Don't go out of your way to see this one.

Rating: 6/10 (28 December 2019)

Just 10 years after the first official big screen adaptation of the legendary Spider-Man comic book, Sony saw fit to reboot the series, with another rehashing of the now familiar origin story. Granted, it plays out with some minor differences, but the end result is pretty much the same.
Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield, inheriting the role from Tobey Maguire) is a high school photographer with an aptitude for science as well. He makes the acquaintance of Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans), a scientist who was working with Peters' father (Campbell Scott, in a VERY brief cameo). Connors' experiments go seriously awry when he injects himself with a serum derived from lizards, and therefore becomes The Lizard, one of Spidey's familiar nemeses. Peter, who's acquired superhuman abilities after being bitten by a genetically enhanced arachnid, realizes that it's his duty to stop him.
One might as well watch the 2002 film with Maguire, since these filmmakers don't bring anything truly fresh to this material. There's the usual smorgasbord of CGI effects (although director Marc Webb and company supposedly wanted as many practical stunts as possible), and mayhem. The writing isn't particularly good, and indeed some of the dialogue can be rather cringe-inducing. Worst of all, the film makes a waste of some of its acting talent, giving old pros like Sally Field (as Aunt May) and Martin Sheen (as the ill-fated Uncle Ben) little to do. At least Peters' love interest, Gwen Stacy (a radiant Emma Stone), gets to do her own bit during the heroism of the final act. As for Pete / Spidey, Garfield comes off better once in costume and incapacitating bad guys, nailing some of the cockiness of the character. Ifans is good as the well-intentioned (or is he, really?) antagonist who becomes the monster. Denis Leary is okay as a Captain Stacy who criticizes the efforts of this "masked vigilante". And Stan Lee, naturally, has his usual cameo.
If the prospective viewer is a superhero / comic book adaptation junkie, they may derive some entertainment out of this, as unnecessary as it all is. Some of the cast members helped raise this viewers' rating by a point, anyway.
Followed by one more Spidey movie with Garfield; this film is dedicated to the late Laura Ziskin (producer) and J. Michael Riva (production designer).
Six out of 10.