REVIEW 140: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (3D)

Release date in India:	June 29, 2012
Director:	Marc Webb
Cast:	Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Martin Sheen, Sally Field, Denis Leary, Irrfan Khan

I bet the question on every Indian’s mind is: has Irrfan Khan been short-changed in The Amazing Spider-Man? Patience, people! Let’s first talk about everything else.

The Amazing Spider-Man takes us back to where it all began. Which means it revisits the initial chapters of the Spidey story that were already brought to us in 2002 by the first of the three films directed by Sam Raimi. Boring, did you say? Actually, no. Raimi’s were fine films but there’s enough difference in the interpretation of the lead character in The Amazing Spider-Man, enough additions, subtractions and nuances to make this a series worth rebooting. So the question is not: why is Sony revisiting the franchise so soon after Raimi’s third outing with Spidey? The question is: when the heck are you folks bringing us The Amazing Spider-Man Part 2?

This film begins with little Peter Parker’s parents abruptly leaving him one night in the care of his Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) and Aunt May (Sally Field). Next we see Peter (Andrew Garfield) as an academically bright teenager and social recluse, bitter about his past, confident enough to take on school bullies even before he gets superpowers yet too reticent to express his feelings for his classmate Gwen Stacey (Emma Stone). One day, Peter visits his scientist father’s former collaborator Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans) whose aim is to regenerate human cells to help him get back his own missing arm and also rid the world of weakness and disability (his choice of words, not mine). At Connors’ lab, Peter is bitten by a genetically modified spider as a result of which he develops arachnid superpowers, thus becoming the masked vigilante, Spiderman.

Part of the fun of watching this film is in playing a game of “Spot The Differences”. In Raimi’s films, Kirsten Dunst plays Spiderman’s love interest Mary Jane Watson. Here in The Amazing Spider-Man, the girlfriend we get is another one of the comic book superhero’s sweethearts. Will Mary Jane appear in later instalments? Equally intriguing are the references to Norman Osborne made by Connors’ boss Dr Rajit Rathi (Irrfan), clearly in a bid to set us up for a sequel. Spidey followers know of course that Osborne – father of Peter’s best friend Harry – was the scientist who turned into Spiderman’s nemesis, Green Goblin, in the comics and in Raimi’s first film.

There are two things I found beautiful about The Amazing Spider-Man: Andrew Garfield’s face; and the dilemmas of the film’s ‘villain’, The Lizard. There is such sensitivity in Garfield’s eyes that you see Peter’s pain in them, you understand the boy’s shyness and the teenaged thrill of discovering that he can crawl on walls. There’s also an interesting sub-text in the casting, since Garfield’s calling card so far has been The Social Network in which he played the intelligent, good-looking guy who is bested by his nerdy, plain-looking classmate; in The Amazing Spider-Man, he’s the New Generation nerd, non-stereotypical, handsome and also a scientific genius!  

I’m not about to tell you how The Lizard comes into being, but this I will say: he’s a tragic figure, not the epitome of evil but a misguided, desperately sad human gone wrong, torn between the goodness and the wretchedness within him. I read that Marc Webb said in an interview: “…Good drama comes from competing ideas of what's good.” That’s the USP of The Amazing Spider-Man … That you can’t really hate The Lizard. That when Peter argues with a policeman about Spidey’s good intentions, the captain points out that the wall-crawler seems not to be fighting for the greater good but to exact a personal vendetta on someone (which is true at that point because until then, Spidey had been pinning down one local criminal after another, not to rid the city of crime but in an effort to track down a man who murdered one of his own).

In fact, this film has more poignance and humor than action (when Peter first gets into costume he transforms into a truly funny guy). I loved the emotion, but some more action would have been nice, especially because when stunts do enter the picture, they are thrilling; and while most of the film may leave 3D-haters asking “why”, I found the third dimension lent an edge to the film’s few action sequences. On the other hand, the special effects are world class no doubt, but The Lizard is not particularly spectacular and there’s one shot of a burning car hanging from a bridge that is terribly obvious in its CG-ness, which is unforgivable for such a big-budget film.

Now to Irrfan: his small role offers little scope for acting, but since his Dr Rathi provides part of the set up for a sequel, he’ll hopefully have a meaty part in Part 2. That disappointment notwithstanding, the beautiful Mr Garfield is surrounded by other wonderful co-stars. Martin Sheen and Sally Field are as charismatic as ever. And Emma Stone is just plain hot! In fact, I’d choose this film’s lead couple any day over Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst from the earlier series! Surprisingly though, despite the sparks between the actors, Peter and Gwen in The Amazing Spider-Man don’t get that one stand-out, memorable scene of aching chemistry to rival Spider-Man 1’s scene in which Mary Jane lifts Spidey’s mask just enough to kiss his lips while he hangs upside down in the rain. Guess that’s yet another reason to look forward to The Amazing Spider-Man Part 2. Seriously, this lovely film deserves a sequel!

PS: DO NOT leave the theatre as soon as the credits start rolling.

Rating (out of five): ***1/2

Release date in the US:	July 3, 2012
MPAA Rating (US):	PG-13 (for sequences of action and violence)
CBFC Rating (India):	U/A
Running time:	136 minutes
Language:	English

Photograph courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amazing_Spider-Man_(2012_film)