The Amazing Spider-Man: An Unnecessary, Yet Exhilarating Reboot

Jaimie Trueblood / Columbia Pictures Industries

Andrew Garfield in 'The Amazing Spider-Man'

The Amazing Spider-Man

Year: 2012

Director: Marc Webb

Studio: Columbia Pictures

Actors: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans

Perhaps you think the world does not need another Spider-Man, since Sam Raimi, Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst did such a nice job with him, circa 2002-2007. Even if their third installment had less zing in its swing, it seemed unseemly for Columbia Pictures to reboot the franchise so soon, like those people who finish a remodel on their home and start another a year later. Obviously, Columbia is greedy, but cant we just enjoy what we already have?

Marc Webbs ebullient, satisfying The Amazing Spider-Man might leave you with a new attitude about crime-fighting superheroes; it certainly did so for me. Theyre becoming like venerable Broadway plays, trotted out with different casts and directors on different occasions, proving themselves surprisingly flexible to new ideas, new stars. You dont say, Oh, Ive already seen Death of a Salesman, you say Philip Seymour Hoffman as Willy Lohman? Ill bite. (Provided you had the chance while it lasted.)

It so happens that Andrew Garfield, the new Spider-Man, played Biff to Hoffmans Willy in Mike Nichols Death of a Salesman this spring and got great notices. He deserves more of the same for his Peter Parker. The character is young, a senior at Midtown Science High School, and stays the same age throughout.The bony, almost bulbous-nosed Garfield (Never Let Me Go, The Social Network) is28 in real life, a bit old for high school, but between the lanky physique and puff ! of hair, he manages a credible teen. He does very well with Peters goober tendencies as well as the tenderness Peter feels toward Aunt May (Sally Field) and Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen). This Spider-Man is a full of moist sincerity; hes always tearing up. But Garfield has the edge on Maguire in terms of Peters sex appeal, which grows apacealong with his sarcasmwith each street fight won and building scaled. That famous Dunst-Maguire kiss? The Amazing Spider-Man has one just as good, between Peter Parker and his pre-Mary Jane love, his high school classmate Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone of The Help and Easy A). Gwen is beautiful, brilliant (she interns at Oscorp) and the daughter of police captain George Stacy (Denis Leary).

(READ: Richard Corliss on Garfields breakthrough film, Never Let Me Go)

A Marvel obsessive may take exception over the way the fleet of screenwriters, including Harry Potter stalwart Steve Kloves, have handled the story. The Amazing Spider-Man is neither a pure return to the source material nor a prequel to the Raimi narrative; it wavers somewhere in between. It helps to be forgetful (which comic book fans dont tend to be). I didnt rewatch the first Raimi film until after Id seen Webbs ((500) Days of Summer is the only other film hes directed) and the sum of my memory of it had faded to Fun! Good kiss! Cute Tobey! Good swinging! But even so, when the new Uncle Ben goes down in the street and the light leaves Martin Sheens eyes, all I could think was how many more times are we going to see this old mans blood run into the pavement?

The Amazing Spider-Man covers Peters bite and subsequent transformation in greater detail, playing off his bafflement about it to fine effect, as well as his dawning realization that being part spider is awesome. Theres a nifty scene on a subway car, with Peter apologizing left and rig! ht as he discovers his new strength and the challenges of having organic Velcro on his fingertips (he yanks off a womans top). How would it be to go from geeky teen that cant get a date to someone who can move like Mikhail Baryshnikov at warp speed? Thrilling, and thats what it looks like here. None of this is new to us, but Garfield and Webb make it feel convincingly fresh and exciting.

(SEE: Emma Stone as Laurie Partridge)

The main narrative difference here, other than his youth and love interest, is that Peter is more focused on the absence of his parents, Richard (Campbell Scott) and Mary Parker (Embeth Davidtz), who leave him with Aunt May and Uncle Ben in a prologue and then go off and die in a plane crash. As a teen Peter finds some of his fathers old files from Oscorp and pays a fateful visit to Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans), his fathers former colleague and best friend, although it turns out, not a very loyal one. He never even called, spits Uncle Ben. (That backstory clearly awaits us in The Even More Amazing Spider-Man, should the box office respond to this one.) Sheen is just right as Uncle Ben, and Field is good too as Aunt May, although I found her youthful mane of dark, cascading curls distracting. Im not used to Aunt May (or Sally Field) seeming hot.

(READ: WhyThe Amazing Spider-Mancant catch a break. Or can it?)

Like Norman Osborn, Dr. Connors dabbles in his own genetically engineered serums which restore a missing arm (plus!) but turn him into a lizard (negative!). Ifans handles the furtive aspect of pre-lizard Dr. Connors nicely, but when he goes reptilian, the man and the villain hardly seem connected, unlike Willem Dafoes Green Goblin, who always seemed like an adjunct of Norman. Also, even in! 3-D, I found the lizard version of him mechanical and fake, straight out of a B movie. I appreciated Captain Stacys withering comment to Peter, mid-lizard-denial, Do I look like the mayor of Tokyo to you?

Nearly as many sparks fly between Peter and the cop as they do between Peter and Gwen. For their first date, Gwen invites her classmate to share a special dinner with the family. Were having branzino, she promises. This trendy fish is often served whole on the plate. I think, from the teasing way Gwen repeatedly says branzino to Peter, that she finds both her mothers culinary reaching and Peters cluelessness about the treat hes being offered amusing. They lob the word back and forth flirtatiously, which is weird and yet delightful.

(READ: How much we loved Emma Stone in Easy A)

Garfield and Stone have serious chemistry (theyre dating in real life). Maybe its partly Stones husky, Bacall-like voice, but their dialogue has an old fashioned feel to ittwo smart kids sparring, with occasional pauses to kiss. Theyre intellectual equals (shes first in her class; hes second, according to Gwen) but shes still swayed by that physical power business. Im going to throw you out the window now, Spider-Man tells her during a fight sequence, and when he does and she lands safely on the ground, from the look on Gwens face youd think hed said Im going to peel your clothes off now and done it. I look forward to seeing more of them together and I suspect audiences will too. The Amazing Spider-Man has a little more than two weeks in theaters to prove itself before The Dark Knight Rises. Speaking of, it may seem unfathomable now, but someday in the not so distant future, someone will replace Christian Bale too. Blasphemy or economic reality? The latter. And well all be just fine.