When it comes to naming their superheroes, Marvel aren't afraid of a little hyperbole. Maybe they should be called the adjectival superlative heroes: Invincible Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Mighty Thor, Fantastic Four, Astonishing X-Men, Unstoppable Sex Machine. Actually that last one isn't from Marvel, although I suspect it could be Tony Stark's secret code name for himself. In the movie world, where they have to compete with omnipotent critics and fickle audiences, these heroes haven't always lived up to their descriptions. And then there is Spider-Man, who was just plain old Spider-Man in the first three movie outings, but now he has picked up an Amazing moniker, and compared with the Sam Raimi/Tobey Maguire version, it has earned it.
Another origins story, this is a much lighter affair, free from Raimi's dark direction and Maguire's maudlin Parker. Not only does Andrew Garfield perfectly embody the physicality of Parker/Spider-Man he also portrays the teen awkwardness of Parker and the humour than endeared Spidey to millions of comic fans. The on-screen chemistry between Garfield and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, Parker's first love, is superb and totally believable. In fact, the casting is excellent all round, from Martin Sheen (who knows a thing or two about unruly boys) as Uncle Ben and Sally Field (who was one of the original teen rebels in Gidget and displayed plenty of arial antics in The Flying Nun) as Aunt May to Denis Leary (swapping his fireman's uniform for that of a cop's) as Gwen's dad. Again, a Brit plays the Hollywood villain, with Rhys Ifans as The Lizard, with the always impressive Irrfan Khan playing a shady Oscorp boss. It also has one of the best Stan Lee cameos to date.
The choice of Marc Webb, whose only other feature was the anti rom-com 500 Days of Summer, may have seemed a strange choice (and surely wasn't made just because of his name) to direct a mega-budget superhero flick, but his experience of making a teen romance really paid off, as the scenes with Peter and Gwen are at the heart of the story, and are more memorable than most of the action sequences, which are impressive, except for one at the end that I would rather forget, which was comparable to the veterans' scene at the end of Battleship (yup, it was that bad).
With another glut of comic superhero movies over the summer it has a lot of competition from the all-conquering Avengers Assemble, and the soon to be released Dark Knight Rises. It certainly stands up on its own spindly legs and delivers the right combination of humour, romance and action in a highly entertaining flick that fully captures the spirit of Spider-Man and manages to outshine its predecessor.
