I really enjoyed this movie, though now it leads me to wonder why was the series with Tobey Maguire ever made when this one is much better? Okay, now don't get me wrong, I really liked the films with Tobey MaGuire as Spiderman, especially the second one, though the third one was nothing more than a waste of my time. However, this time, it was quite different from the Tobey Maguire series, but in a good way. Number One: Andrew Garfield is hands down a better actor (and taller) than Maguire. Number Two: Emma Stone is loads better (and prettier) than Kirsten Dunst. Number Three: The story tells us the background of Peter Parker's life, and why he needs to do what he does.
The movie begins with Peter trying to find his parents, and at first, I thought his parents had already vanished, but this turned out not to be the case. Instead his father, Richard (Royal Pains's Campbell Scott, who still had the accent for his character on that show) and mother, Mary (Embeth Daviditz) whisk him away and deposit him at the home of his Uncle Ben and Aunt May (Martin Sheen and Sally Field).
Flash forward to the present day, Peter is now in high school (Midtown Science High School) and is now portrayed by Andrew Garfield, whom I will get to later. Here he is a loner, without any real friends, though he tries to stick up for the little guy only to get pounded in return. Also at this school is Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) whom Peter harbors a crush for and she is one of the few people who actually see him as a person. However, Peter wants to know more about his parents and after looking through an old briefcase of his father's, he discoveries a formula. Desperate to know more, Peter seeks out his father's old partner, though he lies his way into the lab, stealing the identity of another student, though Gwen (who works there in her free time, an important job for a mere high school student) opts not to call him out, though after Peter wanders off from the rest of the group, she has no problem terminating his visitor's pass. It is when Peter wanders off from the group that his fate changes. He sneaks into the lab of Dr. Curt Connors (his father's former partner) and accidentally lets some super spiders loose and then one of them bites him on the neck.The effects of the bite are felt almost immediately. On the subway ride home, changes are noticed. His hand gets stuck to the shirt of this one woman, and he doesn't know why. He can't remove it, so the woman's entire shirt is ripped off. The next morning, just brushing his teeth proves to be too difficult, as he nearly destroys his bathroom. He tries to get back at the bully at school, though that plan backfires; he angers his aunt and uncle and yells at his uncle and leaves the house in a huff. After a nasty encounter with a store clerk, he lets a thief go into the street. This same thief later murders his uncle, leaving Peter with ever more regrets. It is because of this that he decides to harvest his new powers for good instead of evil, and thus he begins to help the police by capturing the bad guys for them. However, the police led by Captain George Stacy, Gwen's father, (a well-cast Denis Leary), don't like what he's doing at all. In fact, at one point they issue a warrant for Spiderman's arrest. Never mind that he's a favorite of the public.
By the time the movie gets a true villian, Peter and Gwen are dating. She invites him over to her house for fish one night, but the evening does not go well. Captain Stacy and Peter argue over the true intentions of Spiderman really are. Then he and Gwen have a make out session on her balcony and here he reveals his other true identity. Gwen doesn't get angry at him, though, instead she merely mutters to herself that she's in trouble. (I'll discuss this scene more later.)They continue to see each other, creating more than enough screen chemistry to go around.
Now to the villian: Dr. Curt Connors (another good performance from Notting Hill's Rhys Ifans). Having only one arm, he is desparate to find a cure so he can be completely human again. However, despite his vast amount of research, he is not even close to doing this. Enter Peter into the picture. Peter arrives with the formula he found in his father's suitcase and the new formula is given to the test mouse, Fred. And it works, Fred now has four legs, just like any other mouse. Dr. Connors's boss is even more desperate than the doctor, and wants human trials to start immediately, though that breaks many laws. When Connors does not agree to this, his funding is cut completely. Connors decides not to give up that easily and injects himself with some of the serum. This has devastating results. He becomes a monster, both literally and figuratively. Revenge is all he has in mind and he immediately becomes the number one enemy of Spiderman.
All of this leads up to the final battle, when Connors decides to use biological weapons to turn the rest of the city into lizards as well. Peter recruits Gwen to make an antidote to cure the lizard while he attacks the man himself. However, though he has been only victorious before, the lizard is considerably larger than him and much more dangerous, and injuries him often, causing him at one point to almost give up, fortunately the father of a child he saved earlier comes through with cranes to aid Spiderman in his quest to defeat the Lizard. Though he begs Gwen to escape the medical office, she defies him and stays put to finish the antidote. Spiderman finally reaches him destination, only after being caught by the police, though he wiggles (almost literally) out of getting arrested by saying that Gwen is in the path of the nasty lizard. The final battle is a nasty one, but luckily, everything does work out, Peter manages to fit the antidote into the machine, causing everyone affected with the lizard virus to be cured. (He fits the serum in after Gwen gives it to her father whom then gives it to him. The Captain stays behind to battle the nasty lizard.) After this step is complete, Peter returns to the aid of Captain Stacy, who is near death. In his dying breathe, he makes Peter promise to stay away from Gwen so she does not get involved in all that he does. Naturally, Gwen is devastated when Peter doesn't show up at her father's funeral (though he does come, but hides the entire time). Needless to say, they break up. The end is somewhat ambiguous, leaving plenty of room for the sequel.
The movie is not perfect. My two favorite scenes include the one where the Lizard attacks innocent cars on a bridge, and a small boy is trapped in a car. Peter manages to save him, though it is incredibly difficult, But what got me was the reunion of father and son. Peter's mask is still on, but you can almost see the tears behind the mask, for Peter longs to have his own father back. Another great scene is after Peter is injured by the Lizard in one of their first encounters. He sneaks into Gwen's bedroom, but before she can tend to his wounds, her father wants to know if she'd like any cocoa. Her first excuse is lame, but her second, that she has cramps prove to be much more effective, though I would have love to see Peter's reaction to that excuse rather than her first one. Still, it was easily Emma Stone's best scene, because she was underused.
The scene that made me mad was the make out one on her balcony. Gwen starts to walk away from Peter, but he uses his spiderweb to capture her back and then draws her close, proving that he has all the power over her, causing the feminist in me to get mad. This may only be a minor detail, as it is, but I hated it, and found it demeaning to Gwen's character because she is a strong independent woman, though that scene sets her character back decades. Another problem is with Aunt May. Though Sally Field was perfectly cast, she looked much too old and haggard at the beginning, and thus after she loses her husband, nothing changes, though it should. Also, I don't know how that many fights would be allowed in schools, but these were needed for the plot to work.
However, despite these minor problems, the film is still great with perfect casting of the relatively unknown Andrew Garfield in the lead role. He may be 28, but he nearly looks like a teenager. Emma Stone was also great, though underused. You truly do get to know more about Peter Parker and his background, which the three films lacked. The father was seldom even mentioned. Though the character of Peter's best friend, (James Franco in the previous three films) was also eliminated, but a character like that wasn't even needed. I will still gladly see the film again, because this film is hands down, better acted and contains more interesting camera angles than the first series. Grade: A-
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