Arts & Entertainment

Movie Review:  “The Amazing Spider-Man” (+) by Ed Koch
 
          I normally don’t like cartoon movies, which I consider this picture to be, but I actually thought this one was interesting.
 
 
          Andrew Garfield, who in real life is 28-years-old, is a little too old to play the role of Spider-Man, a high school student with a teenage girlfriend, Gwen (Emma Stone).  But that doesn’t affect the movie.  
 
 
          The picture begins by telling the story of Peter’s early life.  It focuses on his childhood when his father and mother suddenly left him in the custody of his Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) and Aunt May (Sally Field).  It also shows Peter visiting his dad’s former laboratory partner, Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans), who is missing his right arm.  We later learn that Peter’s father and Connors, both scientists, were hoping to discover a way for the human body to reproduce new limbs, the way some animals do, e.g. lizards.  
 
 
          Peter is bitten by a spider at the lab.  Suddenly he is able to jump to enormous heights and hurl silk cords from wrist devices enabling him to swing through the streets of New York City.  When Dr. Connors begins experimenting with drugs, the film turns into a version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  He turns into a lizard when taking the drugs and reverts back to a human when he stops them.  An extended fight to the death takes place between Dr. Connors as the lizard and Spider-Man.  
 
 
          I think you will enjoy this film.  The acting is excellent and the special effects are brilliant.  (I saw it in 3D). You can expect sequels.