I am an unashamed fan of comic books and their various big screen incarnations. Spider-Man has always been a particular favourite of mine, I'm not sure why. I feel like I've always been drawn to the interesting dynamic between Peter Parker and his alter ego.
Parker is an introverted person, more at home with science and experiments than with people. I can identify with that and it has certainly taken me an appreciable amount of time to feel comfortable with who I am and my place in things. You sense Parker is always struggling with this too, and his release has always been this mask he has been able to hide behind. I think when I was younger I envied that a bit, I certainly can understand and empathise with that even now.
Verdict
Anyway, enough introspection - was this movie any good?
Well, yes it was very good actually.
Probably the best of the recent Spider-Man offerings and I certainly think the reboot has been good for the franchise. I never found Tobey Maguire's performances particularly convincing in the first "recent" trilogy and the dynamic between him and Kirsten Dunst felt forced.
Andrew Garfield on the other hand is excellent throughout. For me he really captures the duplicity of Spider-Man's situation without overplaying it. He is tormented, troubled and awkward (a typical high school kid really) as Peter and his attempts to come to terms with who he is and what has happened in his past are well portrayed. On top of that he is able to become the more assertive and dominant Spider-Man in a much more convincing and organic way than Maguire, who I felt never mastered this side of the character.
Spider-Man is cocky, funny and can be brash at times. Garfield captures these elements perfectly with losing the vulnerability of the character and I think it is a really impressive performance. He is helped by having more character development time than normal in a superhero movie, this is not all set-pieces and blowing things up (though when they do blow stuff up it stays blown up).
Another element that works wonderfully for me is the dynamic between Peter and Gwen. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are a couple in real-life and it shows. They have a natural relationship that feels completely organic. These are two people who are very comfortable together and the result is really impressive. We'll ignore the rather major crush I have on her too!
The movie is much more about these two characters and their interactions, torments and decisions than being a simple "superhero vs. villain" story. And it is so much better for it in my opinion. These two are given time and space to operate together and develop something that works fantastically well and brings more depth than your average Marvel blockbuster.
This decision to make the movie more about these two (whether conscious or not) does lead to possibly the only criticism I have of the film. I was slightly disappointed in the "villains". For a start, they seem secondary to the actual film. However as I said above this allows the Gwen-Peter dynamic, and the Peter-Spidey dynamic too, so I can overlook that.
But, I also felt that the villains are a bit too cliched, even for a Marvel superhero movie. The stories behind the villains and how they become who they are would not win any awards for originality. You find yourself feeling really sorry for the misunderstood guy at the start of the film, he has an accident and in not too long a time he is trying to destroy the world and get back at everyone. He gets stopped and it looks like the world returns to normal until the next bad guy decides to have a pop.
Meh. It's not bad but it doesn't really add anything to the film, especially as by the end of this one I was more concerned with the Peter-Gwen story arc than whether Spider-Man saved the day or not!
So generally I did really enjoy this, but not for the reasons I expected too. Maybe I've become a bit more aware of the dynamics and such-like of relationships after what has happened to me but I really identified with this part of the story; the anguish and the ecstasy which can arise from these relationships and the dichotomy between the two. Also the internal struggle and battle to find who you are and to then be comfortable and happy with that; these are things I have been working through recently so it is probably no surprise I found myself drawn to these.
Overall verdict then.
This is a very good movie. It is funny, touching and sad in places but there are also plenty of good action scenes, nifty gadgets and a real sense of wonder throughout. A couple of really good performances topped it off and I for one would love to see where they take the characters next.
Verdict: 4.5 stars out of 5
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