The Amazing Spider-Man: Review By Jay.A.Ottley

It seems that superhero adaptations have been avalanched into a full-scale war this summer for 2012. Marvel took the superhero world by storm when the Avengers Assembled for May. Then we got Spiderman swinging in for the start of July prior before Nolan closes the curtain for the war in the finale to have The Dark Knight Rise for his conclusion to Batman. With last but not least a judge that we may all Dredd later on.

Marc Webb (no pun intended) hired solely on his brilliant and under-rated indie rom-com '500 Days Of Summer' webs together, the most faithful adaptation to Spiderman to date, while attempting to glisten it with a Batman Begins style facade, that doesn't quite swing together.

Webbing, slinging and parking into a new vision and so-called 'untold-story' of Peter Parker/ Spiderman is American-born/British-raised, Andrew Garfield. Taking a faithful and new image on the origin of Peter Parker, to differentiate itself from the one we saw almost a decade ago. Our story begins with the 'untold' mystery of Parker's parents having to leave, young Peter with his grandparents, Uncle Ben & Aunt May, which due to the knowledge of Spidey-101 you know where the origin-story goes from here, which compasses 45 minutes, as well as introducing us to the world of Parker. Which is of course, Gwen Stacey (the original Parker love interest... Mr Raimi, take note), Flash Thompson, and Oscorp's one-armed geneticist, Curt Connors (played in dis-equibrium by Rhys Ifans) and the mystery of Parker's parents, in which Connors was the work partner to Parker's father at Oscorp... Then with great power comes great responsibility and of course amazing visual effects which doesn't begin until an hour into the film when slick skateboarding Parker dons his wearing 'a skin-tight red and blue suit' and behold Spiderman Begins.

Now where do we break the Web? Let's swing with the amazing first and foremost. Before you walk into the theatre to watch the 'untold story' of Spiderman, please visit Tobey Maguire's grave as Spiderman. Why, you ask? Andrew Garfield has webbed both Spidey and Peter pretty much to the same calibre that Ruffalo HULK-SMASHED his role in The Avengers. His take on the character has become the embodiment of perfect living harmony and balance between Peter and his alter-ego, which is the Spiderman that we grew up with and loved, with his smart ass attitude and witty one-liners, that will bring the laughs... So I guess it's up to Emma Stone to bring the chemistry... prepare for the chemical reaction.

Emma Stone, whom has been impressing audiences for quite a few years now, shows no chance of stopping now and carves the role of Gwen Stacey into stone, and gives an amazing performance. The chemistry between the two leads combusts on the screen and truly gives us the relationship fans of the web-slinging franchise truly deserve. Unlike the whiny Dunst of Mary-Jane we had in the previous films symbolised by its greatest moment of a rainy kiss upside down, in cliché Spiderman style...But now faithful to the true source, Gwen is back and this time she is the leading lady and the chemistry between her and Peter is what Spiderman fans dream of as she brings the more human side to the story.

The visuals should actually be the most 'AMAZING' thing, right? Considering how far technology has advanced, swing the Webb out of here. It's only visually amazing when Spidey swings solo swinging through the city building to building... Hey! Watch out, I'm swinging here.

The action sequences are amazingly structured and designed, particularly when they don't involve the visual aid of The Lizard. But the sequences are how any fan or just a lover of film would envisage a Spiderman action sequence to be. To fighting on the train to being smart ass to criminals, burning bridges and saving kids while soaring through the concrete jungle of Manhattan's skyline, this is how Spidey should be and Marc Webb not only brings great action sequences but delivers the human / soul-searching side with his two leads to this franchise.

