrift when compared to Raimi's expanded take on Spidey's villains in films past. The Lizard is no Doc Ock or Green Goblin, and hardly as engaging.
"The Amazing Spider-Man" is uninspired, half-hearted and overlong. Though I liked discovering about Peter Parker's parents and felt the chemical mystery of love between Garfield and Stone, the rest of the movie is a carbon copy of what we have seen already. The special-effects are fine and the web-slinger still looks thrilling when swinging around New York City, but there is no joy or sureness to it and it is all frankly too downbeat (director Marc Webb crudely aims for Nolan grit). It looks and feels like a Xerox copy with a far too agitated Peter Parker than we have seen before. That just made me agitated.
