American-English actor Andrew Garfield stars as Peter Parker and Spider-Man alongside Emma Stone who plays Gwen Stacy, Parker’s first love interest. Columbia Pictures and Marvel will look to recapture the success of the original film trilogy. | Courtesy of Jaimie Trueblood/Columbia Pictures
“The Amazing Spider-Man,” a reboot of Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire’s 2002 super hero film franchise, reintroduces Marvel’s high flying red and blue web-slinger to American theaters Tuesday.
Five years after the original film adaptation of the Spider-Man trilogy concluded, a younger Peter Parker and Spider-Man is reprised by 28 year-old Andrew Garfield (“The Social Network”) and his original high school love interest Gwen Stacy is played by 23 year-old Emma Stone (“Easy A”).
The highly anticipated summer blockbuster film plays for more than two hours, but is disappointingly underwhelming and unsatisfying.
Director Marc Webb and screenwriter James Vanderbilt unnecessarily spent nearly an hour retelling Peter Parker’s humble childhood beginnings, which created a dull and lagging effect
Spider-Man’s first notable encounter with the new cold-blooded villain does not happen until almost an hour into the plot and the film fails to build on the action and momentum created by the scene.
Webb and Vanderbilt could have used this time slot to build a more engaging and intense dialogue between Spider-Man and his new enemy, but they instead emphasized more action over character development. The plot fizzled away because of this.
Garfield’s performance as the nimble Parker and Spider-Man did not offer anything new or special to the iconic character. Garfield barely managed to fill the shoes of the curious and gentle teenage Spider-Man and his performance was a step below Maguire’s.
Stone’s addition to the film’s new direction was refreshing and is the highlight of this release. The young actress effortlessly pulled off her supporting role as Stacy and executed each of her scenes with ease.
Rhys Ifans’ portrayal as Spider-Man’s antagonist felt incomplete more than anything else. As the main assailant of the movie, the director and screenwriter failed to provide Ifans’ character with a more engaging, intense and thrilling experience. The film disappointingly suffered because of this and the climax was left with extremely underdeveloped and underwhelmed emotions.
Webb and Vanderbilt chose to stay true to the comics and gear Spider-Man with mechanical web shooters instead organic web shooters — a minor detail that Marvel readers will be able to appreciate.
Unfortunately, Spider-Man does not offer any innovative gravity-defying stunts or web spinning techniques in this new release. There was nothing to be amazed or impressed by, except for the scenic Manhattan backdrop that Spider-Man swings across.
Columbia Pictures and Marvel will be able to capitalize at the box office because of its premiere in coincidence with the Fourth of July, but “The Amazing Spider-Man” is ultimately forgettable.
