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The Amazing Spider-Man review

We review 'The Amazing Spider-Man' as it swings into the box office this week, alongside 'Katy Perry: Part Of Me', 'The Players' and the original 'Total Recall'

The Amazing Spider-Man

The Amazing Spider-Man’ could’ve been the year’s most cynical superhero flick. But with a little help from the appropriately named director Marc Webb, this web-slinging reboot is breezily entertaining and enlivened by a pair of superstar-making performances.

After the collapse of the Sam Raimi franchise in 2010, studio Sony were accused of rushing out a cheapo version of Spidey to keep hold of the rights. Eyebrows were raised when Webb, who helmed hipster fave ‘(500) Days Of Summer’, was drafted in. Spider-man as a rom-com? “No thanks” said fans.
Yet it’s the film’s central romance, between Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker and Emma Stone’s stunning Gwen Stacy, that makes ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ stand out.

[Related feature: Who is Spider-Man's new love interest?]
[Related story: Creepy Spider-Man scene gets cut]

Brit Garfield, quietly excellent in ‘The Social Network’, and Stone, perhaps the most talented young actress in Hollywood, sparkle in their scenes together. There’s one sequence, next to high school locker rooms, which sees Parker’s flustering attempt to ask Stacey on a date stretched over several deliciously awkward, twitchy minutes. Toe-curlingly good.



When co-stars date in real life there’s no guarantee the chemistry will transfer to film - see Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ - but Garfield and Stone are this year’s most convincing big screen couple.

The young Brit also impressively segues from awkward to cocky when he pulls on that mask. Much has been made of his ‘wide-cracking’ Spider-Man, and thankfully his banter with cops and robbers (“if you’re going to steal a car, don’t dress like a car thief!”) fall just short of bloody annoying.

[Related story: Why is there another Spider-Man film already?]
[Related video: Spider-Man stuntman reveals movie secrets]

Less ‘Amazing’ is ‘Spider-Man’s attempts to ground the franchise in some kind of realism. We see Parker design his own web-shooters and a plausible-ish explanation for the costume, but this is no ‘Batman Begins’-style reinvention. The elements you saw in Raimi’s ‘Spider-Man’ have just been tweaked, not overhauled. And after all, Spider-Man still spends much of the film fighting a giant CGI lizard, with the pseudo-scientific explanation for Dr Connors’ transformation not exactly convincing. Rhys Ifans plays him with an impressively alternating mix of nuttiness and restraint, but his tragedy never quite feels Shakespearean.



The action also feels merely perfunctory. Only Spider-Man’s point-of-view (POV) swings through New York stick in the memory, with his rumble with The Lizard atop Oscorp tower over-familiar if you’ve seen the trailer. The finale also sees the film’s one and only descent into cheesiness, when the city’s crane operators unite to give Spidey a helping hand.

It’s rare indeed when the highlights of a $200 million superhero movie are the leads having a natter, but that’s what makes ‘The Amazing Spider-Man' so refreshing. ‘The Avengers’ also won plaudits for Joss Whedon’s crackling dialogue, and we all know how that turned out.

‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ is in cinemas now.

Rating: 4/5

Watch the trailer for 'The Amazing Spider-Man'



Also out this week:

Katy Perry: Part Of Me (3D)

By-numbers concert doc generating extra interest thanks to moderately intriguing revelations about the singer’s doomed marriage to Russell Brand. Entertaining.

Watch the trailer for 'Katy Perry: Part Of Me (3D)'


Total Recall (1990)

Welcome re-issue for the cheesy Philip K. Dick adaptation. A remake of this head-scratching sci-fi, with Colin Farrell replacing Arnold Schwarzenegger, is released on 29 August.

Watch the trailer for 'Total Recall (1990)'


The Players

French sex comedy starring Jean Dujardin, who won an Oscar for his

performance in ‘The Artist’. Hit headlines earlier this year thanks to a

sight gag about September 11 that was eventually cut.