On a recent Sunday
I took YaYa and Smiley to see "The Amazing Spider-Man" at the budget
cinema. I wasn't keen on seeing it, despite being a Spidey fan all my life. Why
bother, I thought, when it was a reboot of a franchise that ran its course
within the last decade? How many times do you need to see a guy bitten by a
radioactie/mutated spider? Pass, I
thought.
Man, was
I wrong. It was great. Much better, in my opinion, than the Tobey Mcguire
version. Why?
a. They
kept the timeframe compact, starting and ending with Peter a high school
student (presumably in the same school year). So instead of the mandatory
regurgetation of the origin story, followed by what feels like a seperate good
vs evil story a year or two down the road, it felt like a single, cohesive
storyline.
b. Gwen
Stacey. I can't tell you how peeved I was that the Tobey movie retconned her
away.
c. The
script was more mature. Not 'mature' in a 'violent/sexual/brooding' way, but
fleshed out beyond the basic respect due the mythology. Uncle Ben dies, yes,
and he dies in a roundabout way because of Peter's inaction (although no
indication is given that the guy is armed or violent at the time, which I
thought should have been foreshadowed ). But unlike the prior filmed version
Peter's inaction seems well, natural, and Ben isn't killed as a bystander, but
as a man living and dying by the code of responsiblity he instilled in his
nephew. Likewise, I liked that Ben called him out on his revenge against Flash;
later that insight comes back to shake him out of his narrow pursuit of Ben's
killer and gives birth to the true Spider-Man.
d. Sally
Field. Martin Sheen.
e .
Somehow the script manages to bring in Peter's parents and their (presumed?)
deaths, hint that Flash may become a friend, leaves Ben's killer still on the loose, and has Norman Osborn in
the background yet still controlling all the
bad karma of the film, and yet I never got the sense that they were
setting the table for sequels. Of course that's what they were doing, but it
was integrated well enough where this one stands as a legitimate one-off.
f. Spidey
is sarcastic and talkative in a fight. Man I missed that.
g. I
never bought Tobey as Spidey. Yes, he played the geek well, but remember, Peter
was a geek only in high school. By his mid-twenties he was a confident man
(barely) making a living in the city and dating a model. I could never see that
transformation taking place with Tobey. But Garfield? Brother I buy that hook,
line and sinker.
h.
SPOILER: At the end of the film Peter
has promised Gwen's dying father that he will no longer see her. The two are
now estranged. Peter arrives late for class and takes a seat behind her, and
the teacher chastises him for being late. He promises it will never happen
again, and the teacher says he shouldn't make promises he can't keep. Peter
replies, just loud enough for Gwen to hear: "But those are the best
kind," signifying that he will break his word and resume their relationship.
Without turning around Gwen breaks into a small but lovely smile, and I just
about said "awwww". What a wonderful, subtle, heartwarming scene.
Grade: A
