On my spare evenings (of which there are more than I would wish) I like helping out at the campus student cinema. It's one of the societies at the university that allows students, and anyone else who wants to brave it, to see recently released films in one of the lecture theatres that has been especially created to transform into a fully functioning cinema. Students get to see some of the best films the industry has to offer (and some of the not so good ones as well) at a fraction of the price they would pay at a normal cinema.
One of the perks of being a member of this society and helping out on the night is that you get to see the film for free. This can sometimes backfire, like the time one of my friends forced me to stay and watch 'The Tree Of Life' just because I didn't have to pay for it, but more often than not it is definitely worth the hassle of selling tickets to students or winding down the ridiculously large cinema screen to get to see a decent film. So when the cinema decided to show 'The Amazing Spiderman' I thought I would pop along and help out.
I am not ashamed to say that when it comes to superhero films, I am definitely a fan, but I was quite disappointed by the previous 3 Spiderman films which seemed to get progressively worse as they went along. In my opinion, Toby Maguire was not the right choice to play Peter Parker. There was just something about him that just didn't feel right and the films themselves seemed a bit too...self-righteous, kind of like Peter Parker could do no wrong (I will admit that it has been a while since I have seen the first 3 films so I may be exaggerating their awfulness a bit in my head).
However, this version of Spiderman was far, far better. The special effects were superb, particularly the 'swinging from the rooftop' parts when the audience views the action from Spiderman's point of view. The plot was more in line with the original comic books and seemed more realistic (if that's possible with a film about a guy with super powers) with Parker making many mistakes along the way and also viewing his new powers as any teenage boy would, with a sense of fun and arrogance. The choice of villain was also good and the pace of the action sequences kept the movie progressing at a good speed.
Acting wise, Andrew Garfield is a much better choice for Peter Parker than Toby Maguire could ever be and also a much better actor in general. He shows both Parker's awkwardness and Spiderman's confidence really well and the chemistry between him and Emma Stone comes across very clearly. Rhys Ifans as Dr Curt Connors is also good, rounding off what is a great cast.
On the downside, the film does take a while to get into the whole Spiderman thing with the film makers deciding to retell the story from the very beginning, essentially rehashing most of the first Spiderman film not that long after it had been released. Also for fans of the comic books, this Peter Parker may be slightly too cool.
Other than that I think this film is pretty good and hands down beats the previous representation of Spiderman on the big screen. Overall, I think this stands up to some of the best superhero movies out there and should definitely be seen by all superhero fans.
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