But to finally add the final positive aspect and one of the most amazing aspects to this new vision to Spiderman, is this...YOU MUST SEE THIS IN 3D!!! You're probably thinking I'm crazy, right. Nope I'm just a fan of comic books and a lover of films, with a brute honest opinion. To me a film first off has to be worth the definition, price and time of being placed within the third dimension and here is why Spiderman is worth all three. Spiderman is actually the only superhero worthy of a 3D title because there is so much that can be done with the 3D effects. This can be from swinging out the screen, to a web blasting out towards the audience while he swings in the air and dodges debris as well Spiderman utilises the most advance technology to date in 3D technology which shines amazingly from these previous cash-cow crappy post conversions. My personal recommendation see this on the biggest screen possible in 3D, whether that's IMAX or VueXtreme to get the most dynamic viewing experience of the film, because the 3D adds on a new element.

Now let's break the Web... shall we? The Amazing Spiderman is plastered for you to 'be prepared to be amazed' quite frankly, that's not the reality of it, because this spider has a few flaws. So that's what where we are swinging into now.

Rhys Ifans portrayal of Curt Connors is interesting but his character is not full-filled to the expectation of a fan. He lacks depth, pace and development nor is this the potential that his character deserves. It also gets even worse when he transforms into The Lizard, in which the antagonist from Spidey's rogue gallery doesn't deserve this kind of portrayal. He is a reptilian interpretation of a Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde persona... which to sum up I didn't give two swinging webs for his character. But to be honest I don't blame Ifans, he makes do with the best he has, I blame the people that authorised the script as well James Vanderbilt mostly, which I'll gladly tear him apart in his own paragraph. But back to The Lizard, he is just not done justice and to be honest, did Sony really not learn anything from Spider-Man 3 and their portrayal of Venom? The Lizard in brute honesty doesn't work as a start-up villain, because he has to be built up, you need that anticipation, the same goes for Venom and the same for Carnage, you can't just throw them out there, poorly crafted and developed.

I also had issue with the new visual image of The Lizard, I grasp that the design is so that they can control emotion, but emotion is lifeless if you don't give a damn about the character. I couldn't take him realistic. It was like I was like 'hey, I always wondered what happened to that surviving egg in the end of Roland Emmerich 'Godzilla.' This being because when The Lizard is causing destruction rampaging through the streets and in full-scale battle with Spidey, the film transcends from live-action to 3D CGI extravagance which creates the visual dynamic of the film to a whole illusory feel and style. Marc Webb, really man, what happened to the whole realism, gritty and dark concept?

Now where do we start with James Vanderbilt, let's do the SRB check. James Vanderbilt originally started off as the credited writer to continue Raimi's saga and was actually tapped to write Spiderman 4, 5 and 6. After completing the initial treatment for Spiderman 4, everything went webb-shaped between Raimi & Sony and what began were the same events that spiralled Spiderman 3 to a box office success/ fan disaster over control over the franchise, which culminated in the departure of Raimi and a Spiderman 4 treatment left to gather dust until it would be, that's right, you guessed it resurrected, rewritten and revived within the 'Ultimate' Spiderman universe to become behold... The Amazing Spiderman 3D. In which the transition of turning the vision for the fourth instalment to Raimi saga into a reboot, reinvention or reimaging, whatever you want to call it, doesn't quite work. Which this is due to the way that Connors was developed and built-up throughout Raimi trilogy and that is why Connors primarily doesn't work as a start-up villain for the Spiderman franchise, no matter what universe his in, his a character that needs building up.

In final webbings, this reboot is off to quite a rocky start, and it's a hit and miss in various places from its villain to pacing and plotting. Personally I would have preferred that Webb avoided the whole origin story and started with Spidey established. Another route also he could have continued where Raimi left off, in which he would have had the anticipated built up for Lizard's character and maybe just killed off Mary Jane and brought Gwen Stacey in as the leading lady to pick up the pieces, while kicking some reptilian tail, but I can understand the reason for the reboot it just shouldn't have been done this way. This Spiderman is amazing in some aspects, mediocre at best, Spiderman how it SHOULD'VE been, but Webb perfectly lays the foundations and hype for the sequel which should be best Spiderman ever ... BRING ON THE GOBLIN OR VENOM!!!!