Movie Review: ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ is a cut above the rest

06 Jul, 2014 - 06:07 0 Views
Movie Review: ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ is a cut above the rest The Spider-Man

The Sunday Mail

The Spider-Man

The Spider-Man

We’ve always known that Spider-Man’s most important conflict is within himself: the internal struggle between the ordinary obligations of Peter Parker and the extraordinary responsibilities of a superhero.
In “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”, Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) finds that his greatest battle is about to begin, this on top of coming face-to-face with the realisation that he might just be a supporting act in his own life’s story.

For Peter Parker, there’s no feeling quite like swinging between skyscrapers and spending time with Gwen (Emma Stone).

However, being Spider-Man comes at a price: only Spider-Man can protect his fellow New Yorkers from the formidable villains that threaten the city.

The emergence of Electro (Jamie Foxx) and return of old friend Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) not only threatens the livelihood of his fellow New Yorkers but his on again-off again relationship with Gwen.

If the above synopsis was to be all there is to the story, maybe I would have given the latest instalment in the Spider-Man franchise five stars, but there is so much more to the story.

It goes without saying that inasfar modern reboots, “The Amazing Spider-Man” is a cut above the rest and the fact it is a remake of another modern film says a lot about the work that Marc Webb, in director’s chair, and his team of writers, have done.

I thought the trilogy got lost inasfar as the target audience was concerned, and it didn’t help that co-stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst had the physical chemistry of two popsicles.

That certainly is not the case with Garfield and Stone, who simply sizzle in “The Amazing Spider-Man” and its most recent sequel, “The Amazing Spider-Man — Rise of Electro”.

Stone is charming, street smart and headstrong as Gwen Stacy, and did this with such ease that it sometimes seemed she improvised her lines and didn’t have Webb staring her down and bellowing instructions.

Garfield, on the other hand, made the transition, from the mature and level headed Parker to the more playful and confident Spider-Man, look easy.

Put them together and you have sheer magic.

Garfield and Stone’s performances were so good they made me forget all the film’s flaws and now when I think about them, they no longer matter.

I will, however, mention them in the spirit of objectivity.

Firstly, there were too many sub-plots as writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci tried to do too much in just 142 minutes.

Parker always seems unhappy; struggling with trying to keep his promise to Gwen’s father George Stacy to stay away from his daughter, to battling with his feeling for Gwen, all the while trying to figure what happened to his parents.

All this he has to fit in between reconnecting with his old chum Harry Osborn and battling villains Rhino (Paul Giamatti), Electro (Jamie Foxx) and The Green Goblin (DeHaan).

Something had to give. The result is our trio of villains lack development and are not given enough screen time to show their acting chops.

However, I have to say that the three did a stellar job.

DeHaan did what he does best, portraying the dark rich kid with evil intentions well, this while Giamatti provided the laughs with a unique take on Rhino and Foxx simply sizzled as the dark and misunderstood, if not sad, Electro.

Given we still have “The Amazing Spider-Man” 3 and 4 to come, and maybe the re-emergence of Mary Jane Watson, who the rumour mill suggests was cut from this instalment, we haven’t seen the last of Parker and his merry band of misfits.

  • For views, comments and feedback you can send me an email on [email protected] or [email protected]. You can also visit the StarFm Film Review facebook page. Sypnosis of the movie is from IMDB

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