Review: The Amazing Spider-Man

I was not expecting much from The Amazing Spiderman as it is a reboot of a franchise that began in 2002. It is not enough time to reboot a film unless it was a big failure, which it wasn't. 

With it being Spiderman, the visual effects would be the biggest positive from the film. It was as good as the first trilogy and showed a different angle to how Spidey gets around New York.

One of the big questions coming from this was, would Andrew Garfield be better than Tobey Maguire's portrayal of Spiderman/Peter Parker? For me, it was a no. His Parker was no longer the nerd with all know and love. Instead we have a good looking kid, still intelligent but no glasses and not even having a clumsy feel about him.

As for the minor characters. Mary Jane is not there, and neither is his appearances at the Daily Bungle which means no J Jonah Jameson who was a terrific character in the previous three films. This version of Spiderman decides to concentrate more on Peter's parents and what happened to them and why it has made Peter Parker the man he is today.
Replacing Parker's love interest, Gwen Stacey who made an appearance in Spiderman 3. Played by the very beautiful Emma Stone, the chemistry between her and Garfield was pretty good and a decent attempt of Maguire's and Dunst's.

Thankfully the villain was something new. It had been rumored for ages and we will finally see The Lizard/Dr Curt Connors played by Rhys Ifans who is a terrific performer in anything that he does. The tension between Ifans and Garfield is engaging as they try to find if they are who they say they are etc.

The battle scenes between Spiderman and the Lizard are solid and nothing we have not seen before. I saw it in 3D, and apart from a few swinging scenes, it's nothing to shout about.

Director Marc Webb has done a solid job, but I still do not get why they had to reboot it in the first place. I know that it was supposed to be a Spiderman 4, but it got binned. So why not choose a different Marvel character, or reboot one of the poor attempts such as Daredevil or Elektra.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed The Amazing Spiderman, and I always look forward to another sequel as I'm a sucker for superhero movies. As always, there will be a bonus scene during the credits which will show us who the villain might be for the sequel. I have already heard the rumors and if they are true, I will definitely see the next installment.

Rating: 7/10