What was originally known as simply Spider-Man 4, or the Spider-Man reboot, went on to be called The Amazing Spider-Man, taking the web-slinging hero back to his comic books roots once again. The 2012 superhero film reset the clocks for the cinematic storyline and brought a whole new cast to take on the might of the skyscraper-swinging wonder.
Directed by the brilliantly named Marc Webb, it looked like it was going to be a whole new series franchise, but it only made it to a second film with the sequel, The Amazing Spider-Man 2. It’s one less than Toby McGuire’s efforts, which seemed to get progressively worse as the sequels wracked up.
The 2012 film release worked well and you can check out our review summary below for more details. However, the second film failed to land as well, leading to the end of the short cinema run. The whole franchise has now been rebooted once again in Spider-Man: Homecoming, which continued the Marvel Cinematic Universe unification that started with Captain America: Civil War.
The Amazing Spider-Man release date
The Amazing Spider-Man release date was on the the 3rd July 2012 in the UK with 3D production built in throughout. The DVD took a fair while to surface though, coming out on the 26th November; nearly five months after its arrival on the big screen.
Story
The plot took Peter Parker back to his teenage, high-school past, but with a much darker story for the rebooted incarnation. If you haven’t seen it yet, don’t expect it to be a High School Musical-athon as Spider-Man has to face up to a killer lizard man, as well as the might of the Ozcorp Corporation and his own family tragedy.
This time around, the setup sees Peter resurfacing his father’s research with the help of his dad’s former scientific partner, Curt Connors. However, with pressure from Oscorp, things get flipped sideways resulting in the creation of The Lizard, which rampages through the city. It’s then up to Spidey to take him on, while also trying to deal with the difficulty of his family life and his budding romance with Gwen Stacy.
The Amazing Spider-Man cast
The film introduced Andrew Garfield (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus) to the all new Spider-Man suit (see image top-left) and he went on to reprise the role in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. The cast also includes Emma Stone (The Help) as Gwen Stacy and Denis Leary (Ice Age: Continental Drift) as her father police NYPD Captain Stacy. Sally Field (Forrest Gump) starred as Peter Parker’s Aunt May and Martin Sheen (Catch Me If You Can) played his Uncle Ben.
The film also cast Rhys Ifans (Greenburg) as Doctor Curt Connors / The Lizard, who first made an appearance in the comic book of the same name in The Amazing Spider-Man #6. Rumours at the time of the film’s announcement was that Irrfan Khan would be playing the Goblin too, but he ended up being Dr. Rajit Ratha, an Oscorp executive and Conners’ boss.
Cast gallery
You can check out the cast from the film in the image gallery below. Just click on a pic to see larger images:
Age rating
The film was given an age rating of 12 by the BBFC in the UK with moderate violence and injury detail.
Production
With the script by James Vanderbilt and directorial credits from Marc Webb who first came to prominence with (500) Days of Summer, The Amazing Spider-Man was sort of a fresh slate for web-spinning action. You can see more from the director on his Twitter page.
See our The Amazing Spider-Man images for more from the production.
Review
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) did a solid job of rebooting the franchise, which makes it all the more disappointing that the sequel failed to capitalise on the strength of the opening film. However, in hindsight, it feels like we’re better off with Spider-Man: Homecoming, so maybe it isn’t that big a deal in the long run.
Andrew Garfield worked out well as the main character in the film, although his age made it difficult for it to be a long-term venture no matter how young he looked at the time. There are some good action scenes and web-slinging sequences in New York City and he works well with both Emma Stone as his love interest and Rhys Ifans as the complicated villain of the film. All of the supporting cast members put in good performances, making the film a must-watch for any Marvel fans.
Review scores were generally favourable, averaging between 3-3.5/5, which is about right at the higher end of the spectrum.
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