Review: "The Amazing Spider-Man"

Review by Robert Lucas

Can Spider make sense?

In a year when The Avengers broke almost every box office record ever, and Christopher Nolan has chosen to end a legend, it's only fitting that the original web slinging hero himself, Spider-Man's franchise should start again now. But I suppose the real question is, how tangled is the web it weaves?

For those who don't know, the story of Spider-Man is thus: Mild mannered high school nerd Peter Parker is (through different reasons in different interpretations) bitten by a radioactive spider. It's from this moment on that he is given superhuman abilities, and eventually becomes the superhero Spider-Man.

Spider-Man is an interesting nut to crack, because his main selling point is that he's just a kid, that he makes mistakes and goes wrong but he somehow pulls it back. That's how he has always been sold, however the last Spider-Man movie made a definite turn into the “darker” realms of Spidery personality.

Now, while this new version does have a brooding heart the movie itself is continually upbeat and a true joy to watch. The story is involving without being overworked, and the relationships are realistic without feeling High School Musical. The evolution of Peter's ability, development and thinking can be followed; and is for once at least somewhere near logical, and here the villain is created out of desperation, not anger, hate or vengeance.

So often in cinema villains are made out of pure hatred and seek only distraction, however in Spider-Man it's always made clear these people are only misguided, there is no malice to Doctor Connors - only a want to do what he believes is the greater good.

For the first time the focus in Spider-Man is on the relationships. There is a lot of Peter Parker in Spider-Man, but not a whole lot of Spider-Man in Spider-Man. This makes the film feel... different to other superhero movies of late, it's as if the new director Marc Webb knows he can take his time to really build a strong and successful franchise.

I'm sitting trying to think of a reason not to see The Amazing Spider-Man, and I truly can't think of a single one. It's a film that has a dash of everything and blends well.