Fitting right into my demographic, Spider-Man was my favorite superhero as a child. When I saw the first teaser for Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movie, where Spidey webs a criminal’s helicopter between the Twin Towers I almost had a hyperventilating nerd-gasm. That being said, I couldn’t have been less excited about Marc Webb’s reboot. I felt it was unnecessary. It was too soon. I wanted to see something new, not another origin movie. That being said I really enjoyed “The Amazing Spider-Man”. It was a marked improvement.
Essentially The Amazing reboot had the same basic plot as the first Spider-Man. It improved so many of the issues of the original trilogy and set up future story lines. I always imagined Peter’s awkwardness was like any average teenager’s. As he grows and matures he becomes more confident. The spider bite was only a metaphor. Tobey Maguire played the titular hero as unbelievably socially inept. Andrew Garfield made a much more natural Peter Parker. He was snarky and entertaining. His relationship with Aunt May, and Uncle Ben was loving and believable without becoming a caricature or cloying. He had heroic elements outside of his powers such as stopping Flash from bullying a younger student. Speaking of Flash Thompson, though he was a minor character I thought it was a nice touch for him to be sympathetic to Peter after uncle Ben’s death. In the overarching mythology of Spider-Man Flash is an important character. Giving a bit of depth to the character opens the potential to make the character have some interesting development in the future.
The casting of the villains in the previous movies were always strong elements. In the reboot, Rhys Ifans kept that tradition going. Ifans played a mad scientist turned monster extremely well. As his mind was poisoned by reptilian DNA he became a subtle Jekyll/Hyde. It was believable how his noble intentions drove him to villainy. He even had a touch of redemption at the end. The Lizard was a good choice for the villain. Dr Connors is a former colleague of Richard Parker, researching a way to save a dying Norman Osborn. It ties into the origin theme of genetic engineering, creates a connection between Peter’s scientist parents and Oscorp.
The biggest complaint I have about this movie was the casting of Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy. Don’t Get me wrong Stone is an awesome actress. She was a big improvement as a romantic interest when compared to Kirsten Dunst‘s sweet yet flighty, damsel in distress portrayal of Mary Jane. Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield had wonderful chemistry as a romantic couple. I enjoyed their back and forth banter. She was also a bit of a badass. My problem with her was that Stone’s personality is closer to Mary Jane’s in the comics. In the original funny books it was Gwen who was the sweet girl next door type, and MJ who was the ‘firecracker’. I was always a bigger fan of MJ. Emma Stone played the role too well. She would have made a perfect MJ, rather than a improved and revamped Gwen. I’m a purist for the the classic comic storylines. What can I say. I like to nitpick.
My faith has been restored in Spider-Man. I can’t wait to see where the reboot film series takes the story. What is Norman Osborn dying of? Will it cause him to become the Green Goblin? Will they do the death of Gwen Stacy story? What were Peter’s parents working on? The sky’s the limit and we have nowhere to go but up.
On a scale of One to Epic (Epic=10) The Amazing Spider-Man gets a 8.9
On a Scale of 1 to Epic (Epic = 10): 
