When the Cheshire emerges...

Those two words, that consequently make a name, give me chills of excitement whenever I hear them. Out of all the superheroes I followed as a kid and into adulthood, Parker's alter-ego is the one that struck a chord with me the most (and my brother I'd say, although I can't truly speak on his behalf).

I'm pretty big on superhero movies. Not so much the comics themselves though, although I did read Watchmen and all the Sin City novels before the adaptations were released (the graphic novels are more my thing).

But we had toys of Spider-Man as a kid that were still found lying around years later battered. My brother had the DK definitive guide with descriptions of all the bad guys. Heck, I stole his poster of the first movie after he (stupidly) decided to take it down (his loss, it's still above my bed with others in my room back home). I also refused to give my cousin's badge from his fourth(?) birthday back to him when he'd given it to me and then after having it on my high school backpack for some time was devastated to lose it. Geek much?

Though as the Sam Raimi films have entered our psyche over the last 10 years (my goodness, that's scary), for me it's been more about the discovery of Peter Parker and who he is. As such, I've met every new film with that little more anticipation than other crusaders and their adventures... I'd go as far to say that Peter Parker is probably my favourite character. As in of all time.

I don't know what it is. Maybe it's that he's the nerd-turned-cool but remains irresponsible, or his genuine naivety comes from teenage cluelessness; there are so many hints given to him about how he must face his challenges through Uncle Ben and Aunt May but it takes him an age to figure it all out. Either way he's all the cliches in one - a charmer, geek and has that 'it' factor. He just seems so much more relatable than any other hero - just a normal guy, and one that we are given so much information on to feel like we know him (not as mysterious as say, Batman). I'd take one-on-one time with Parker anyday.

***

The latest release was somewhat different - I hadn't heard about as much of the hype, only to read about casting at the time after Raimi, Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst et al decided to be dominos and let the franchise fall. But seeing Andrew Garfield strut his way through his classroom hallways, camera (and skateboard here) in hand, the shivers of excitement inside whenever I see (a) Peter Parker made their way back.


Garfield has that young look about him to fit the role of Parker just about perfectly. And this is coming from someone who has adored Maguire's hot nerdness forever before. As such, that's the only problem I have - that half of The Amazing Spider-Man HAS been done before. If this was a prequel where chunks of the first Spider-Man didn't exist, it would've been much easier to accept. The Garfield films, however many there may be, could've easily been segued into Maguire's dramas with the bigger guys and Mary-Jane.

Where they go from here I don't know. A part of me still wishes so much that the original franchise had never gone to pieces (in my mind there's always hope of them coming back for another; remember, the collapse wasn't on bad terms), but at the same time I'm glad to see a younger-looking Parker in action.




I'm a bit torn really.

*Read my full review of The Amazing Spider-Man on Saturday.