The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

Every 4th of July, Jack and I go to a big, splashy action movie before the big, splashy fireworks display. This year we went to Spider-Man with Michael and Nick and enjoyed it immensely, even without springing for 3D nor IMAX. Andrew Garfield is adorable as smart-ass, intelligent Peter Parker, and the chemistry with his real-life girlfriend Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy is evident onscreen. Garfield (last in these pages using his natural English accent in Never Let Me Go--though born in Los Angeles, he moved to London as a toddler with his English mother) at 28 seems younger than Tobey Maguire (who was 27 when the first one was released), maybe because of the smart-ass thing, and the humor goes a long way in making this altogether entertaining. We didn't miss the 3D, although I could guess what it would have been like when Spider-Man is swinging successfully around New York. We could have done with maybe a tad less unsuccessful swinging--we get it, he's learning how to do it. Also, why would the Midtown Science High School have dumb jocks, including one named Flash? That makes no sense at all. I know, I know; it's not a documentary. I'm just sayin'. Garfield and Stone (see The Help) met on this movie, and they're cute together, believable as awkward teenagers. Martin Sheen (most recently in The Way) and Sally Field (we like her, not only in her Oscar-winning performances in Norma Rae (1979) and Places in the Heart (1984), but also in The Flying Nun (1967-1970), Sybil (1976), Absence of Malice (1981), Punchline (1988), Steel Magnolias (1989), Soapdish (1991), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Forrest Gump (1994), and, of course, 110 episodes of Brothers & Sisters (2006-2011)) are lovable as Peter's Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Then the very talented Rhys Ifans (profiled in Greenberg) gets to play the megalomaniac Curtis Connors with a computer-generated missing right arm. He apparently did a lot of his own stunts. Jack and I have long been Denis Leary (my favorites are The Ref (1994), Operation Dumbo Drop (1995), Suicide Kings (1997), Wag the Dog (1997), and the TV shows The Job (2001-02) and Rescue Me (2004-11)) fans, so were happy to see him as Gwen's dad, hard-boiled police Captain Stacy. There are dozens more credited and uncredited actors here, but the one that really matters is the mandatory Stan Lee (co-creator of the comic book, which was originally called The Amazing Spider-Man, with Steve Ditko) cameo as a clueless school librarian, which is hilarious, as always.

Director Marc Webb had only one other feature under his belt ((500) Days of Summer) but the pacing and blend of melodrama and action are pretty good. In addition to Lee and Ditko getting credit for the Marvel comic book, the story is credited to James Vanderbilt (yes, that family; he adapted the script to Zodiac (2007) and a few others), and the script to Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent (won Oscars for Julia (1977) and Ordinary People (1980), nominated for Paper Moon (1973), worked on a lot of TV in the 60s, then wrote or co-wrote scripts for, among others, The Sterile Cuckoo (1969), The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972), Nuts (1987), White Palace (1990), the story for What About Bob?, scripts for Hero (1992), Unfaithful (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004), and Spider-Man 3 (2007)), and Steve Kloves (Racing with the Moon (1984), The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), Flesh and Bone (1993), Wonder Boys (2000) for which he was Oscar-nominated, and all eight Harry Potter movies). That's some Hollywood royalty going on.

While writing I've been listening on youtube to tracks from the score by James Horner (among his 335 music credits on imdb, he won two Oscars for Titanic (1997): the score and My Heart Will Go On; was nominated for eight: Somewhere Out There in An American Tail (1986), Aliens (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Braveheart (1995), Apollo 13 (1985), A Beautiful Mind (2001), House of Sand and Fog (2003), and Avatar;  and composed for 48 Hrs. (1982), Testament (1983), The Dresser (1983), Cocoon (1985), Volunteers (1985), Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989), The Spitfire Grill (1996), Iris (2001), The Chumscrubber (2005), and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, to name some that I liked). Perhaps not royalty, but this guy works and they really, really like him, too.

Audiences weigh in at 84% vs. critics at 74% on rottentomatoes. I expect this has a built-in audience and you don't need me to tell you to see it. It's been out only two weeks and is still second at the box office on the most screens in America: 4318 (the next is the Ice Age sequel at 3881). There are so many good movies out now that you may have trouble choosing. If you don't care about 3D this will be playing for a long while and you can go see some of the artier ones first. You should, however, see it on a big screen for the effects.