In a world where comic book movies keep on getting bigger and better (The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises) I suppose it was inevitable that there would be setbacks. Green Lantern, for example, wasn't really terrible, but nor was it anything like as good as it could have been. The same goes for The Amazing Spider-Man. And to think in a previous blog I was so optimistic...
The problems with rebooting the Spider-Man series were numerous: the previous Sam Raimi-directed trilogy was a huge success and still fresh in the minds of many; the best bad-guys had already been used; previous casting had been spot-on. The latest film therefore has no choice but to try to be different: no Mary Jane (instead Peter Parker's love interest is bleach-blonde Gwen Stacy), no organic web shooters (the film is in this sense more loyal to the comic, but could a teenager really invent his own web shooting device?). There's a different origin story, and of course a different cast. And I'm sorry to say that the original trilogy, as flawed as it was, did everything better.
I thought Andrew Garfield was too cocky for a teenage Spider-Man (and too old - as was Emma Stone's Gwen). His discovery of his superpowers seemed relatively straight-forward and mundane. The Lizard was a bland baddie, and subjected to surprisingly poor CGI. Uncle Ben's death was barely felt. I admire the efforts to take the series down a different route, but I actually found myself bored towards the end. This surprised even me.
Here's hoping that any further Spider-Man films will have a bit more life to them. Spidey deserves more - and the film-makers should realise that with great power comes great responsibility...
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