Pleasing Followup to a Great Reboot

Rating: 8/10 (28 May 2014)

Having watched the last Spiderman Trilogy slowly spiral into barely above a B-Movie, I was worried that the reboot may follow it's path. Besides that, we all know that historically Marvel movies weren't as good; although Disney has done wonders to overcoming that stigma. I'm happy to say that I was not only pleasantly proved wrong, but I left with a sense of readiness for the next installment! Anyone that knows the older canon for Spiderman knows that Stone's role is pivotal, and I won't say more than that. Even though I was expecting most of what happened, it was fun to watch it all unfold, and it was great to see certain images in the background of future villains. Keep your eyes peeled for fun gadgets, people! The story moved expertly, the acting was on par, and the filmography was all done very well. Stone and Garfield kept the awkward teen chemistry going, which is exactly what I liked so much about the two of them in the first one.
I'm honestly having a hard time saying much about this movie without giving anything away, so I'll simply say this was a great moment in single-hero Marvel Movies.
All of that being said, there are always some cons to go with the pros. There were parts of the movie that felt slower than they had to be, not because I was being told any great point of story; it actually felt more like filler to me. I feel like the role of Osborn/Goblin should have been more significant than it was, and I hope the lack of gravity for this character means we'll see A LOT more of him down the road (this was hinted at, but again ... trying to avoid spoilers). Finally, I really feel like I need to know more about his parents. Not really for the plot of this film, but just based on how interesting and tangled (pardon the web pun) the back story could get.
Losing two points might seem harsh for a bit of slow story and the less-than-there Goblin role, but I stand by my 8/10. It may be a personal bias, but the Goblin was one of my favorite villains and, in my opinion, one of the more important. Being both an enemy and a friend - a frenemy, if you will - makes me feel like we missed a lot that could have been.