The Amazing Spider-Man: The Reboot I Didn't Know I Wanted

I must admit, when I first heard about The Amazing Spider-Man, I had some serious reservations. Why would anyone think about "rebooting" a film series just a couple of years after the release of the overburdened Spider-Man 3? Hadn't we had enough of Spider-Man for the time being? At least Batman Begins came out eight years after Batman & Robin, and Spider-Man 3 isn't nearly as awful as that film. To this day, I still wish I could forget I had ever seen Batman & Robin. Thankfully, Batman Begins came around. And thankfully, The Amazing Spider-Man has come around now. It does to the Spider-Man series what Begins did for Batman. Maybe not to the same extent, but definitely in the same ballpark. This new Spider-Man film is the reboot I didn't even know I wanted.

This new Spider-Man has darker tones, both aesthetically and psychologically, than Sam Raimi's Spider-Man. Peter Parker, played by Andrew Garfield, is a boy of deep psychological scars, scars only hinted at in Raimi's origin story. While following the basic origin story most of us know, the film does take some departures. For instance, the famous line "With great power comes great responsibility" is never uttered. Instead, we get an emotional confrontation between Peter and Uncle Ben (played by Martin Sheen).

Peter is left at his aunt and uncle's place one night as a young child. His parents presumably die in a plane crash not too long after leaving their son behind. The assumption is that Peter's father is killed because of his work. Years later, we see Peter painfully awkward and even more of a social outcast than Tobey Maguire's characterization. However, Garfield's brilliance in this role is that he creates a character that is simultaneously awkward and yet completely loveable. Throughout the whole film I wanted to give poor Peter a great big hug; and if I ever run into the real Andrew Garfield, I may do just that.

As Peter begins to discover his identity, more conflicts arise, and instead of Mary Jane he has Gwen Stacy (played by Emma Stone) for a love interest, who's father is Captain Stacey (played by Dennis Leary), the man in charge of arresting Spider-Man. In addition, Dr. Curt Conners (played by Rhys Ifans) is continuing his research on cross-species genetic splicing. This, of course, has predictable results. He transforms himself into the Lizard.

The plot is pretty basic, but it's the details, and more specifically the performances, that uplift the film and take it beyond its more lighthearted predecessor. After watching this film, I went back and revisited Raimi's series. What I found was a more cartoonish film series than I remembered. In the recent update, Peter frequently comes home with cuts and bruises, much to the surprise and wonder of his aunt and uncle. This is a much more believable film in tone and presentation than the previous series.

More importantly, the performances are pitch-perfect. Even Sally Field (Aunt May) and Martin Sheen, who respectively don't have much screen time, make a wonderful pair of parental figures for Peter. It's amazing how great actors can fill such small roles with so much emotion and power. But the best performance has to be Garfield's. This is his film, and he rises to the occasion, in much the same way he did in The Social Network.

The Amazing Spider-Man is a very, very good film. I haven't decided yet if it's better than Spider-Man 2; after all, they are very different stylistically, but it's definitely worthy of comparison. I may even decide to compare it to another great reboot, Batman Begins. Thanks to some coupons, I saw this movie for free (almost, Tim and I had to pay two dollars, for taxes I guess), but I would gladly pay to see it again. In fact, it's now the second film this year that I want to see again, soon.