Smell the Movies
Smell the TV
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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| Year: | 2012 |
| Country of origin: | USA |
| Director: | Marc Webb |
| Genre: | Superhero reboot |
| Starring: | Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans |
| Rating: | 4/5 |
| IMDB link: | http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0948470/ |
| Tagline: | His past was kept from him. His search for answers has just begun. |
| Favourite line: | "Thirty-eight of New York's finest, versus one guy in a unitard…." |
Britain’s very own Andrew Garfield dons the blue and red spandex this time around. The kinky swine.
The plot:
Peter Parker, nerdy, awkward, picked on at school, has a troubled past. Of course he does: it’s a superhero origins story.
Losing his parents at an early age, he has been raised by his aunt and uncle, and has developed a keen interest in skateboarding and science.
Chasing up a lead about his father’s death, Parker sneaks into a laboratory run by Oscorp, and discovers a web of spiders. Accidentally triggering the machine they are housed in, the arachnids rain down on him. He swipes them off, but one of them eludes him, later biting him on the neck.
Now, powered by his Spidey-abilities, Peter sets about fighting crime, and is puzzled when the police treat him as a vigilante.
Soon, though, the authorities will be grateful for his existence as lead scientist at Oscorp, Dr. Connors, transmogrifies into Lizard, and plans to alter every citizen in New York, turning them all into a lizard army to follow where he leads……
Do you remember 2002?
All the way back then.
iPods seemed new and exciting.
Broadband at 2MB a second? You fucking joking?
Big Brother, Lord of the Rings, and The Queen’s Golden Jubilee (something to do with Prince Philip pissing on her as a special treat, apparently).
Remember all that?
Eh?
That was the year Spiderman 1 came out, with fresh-faced ultra-nerd Tobey Maguire in the lead role.
So long ago, I know, hardly seems possible, so it makes sense that a reboot was needed.
Doesn’t it?
Well?
ANSWER ME!!!
I was sceptical, that’s for certain but, truthfully, I needn’t have been.
As summer blockbusters go, this hit the mark, fair and square.
The aptly named Webb has directed a proper popcorn movie, with everything you could really ask for from a superhero film.
There’s the creation arc covered.
There’s some romantic intrigue.
There’s pathos and loss.
There’s a villain who is clearly insane, megalomaniacal and who has hatched a demented plot.
All the boxes ticked, one after the other.
There’s new stuff, too.
Here, the spider-bite doesn’t result in the mutation that allows Spidey to produce webs, instead he has to fashion a device of his own making.
Also, a new innovation in camera-angle as, fleetingly, we swing through the city in first person, looking through Peter’s eyes. Cool as fuck, those bits, and gratifyingly under-used, leaving you craving for more.
Clever.
Desperately scrabbling around for flaws, and it’s tough but, to be ultra critical, you could easily argue that it adds nothing new to the cinematic universe of Spiderman, and you could grumble that Lizard looks a bit rubbish at times.
But it’s nit-picking.
At well over two hours long, it would be usual to complain about the length at this point, too, but this just flew by.
Hollywood is as Hollywood does and, here, they’ve served up a belter.
Very good indeed.
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