The Amazing Spiderman
Garfield and girlfriend shine in web of CGI
Review
It’s been a while, yes, but when Itchy heard about ‘The
Amazing Spiderman’, we still assumed we were talking about the new
Spiderman film, as opposed to the rather ‘intense’ local arachnid
collector, who occasionally drops in to show us what tricks he has
taught them. (A grand total of none so far, in case you were wondering.)
We were pretty excited about the upcoming film, and several months later, we were proved right. What a film it is. Granted, the ‘geeky guy next door becomes superhero’ story has been told before, so The Amazing Spiderman could be argued to offer nothing new, but it’s in the subtle differences, we find the better film.
Following much along the same path as Sam Raimi’s original ‘Spiderman’, the film begins by showing us how Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) became the superhero, giving us some great transformation scenes as it depicts Peter becoming accustomed to his sticky, strong, spider body, as well as how the ‘bad-guy’ (Rhys Ifans) came into being. And of course introducing new love interest Gwen Stacy (sex-cake on the block Emma Stone), all with new updated plotlines to slot together.
This time round Spidey is up against good scientist-turned bad Chris Connors, who, driven mad by his missing limb- goes to drastic lengths to achieve the lizard-like ability to regrow body parts. Thus when Connors, injects himself with some green gunk, he ends up becoming the evil ‘Lizard’, who gives as good as he gets in the brilliantly choreographed action sequences that really make use of every advance that new film technology has to offer. The action ensues across New York, as the residents are saved from being squashed by the murderous reptile, one in particular being Parker’s new crush, Gwen Stacy.
Garfield and Stone became a couple during filming and Itchy’s fat encrusted heart melted a little, as the love scenes played out between them were tender and incredibly realistic.
Garfield is a lankier, lither Spiderman, complete with new angsty teenage hoodie attire, toothy grin and skateboard. Nothing says ultra modern like a hoodie and a skateboard. But this Spidey is in today's world, even resorting to playing a game on his mobile, whilst waiting in a homemade web for the resident bad guy.
Garfield’s ability to play Parker and Spiderman pitch perfectly means the whole scenario is more grounded than it was first time round. That is not to say man-lad Tobey Maguire wasn’t good, because he was. But as soon as Andrew Garfield squeezes his butt cheeks of steel into the spandex suit and dons the Spidey mask, the film takes off, and the audience go with it.
Director Marc Webb has no problem with chucking old Spidey from rooftops, allowing him to get acrobatic with the air and a little jiggy with gravity. Some of the set pieces in which he sails through the urban jungle are beautiful, and a notable improvement on the CGI that blessed us in 2002.
There are of course careless mistakes, such as setting a building on one street, when it is clearly meant to be on another, as well as a few unresolved (and occasionally gaping) plot lines but all in all this is a new, fresher version of the film, with the strength lying in the acting and thrilling set pieces.
It was good. It was very good, and Itchy has to say- it left our Spidey senses tingling.
Hannah Hudman
We were pretty excited about the upcoming film, and several months later, we were proved right. What a film it is. Granted, the ‘geeky guy next door becomes superhero’ story has been told before, so The Amazing Spiderman could be argued to offer nothing new, but it’s in the subtle differences, we find the better film.
Following much along the same path as Sam Raimi’s original ‘Spiderman’, the film begins by showing us how Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) became the superhero, giving us some great transformation scenes as it depicts Peter becoming accustomed to his sticky, strong, spider body, as well as how the ‘bad-guy’ (Rhys Ifans) came into being. And of course introducing new love interest Gwen Stacy (sex-cake on the block Emma Stone), all with new updated plotlines to slot together.
This time round Spidey is up against good scientist-turned bad Chris Connors, who, driven mad by his missing limb- goes to drastic lengths to achieve the lizard-like ability to regrow body parts. Thus when Connors, injects himself with some green gunk, he ends up becoming the evil ‘Lizard’, who gives as good as he gets in the brilliantly choreographed action sequences that really make use of every advance that new film technology has to offer. The action ensues across New York, as the residents are saved from being squashed by the murderous reptile, one in particular being Parker’s new crush, Gwen Stacy.
Garfield and Stone became a couple during filming and Itchy’s fat encrusted heart melted a little, as the love scenes played out between them were tender and incredibly realistic.
Garfield is a lankier, lither Spiderman, complete with new angsty teenage hoodie attire, toothy grin and skateboard. Nothing says ultra modern like a hoodie and a skateboard. But this Spidey is in today's world, even resorting to playing a game on his mobile, whilst waiting in a homemade web for the resident bad guy.
Garfield’s ability to play Parker and Spiderman pitch perfectly means the whole scenario is more grounded than it was first time round. That is not to say man-lad Tobey Maguire wasn’t good, because he was. But as soon as Andrew Garfield squeezes his butt cheeks of steel into the spandex suit and dons the Spidey mask, the film takes off, and the audience go with it.
Director Marc Webb has no problem with chucking old Spidey from rooftops, allowing him to get acrobatic with the air and a little jiggy with gravity. Some of the set pieces in which he sails through the urban jungle are beautiful, and a notable improvement on the CGI that blessed us in 2002.
There are of course careless mistakes, such as setting a building on one street, when it is clearly meant to be on another, as well as a few unresolved (and occasionally gaping) plot lines but all in all this is a new, fresher version of the film, with the strength lying in the acting and thrilling set pieces.
It was good. It was very good, and Itchy has to say- it left our Spidey senses tingling.
Hannah Hudman
