The Amazing Spider-Man [2012]

Superhero reboot of the original Spider-Man trilogy of films produced by Columbia Pictures and Marvel Entertainment, directed by Marc Webb and written by James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent and Steve Kloves. In this new start, Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) is a shy and socially awkward but intelligent New York high school student who has been living with his uncle and aunt Ben and May Parker (Martin Sheen and Sally Field) since his parents Richard and Mary Parker (Campbell Scott and Embeth Davidtz)’s mysterious deaths when he was a child. Whilst investigating mysteries regarding his late father’s work in cross-genetics at scientific research organisation Oscorp, Peter is bitten by a genetically altered spider and gains newfound spider-like abilities including superhuman strength, heightened senses, agility, and speed. After his uncle Ben is killed by a criminal which Peter could have prevented if he had used his new abilities for good, he takes on the alter-ego of masked superhero Spider-Man to find his uncle’s killer and to avenge his death, bringing Spider-Man to the attention of police captain George Stacy (Denis Leary), whom does not appreciate an unconstituted individual doing the crime fighting that he feels should only be the preserve of those established by law to prevent crime and civil disorder. But when for conscience’s sake Peter’s late father’s friend and colleague at Oscorp Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans) injects himself with a serum that Peter helped him create and is mutated into rampaging and unstoppable humanoid reptile the Lizard and becomes the enemy of the city and indeed the whole world, Spider-Man just might be New York – and humanity’s – last hope.A competent superhero movie. Andrew Garfield is definitely my favourite actor out of the three actors to have played Spider-Man out of the three sets of movies, as I liked his portrayal of Peter Parker / Spider-Man best. Although some of the comic book mythology has been changed (Spider-Man has no ‘spider sense’ and his uncle Ben never utters the immortal line ‘With great power comes great responsibility’ that leads Peter Parker to become Spider-Man in the Marvel Universe), this is still a well done job. Andrew Garfield makes for a sympathetic and likeable Peter Parker, a young man trying to find his way in life whom is an orphan being raised by his uncle and aunt whom just happens to have incredible powers. As usual, Spider-Man’s love life is one of the best things about a Spider-Man movie, with in this case a great romance between Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker and Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy (also the daughter of police captain George Stacy (Denis Leary)), whom Parker confides in. With the themes of the place of power in society – is Spider-Man a hero or a vigilante? –, conscience leading to action (Peter Parker and Dr. Curt Connors become hero and villain due to both following their moral sense of right and wrong) and enjoyable action sequences as Spider-Man tussles with his foe the Lizard, this was largely exactly what was asked for. However, I felt that the stakes didn’t feel high enough in the climax to the movie – no end of the world here – for the movie to warrant four or more stars. Still, a good movie, which I put in a good word for.

As Batman Begins is to the four Batman films which came before it, so this movie is to the three Tobey Maguire Sam Raimi Spider-Man films. IE: No tie in with them whatsoever. It starts the whole Spider-Man movie franchise from scratch.But since it's only been five years since Spider-Man Three, this movie tries hard not to copy much of what went before. Thus we get what was billed as 'an untold story.' There's no Daily Planet. No JK Simmons. Bruce Campbell. Or Ted Raimi. Three rather disappointing absences. But there's no MJ being captured by the villain leading Spidey into a trap for an action set piece finale. Which is a nice change. Peter Parker remains a high school student throughout this.Since it's starting the story all over again though, it has to do the origin story all over again. But it tries hard to make it as different as it can. We begin with the mysterious disappearance of Peter's parents, who leave him living with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben. And with hints that they were working on something to do with spiders.Flash forward years and Peter is an outsider at his high school, but he has a talent for photography. And has caught the eye of Gwen Stacy [Emma Stone]. Smart girl and daughter of a tough police captain [Dennis Leary]. These two characters did appear in Spider-Man three. You may or may not have noticed amongst the crowd of characters which were in that. But they are, like everyone else, recast here.Andrew Garfield, twentysomething British actor, plays Peter/Spider-Man. An American teenager. As with the previous trilogy he gets power from a spiderbite and lets things go to his head. Given that they're trying to tell the same origin story differently, Uncle Ben has to reach for his thesaurus to find a different way to give the great powers great responsibility speech.This version of movie Spider-Man has web shooters that he made himself rather than organic ones [that won't mean anything to you if you've never read a Spider-Man comic, but there are some purists who will be pleased to hear it]. And his investigations into what happened to his parents brings him into contact with Dr. Connors [Rhys Ifans] a scientist looking to cure a certain disfigurement. Dr. Connors was also seen in the previous three films. But his alter ego wasn't.Early plot lines about Peter's parents do get put on hold as he has to deal with his newfound powers and responsibilities. Not least what Dr. Connors does. All of which leads to an action set piece finale involving chases across New York and fights high above the city. And which also like previous movies has a New Yorkers rallying to help moment which you will either find corny or moving.The cast are good. The two leads are great. And do share an excellent chemistry. And although the aforementioned early plot lines about the missing parents do rather get put on hold, this does develop into a decent character drama with some good superhero action set pieces. If you can forget all that went before and just get into the movie, then you might just have an enjoyable time.And do keep watching during the end credits, for a scene that shows they didn't forget about certain plotlines after all. And which sets up future movies. This will leave you eager to know what happens next.An effective re-start for this franchise, and a movie I enjoyed watching.The dvd has the following language and subtitle options:Languages: English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu.Subtitles: English, Hindi.The disc begins with a very very short anti-piracy feature but there are no other trailers after that and it then goes straight into the main menu.It includes a code for downloading the film onto mobile devices via the internet.Other extras are:A commentary three of the production staff.Fifteen minutes worth of deleted scenes. The first of these is actually an alternate scene. The others are deleted ones. They can be watched individually or all in a row.There's also eleven minutes worth of stunt rehearsals, showing the stunt men and women of the movie going through their paces preparing eight different fight scenes. These can also be watched individually or all in a row.There's also a handful of short galleries of various production designs.

A thoroughly enjoyable family movie.

Grandchildren love it