Good But Not Great

Rating: 6/10 (9 July 2012)

I love Spidey, always have and I was a big fan of Raimi's movies, even finding the freaky mess of Spider-Man 3 watchable.
So, a reboot so soon after the last sequel seemed redundant, although, hey its Spidey so I'll be there.
The Amazing Spider-Man is an entertaining couple of hours. The effects are good, Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are both excellent, the supporting cast are variable (of which more later) but Martin Sheen and Sally Field are inspired casting choices for Aunt May and Uncle Ben.
However, it is clear that the studio are playing a long game with this reboot and want to carry the story into at least a couple of sequels, using Nolan's Batman as a model no doubt.
So TASM suffers from similar problems to Batman Begins, whilst there are elements that are excellent, it is slightly less than the sum of its parts and its pacing is incoherent to the point of being confusing. There are many longeurs in the early part of the film and a lot of messy rushing-about in the second part.
Rhys Ifans' Curt Connors/Lizard is a curious choice for a cinematic villain and whilst there seems to be a striving to make him sympathetic in the way Raimi achieved with Dr Octopus in Spider-Man 2, his motivations are unclear and he descends into sociopathic drivelling.
Denis Leary's Captain Stacey is similarly poorly sketched, particularly when compared to Gary Oldman's Jim Gordon in the Nolan Batman flicks.
Neither of these are particularly the fault of the actors, the screenplay never really allows either of the characters to breathe as it concentrates too much of the minutiae of Peter Parker's rebirth as Spider-Man and his romance with Stacy's daughter, Gwen. Notably, both Garfield and Stone come away with the acting plaudits given that their characters are the two that are allowed to breathe and develop through the scope of the film.
The pivotal Uncle Ben sequence also seems curiously rushed when compared to the Raimi version.
The film then, ultimately suffers from the fact that it is undeniably a set up for a longer tale (made most obvious by the mid credits sequence at the end). In some ways, the film is entertaining enough for this to be forgivable but knocks it down a number of notches as a standalone flick (again much like Batman Begins).
The only problem for the filmmakers now is for this to ultimately be recalled fondly, the sequel has be The Dark Knight quality. The origin is told, the throughline has been established - TASM 2 has to blow us away.