I'm going to be frank: this is a very difficult film to review for me. Words cannot describe how much Spider-Man means to me as a character. I remember, eight years ago, when I sat down in a dark theater and watched Spider-Man 2 for the first time. That was my first superhero movie. The film that got me not only into the Spider-Man mythos, but into the world of comic books in general. I owe the entire Raimi trilogy a huge debt, for they set a standard for me by which I compared all other superhero films until the release of Avengers and Dark Knight.
While those films are better in terms of quality than the Raimi films, I still hold the Raimi trilogy very close to my heart. Now comes this reboot, clearly existing only for Sony to keep the rights away from Disney. Knowing that this was a reboot too soon, when I went in to see this film I swore to analyze it on its own terms. So many "professional" critics give this film a bad rep simply for this reason. Well, these are the same concerns fans have voiced since the film was announced, and that was two years ago. I may not like the idea of going back to square one, but I've made peace with it, so I've decided to review this film not on how it ranks to the previous trilogy, but how well it does as a standalone film and as a proper interpretation of the Peter Parker character and his extensive mythology.
Right off the bat, let me say that the filmmakers made the right choice with Marc Webb as director. Webb's only previous film is 500 Days of Summer, and while I've not seen it, I hear it's one of the best indie romances in quite a while. Anyone who has read the Spider-Man comics knows that, at heart, amid all the big hero battles, Spider-Man is supposed to be an indie romance, and Marc Webb really understands this. While it may seem pointless to redo the origin, it does afford Webb the opportunity to spend more time with our characters and get to know them better, not to mention show off his talents as a master at presenting relationships. Thanks to him, we get a clear interpretation of Peter Parker.
Ah, Peter Parker. Out of all the comic book characters, his is the one I relate to the most. The new Peter, Andrew Garfield, seems to understand this, as he is by far the better Peter Parker (no offense to Tobey Maguire). Garfield plays Peter as a loner by choice, the result of being abandoned by his parents at a young age. In a time when nerds and geeks are considered "cool", making Peter a willing outcast makes a lot of sense. He's at a time in his life where he's trying to find himself, starting with discovering what happened to his parents.
Garfield stutters and comes off as incredibly shy as Peter Parker and plays him with a darker edge, again the result of his loner status. As Spider-Man, he is simply fantastic, as we finally get the wisecracking Spidey we know from the comics. He's smart enough to invent his own webshooters (yes!) and he just exudes Spidey with his classic poses and the way he acts in combat. I would go so far as to say that, as both Peter and Spidey, Garfield's role is definitive. He wasn't kidding when he said he is enormously passionate for the character, since the Spider-Man he presented is the Spider-Man I've grown to love from the comic books.
Not only does Garfield do a magnificent job, but Webb had enough insight to surround him with a supporting cast that truly encapsulated the characters from the comics. Emma Stone is the perfect Gwen Stacy. She's gorgeous, intelligent, and has amazing chemistry with Garfield. A scene where the two of them try to make plans for a date and end up stumbling with their words is a treat to watch, because it feels like something two teenagers would actually say. Plus, Gwen contributes to the plot, and isn't there just to play damsel in distress.
Dennis Leary plays her father, Captain George Stacy, who for the majority of the film acts as the J. Jonah Jameson substitute as he tries to bring Spidey to justice. Leary plays the character well, as he goes from enemy to supporter of Spider-Man and comes to understand why there is a need for superheroes when the police can't handle the situation. His relationship with Gwen is great too, as they really play like a true father and daughter.
Then there's the Parkers. Aunt May and Uncle Ben were pitch perfect in this film, especially the great Martin Sheen as Ben. He acts as an excellent mentor to Garfield's Peter, and while it may seem familiar, his death scene was very tragic and emotional thanks to the loving father figure Sheen wholly embodied. A scene, post-death, where Peter replays a voice message Ben sent him before he died was a clever way to illustrate how torn up Peter feels about losing his uncle. As for Aunt May, Sally Field played the character well. She was definitely loving enough, always looking out for Peter's well-being and freaking out when he comes home late at night with scars and bruises (whether or not she actually realizes he's Spider-Man at the end is anyone's guess, though).
