Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) lives with his Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) and Aunt May (Sally Fields), attends Midtown Science High School, has bullying problems, and is infatuated with a girl named Gwen Stacey (Emma Stone). He's a typical teenage boy. When Peter discovers a briefcase that used to belong to his scientist father, who along with his mother, disappeared when he was a young boy and was never seen or heard from again, learns he worked with fellow scientist Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans) at Oscorp, where they were attempting to engineer a revolutionary regeneration serum to help regrow limbs and human tissue with the use of animal DNA. Sneaking into Oscorp, Peter enters a lab where a "biocable" is being created from genetically modified spiders, one of which bites him. On the subway ride home, he discovers that he has developed spider-like abilities.
From there, naturally, Peter must learn to control his new powers, and soon realises that he must use them for good, after a shocking incident that results in the death of his Uncle. Meanwhile, he tries to investigate the source of his powers, and unwillingly provides Dr. Connors with the decay rate algorithm he found in his father's briefcase, leading to a disabled Conners to try the regenerating serum on himself, turning him into a human/ lizard hybrid.
While Peter's typical teenage boy problems, bullying, girl troubles and the strenuous relationship with his Uncle and Aunt were all typical eye-rolling fare, Garfield's portrayal of a hero coming to terms, and coming of age, in which a little bit of teenage recklessness and arrogance is necessary, was great. The way in which Uncle Ben's death was handled was a wonderful, albeit dark, scene in which Peter learns a valuable lesson. The film allows Garfield to be smug and sarcastic as Spiderman, yet never lets him get away with too much without being severely punished or learning a thing or two.
Suspension of disbelief always goes out the window when watching films like this, and audiences have to take human/ animal regenerative DNA experiments, biochemical antidotes and the sort as extremely common occurrences. While Ifans is fine as scientist-turned-bad Dr. Connors, his character motivation is weak. He has a missing arm, so his life's work is understandable, but when exactly he decided to turn the entire world into human reptiles, or why, is beyond me. Again, Sheen and fields are fine as Uncle Ben and Aunt May, but the words of wisdom they share with Peter every time he's at home are instantaneously cheesy and overly sentimental.
The actions scenes were good, but nothing special, and the same can be said for the CGI, which actually didn't seem to be up to scratch with the special effects audiences are used to in superhero films today. Furthermore, the film spends a fair bit of time on the mystery surrounding Peter's parents, a conclusion left for one of the many sequels the film is going to have, but one feels time may have been better spent in the film then posing questions for a later date.
The Amazing Spider-Man is typical superhero stuff, but Andrew Garfield is a breathe of fresh air as the newly born character, which allows the film to stand a little more firmly on his shoulders.
Rating: 3/5
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