Screenwriters James Vanderbilt (Zodiac), Alvin Sargent (Spider-Man 2 and 3), and Steve Kloves (the Harry Potter series) go back to the beginning of Peter Parker’s life and insert a new wrinkle involving Peter’s scientist father (Campbell Scott), whose cutting-edge work puts him in danger and forces him and his wife to leave young Peter with his Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) and Aunt May (Sally Field) before disappearing and never being seen again. We then catch up with Peter when he is a gawky, intellectual teenager played by Andrew Garfield, an English actor best known in the U.S. for his role as the betrayed Eduardo Saverin in The Social Network (2010). Just as Maguire’s casting was a risky choice back in 2002, putting Garfield’s relatively unknown face at the center of a mega-budget franchise-to-be took some daring, but it turns out to be a perfect casting choice. Garfield, who is handsome in a sharp, angular kind of way (he looks like he was torn from the pages of a modern comic book), infuses his geek outsider with an inner darkness and sense of self that most others can’t (or won’t) see; he is sensitive without being a sap. Plus, his longer limbs are perfect for conveying both teenage awkwardness and spider-like grace.

The early portion of the film moves through familiar territory, as Peter is bitten by a genetically enhanced spider at the massive Oscorp research facility in downtown Manhattan, which is overseen by Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans), an old associate of his father’s. The spider, which is part of Connors’ radical experimentation in splicing human and animal genes in the hopes of bringing to humankind new capacities and strengths such as limb regeneration, transfers to Peter a wealth of superhuman capabilities: climbing up walls, moving with lightning quick reflexes, and lifting cars (one of the film’s more amusing moments finds Peter, unaware of his own strength, accidentally ripping the faucet off the sink and the knobs off the doors). His movement into true superhero territory is spurred largely by the death of his Uncle Ben at the hands of a common criminal who Peter had the opportunity to stop, but chose, for entirely selfish reasons, not to. Hence, as with other tellings of the Spider-Man saga, Peter’s guilt and desire for vengeance fuel his early exploits while he gradually learns the mantra that with great power comes great responsibility (although that exact phrase is never spoken here, only implied).

While the film deviates quite a bit at times from the origin story elements in Raimi’s version (including the removal of Peter’s brief stint as an amateur wrestler, although the wrestling ring gets a cameo appearance), one thing the filmmakers clearly embraced is the importance of the story’s boy-meets-girl heart. Raimi’s films, particularly Spider-Man 2 (2004), were glorious romances in addition to being vertiginous action-adventure tales, and The Amazing Spider-Man is no different in ably spinning together its action and romantic components. The action primarily involves Spider-Man battling with Dr. Connors, who was pressured into playing human guinea pig with his gene-splicing experiments and ends up turning himself into a giant, rampaging lizard-man with serious anger-management issues. Like Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2, Dr. Connors/The Lizard is a compelling villain because he is not unidimensionally evil. His villainy springs from recognizable human emotions like jealousy, anger, and resentment, and even his most diabolical plans are never reducible to one-note villainy, but rather to his ego overriding his better inclinations.

The film’s poignant romantic angle involves Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone, also perfectly cast), one of Peter’s fellow high school students who is clearly attracted to him even if he is too awkward to do much about it. Stone is much like Garfield, in that she is pretty, but unconventionally so, and she is particularly good at conveying a fundamental sense of decency that marries beautifully with her clear intelligence and slightly sarcastic attitude (Greg Mottola was the first to mine this dynamic back in 2007 in Superbad). She and Garfield have a natural on-screen chemistry, and one of the film’s deepest pleasures is watching her assertiveness and his bashfulness meld, especially under the guarded eye of Gwen’s father (Denis Leary), who happens to be the New York police captain (thus, Peter is doubly screwed since Captain Stacy is both wary of Peter as Gwen’s new boyfriend and intent on capturing Spider-Man, who he deems a lawless vigilante). There is real sweetness to Peter and Gwen’s interactions, and their concern for each other is touching. In the end, we want to see them get together and stay together, which is more than many romantic movies can claim.

Of course, The Amazing Spider-Man (which was shown theatrically in 3D IMAX) is predominantly an action spectacular, and Webb, despite having only music videos and the offbeat romantic feature (500) Days of Summer (2009) to his credit, does an outstanding job of orchestrating the action for both maximum impact and maximum coherence. Although the film adheres to the modern aesthetic of rapid cutting and intense pacing, the action sequences keep us fully immersed and engaged by maintaining a complete sense of spatial coherence, even when Spider-Man and the Lizard are climbing along ceilings in Peter’s high school or shooting down various drainpipes in the sewer system beneath Manhattan. The filmmakers also made the wise decision to rely primarily on physical stuntwork, rather than CGI, to capture Spider-Man’s movements, thus avoiding the rubbery cartoonishness that plagues several parts of Raimi’s films. Cinematographer John Schwartzman, a veteran of several Michael Bay movies including The Rock (1996) and Pearl Harbor (2001), has a special gift for contrast, and in the film’s numerous nighttime sequences (particularly the climactic battle in which Spider-Man tries to stop the Lizard from spreading a toxin across the whole of New York City) he achieves the cinematic equivalent of the shiny pages of a newly printed graphic novel. And, while I could have done without the first-person perspective of Spider-Man swinging through the glass-and-steel canyons of the city (an approach that works well for theme-park rides, but not so much here, even in IMAX), overall The Amazing Spider-Man sustains an impressive sense of wonderment—which is quite possibly the best quality of a superhero movie.

Copyright ©2012 James Kendrick

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