And then there's the villain: Rhys Ifans as Dr. Curt Connors, aka the Lizard, a villain I've been waiting to see on screen for years. Ifans plays Connors as the sympathetic man from the comics, obsessed with regrowing his arm and developing warped ideals on what's best for humanity once he goes full lizard. The look of the villain is fantastic. While it may not have a snout, the Lizard's humanoid face allows him to emote better, and he still comes off as a legitimate threat. Plus, he wears a lab coat at one point. How could I not be excited? His plan to mutate the city into an army of Lizards was straight from the comics as well, and the overall presentation made the Lizard an excellent antagonist to Garfield's Spidey.
There is no doubt in my mind that the direction and cast for this movie was, dare I say it, amazing. The story, however, does seem a little familiar, in that it borrows several plot elements from the previous trilogy. I know I said I would analyze the film on its own merits, but making a reboot ten years after the original is bound to draw comparisons. This film has the spider bite, the bullying, death of the uncle, a green villain connected to Oscorp, a funeral at the end, and even elements from the sequels, with an antagonist who is initially against Spidey helping him against the villain after unmasking him only to end up dying and Spidey even spending part of the film tracking down his uncle's killer.
With all of this said, the film still delivers in terms of story. It's not that the story beats are similar, it's that the way they're presented are so different that we emerge with a character arc for Peter that is fundamentally different from the old films yet at the same time doesn't betray the core concept of who Spider-Man is. Uncle Ben's death and Peter's origin as Spider-Man are the principle examples of this.
The vanishing of Peter's parents becomes the catalyst for the film, in that it causes Peter to go searching for clues that ultimately lead him to Oscorp and his transformation into Spider-Man, not to mention the eventual transformation of Connors into the Lizard when Peter gives him the regeneration formula his father came up with. When Uncle Ben dies, it once again is the result of Peter failing to act when a crime was in progress. However, Peter's right there when the death happens, and the killer gets away. His guilt over his uncle's death is immediately channeled into a desire for vengeance, and this becomes his initial motivator to become Spider-Man. However, he begins to learn how to be a proper hero and use his powers responsibly thanks to a scene on a bridge following Lizard's first change, that has Peter giving a child a confidence boost when he gives him his mask.
It is then that Peter realizes that Spider-Man can be about so much more than vengeance, and that he has a responsibility to protect the city and stop the Lizard, which he had a hand in creating. The immediate threat of the Lizard plays more on his new role as Spider-Man, and therefore takes precedence over what happened to his parents or his uncle's killer. Those are personal threads that will be resolved when the time is right, but the point of the film is to put personal goals aside for the greater good. Any true Spider-Man fan would know this is the moral of the character, one which was portrayed perfectly in the previous trilogy and is portrayed equally well here, if only through a different interpretation. Thus, the personal arcs about Peter's dead family members are left behind to focus on the arc that develops Peter as he comes to embrace Spider-Man as a part of his identity.
Realizing this, I have come to wholly embrace this new film as a fantastic take on the Spider-Man mythos, one that establishes its own identity away from the Raimi films despite the familiarity but still keeps the core concept of the character intact. Everything is modernized, and there is a grittiness and a touch of realism to the proceedings, but the film still knows how to have fun when it wants to. It's hard not to fall in love with Parker and Stacy as a couple, not to mention how Garfield finally embodies the wisecracking Spider-Man we know from the comics who assaults his enemies with puns as well as punches. Of course, the action is also a huge contributor to this film's entertainment value. Peter's movements make him seem like a real spider, and the choreography of his web slinging and fights with criminals and the Lizard are very impressive.
All in all, this is an excellent addition to the Spider-Man film franchise, one that sets up a new Peter Parker and a new story arc for a new generation. It may seem like the wild card this summer sandwiched between Avengers and Dark Knight Rises, but this Spider-Man cannot be overlooked. At the end of the day, I'm glad to see my all time favorite superhero back on the big screen, and reinterpreted in a way that remains faithful to who the character is and why he has stood the test of time for the last fifty years.
No comments:
Post a Comment