Parker’s practise flights bruise a sewer scrap with the Lizard scars a lab encounter with another mutation shocks. Raimi might have made more of that and of the Lizard’s misdeeds: one bio-terror emission goes nowhere.īut even though the generic CGI monster sits awkwardly with a more “grounded” rethink, and even though Spidey’s homemade web-shooters won’t thrill anyone but the comic-book faithful, there’s a satisfyingly visceral thwack to the set-pieces. True, Connors’ swing from good guy to grotesque is fudged a beat too fast for the Lizard to be a true tragic villain. Webb aims for hipster cachet: spot the hoodie, Ramones t-shirt and The Shins song (see also Garden State).īut Webb scores on action, surprisingly so given the lack of cross-species smackdowns in his rom-drama (500) Days Of Summer. Simmons and the tone toggles uncertainly between comedy/tragedy after one key turning point.Īwkward cornball lapses extend that tonal uncertainty. Stone gets a cheeky gag about cramps.īut Denis Leary’s stalwart Captain Stacy isn’t quite as feisty or funny a foil for Parker as J.K. Spidey’s sarcasm (“Hey, watch out, I’m swinging here!”) sparks. Sally Field’s Aunt May makes scant impression and over-familiarity haunts the “I know I’m not your dad” exchanges between Peter and Martin Sheen’s Uncle Ben, although the repetition is deepened by Garfield’s bubbling emotions and leavened by Sheen at his warm, witty best as Ben embarrasses Peter at school.Įlsewhere, the wit hits and misses. “Untold story” claims hinge on Parker’s pursuit of the truth about his dad, but it diverts into turf better covered by Raimi, despite the wrestling den being deserted this time. Like Doc Ock, Ifans brings soul to his suffering and warmth to his bond with Peter, who tracks down the Dr from a photo found in his dad’s briefcase and gets spider-nipped while nosy-Parkering in OsCorp’s labs.Īs Connors’ scales tip to “green meanie” mode, Ifans goes OTT with relish, quivering like Dr Jekyll battling the world’s worst hangover.īut plot and tone aren’t always so sure.
Coy? Garfield and Stone look like they’d jump each other faster than you can say, “Easy, bug boy.” But the equation works: they charm, we root.Īlso likeable – before he grows a tail - is Rhys Ifans’ one-armed OsCorp geneticist Dr. Sure, there’s less puppy-eyed playfulness here than in Tobey ’n’ Kirsten’s geek love. Enter Emma Stone, weapon of sassy destruction as arch and direct, confident yet relatable first Spidey-love Stacy.
Stare-y eyes melting, he’s winningly earnest lithe of physique, he delivers in the dust-ups blithely gatecrashing Gwen Stacy’s bedroom, he gives good dreamboat.Īnd like any story worth telling, this one’s still “all about a girl”. A young buck made testy by grief, a rebel without a comb, Garfield nails all bases here, star DNA aglow.