Director: Marc Webb
The world wasn’t exactly clamoring for Spider-Man’s reboot only ten years after the launching of Sam Raimi’s original trilogy, but then again Sony wasn’t going to let one of their biggest cash-earning franchises the opportunity to sit on the shelf. If audiences are expected to indulge in leftovers (judging from box office receipts, they were more than willing to), one can at least be thankful that director Marc Webb assembled a cast that far exceeds the original trilogy – so good, in fact, that one wonders why enormously gifted performers like Irrfan Khan and Sally Field were attached to such minor roles. Andrew Garfield, he of The Social Network and an over-looked British gem called Boy A, plays an edgier Peter Parker than Tobey Maguire’s, occasionally even baring an off-putting over-confidence. For what is essentially a remake in its early half, it is surprising that Webb failed to include the most memorable moments of the first Raimi film, which involved Parker overcoming his fears and training with his powers. Here, after several lousy gags related to his adhesive hands, Garfield swings on a few chains before making the city his playground. The edgier reinterpretation of Spider-Man is most welcome, but it comes at the expense of his sense of vulnerability – this hero never seems particularly threatened. He is so self-assured, in fact, that the picture loses sight of one of the character’s chief traits, that he is handicapped by all of the uncertainty and emotional carelessness that comes along with being a teenager.
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