Spoilers from the beginning!
This is the kind of film that Marvel can make when they
don’t try and tie a number of films together into one two and half hour team up
film. While some could see it being too early to reboot the franchise,
especially considering the amount of overlap between this, and Sam Raimi’s Spiderman with Tobey Maguire, just over
ten years ago. But luckily enough for the viewers, this film grounds itself in
a more “realistic” world than the previous trilogy, very much taking a big cue
from Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight Trilogy’.
But back to Spiderman and in particular Andrew Garfield, the
man charged with donning the red and blue skintight outfit. Once again, the
person cast to play the role of Peter Parker is over a decade older than the
character’s age, but Garfield brings the role a more frustrated and
misunderstood element than we saw in Maguire’s performance. We also see more of
the cocky and smart mouth that was absent in the previous three films, making him
a more likeable and more like his age, than the responsible and more
emotionally in charge Maguire. The highest praise that I can give to Garfield’s
performance is that I look forward to seeing where he will take the character
next as well as what will happen to him.
The basic narrative is very similar, as previously mentioned,
to Raimi’s first in the his trilogy, only really swapping the love interest
from Mary Jane to Gwen Stacey and Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin for Rhys Ifans
Lizard. As with the first film, it takes a long time for Peter to get into the
suit and for Spiderman to appear, this obviously prompted by an important event
in the Spiderman history. Whilst this story line is developing we also have
Peter’s relationship with his fathers former colleague, Dr. Kurt Connors, who
is working on trying to mix different species’ DNA to make people “perfect”. As
well as the love story between Peter and Gwen Stacey, so barring a few tweaks
and character changes, this is very similar to the original.
Like what Nolan did with his Batman films, Marc Webb has
filled his cast out with great actors who fit the roles. The three biggest
roles after Peter, are Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacey, Rhys Ifans Kurt Connors and
Martin Sheens Uncle Ben. Each one does the best with the material put in front
of them, Sheen delivers a great Uncle Ben, a man who knows his teenage nephew
is much smarter than him, but will do anything to help him. It’s a performance
that was easy to predict would have been strong and it is.
Stone plays Gwen Stacey, a more confident member of Peter’s
high school year who quickly takes a liking to Peter. It’s hard to say how much
Stacey offers in terms of the story, as at times she feels like nothing more
than to introduce some stakes into the film and in particular, the climax. But
also offers a chance for Peter to meet the chief of police (Played by Dennis
Leary) in a social setting, allowing him to meet his pursuer, finally she
offers Peter a love interest, something that has been vital to Spiderman films
of the past. Stone’s performance is one of a more mature and emotionally stable
person than Peter, who seems more angry and confused at times. This idea of the
two conflicting emotional states works well, when she talks to Peter about
going out to confront Lizard, as to Stacey it seems crazy, but to Peter it
makes almost perfect sense and is the right thing to do.
Ifans as Kurt Connors, gives and interesting and largely
understated performance, it begins to change and begin louder the closer you
get to the end of the film, as he goes through certain changes. To use an
analogy for his development, and once again referring to Batman Begins, Connors starts off as Lucius Fox but ends at Ra’s Al
Ghul, that is the scale of his change and the somewhat erratic, at times,
material that he is given to work with.
The only real question against this film is whether or not
this film was needed so soon, because as a piece of summer entertainment and
getting the next generation of Spiderman fans interested in the character, it
undoubtedly succeeds. Whether it is or was needed is completely up to the
individual viewer, I personally enjoyed this one more than the previous
Spiderman film, maybe it was because they had tried to ground these
extraordinary characters in a relatively normal world, so as a result they
stood out more.
One final weakness, if you could call it that, but it could
also just be an individual pacing issue with me, was the length of some of the
earlier action sequences. Mainly one on the bridge and in the sewers, which are
over very quickly and in a way feel rushed, which is a shame, because there was
a great chance for a bit of action sequence spectacle there.
While it may not yet been seen as one of the genre’s best
films, this could definitely be the start of a new trilogy that could offer
more about Peter, potentially, than the previous one, if done correctly.
