Reviewed by Victor Rebikoff.
Director: Marc Webb, Columbia Pictures, M, 136 Minutes.
It is some twenty years since filmmaker Sam Raimi released the first of his ‘Spiderman’ movies but now it is ‘Gifted’ director Marc Webb at the helm with his own spin on the origins of the comic book hero.
Webb’s intriguing insight into the early life of Peter Parker (Spiderman) has him delving into his past and is played in this rendition by ‘The Social Network’ star Andrew Garfield.
The story begins with his childhood, followed by the day his parents disappeared and later as a teenager when he is looked after by his Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen – ‘The Way’) and Aunt May (Sally Field – ‘Lincoln’).
As a high school science student Peter is quite determined to find out more about his parents’ disappearance after coming across his father’s briefcase which revealed his secret work on cross-species genetics.
This soon leads Peter to his father’s former partner, the one-armed scientist Dr Connors (Rhys Ifans – ‘Snowdon’) who invites Peter to work with him on his cross-species project; Peter later discovers Connors can change into a dangerous lizard.
It is at Connors’ lab where Peter is bitten by a lab spider, transforming him into Spiderman, and where he meets love interest Gwen (Emma Stone – ‘La La Land’).
Due to the sudden death of his Uncle Ben, Peter takes on the role of Spiderman, before confronting Connors in his lizard form, this sees Gwen’s father Captain Stacy (Dennis Leary-‘Draft Day’) in a deadly encounter.
There is no doubt that Tobey Maguire provided a praiseworthy portrayal of Spiderman in Raimi’s highly popular ‘Spiderman’ trilogy and that Garfield’s convincing characterisation only enhances the image of the iconic superhero through Webb’s skilful recreation of his rendering.
He initially achieves this by painting a picture of Peter appearing as an awkward high school nerd with a skateboard and then showing him having a few difficulties in taking on his Spiderman role.
Webb has certainly added to the Spiderman franchise with his enjoyable and entertaining retelling of the Spiderman story largely due to the fine portrayals from Garfield, Ifans, Stone, Sheen and Field which includes a number of amazing special effects.
The Amazing Spiderman is to be televised on 7FLIX at 8.30PM on Friday 21 May.
Vic’s Verdict: 4 Stars
