Good old Spidey returns.

Rating: Null/10 (18 July 2012)

A boy is bitten by a spider and is given arachnid-like powers that allow him to become a vigilante crime fighter. Meanwhile, he unwittingly assists a Doctor to achieve his goal of regenerating limbs but its side effects jeopardises him and the inhabitants of his city.
Director Marc Webb's Amazing Spider-man is essentially a satisfactory superhero film which captures the character of the Spider-man who appears in the comics and cartoons. While like its recent counterparts there's lots of computer generated imagery. However, this version benefits and looks much better for its practical segments that ground Spider-man making him that little bit more amazing.
Rhys Ifans is excellent as the troubled, empathetic Dr. Curt Connors/Lizard. Again the special effects are well put together and The Lizard is wonderfully realised. Andrew Garfield balances his transition into a superhero coupled with the collage kid successfully and makes a great Peter Parker with his enjoyable wit, sincerity and charm. The supporting cast are first rate including the likes of Sally Field, Dennis Leary and Emma Stone as gifted love interest Gwen Stacy. Notably, Martin Sheen captures the sense of humour and gravity required for Uncle Ben. The pacing is spot on and the film never out stays it welcome, accompanied by a top James Horner score that really comes to life during the action scenes.
While James Vanderbilt's screenplay with input from Steve Kloves and Alvin Sargent is full of subtleness, one liners and repartee, Vanderbilt's story is all too familiar reminiscent of X-Men (2000) our Lizard, like Magneto wants to make everyone like him. There's also the regurgitated plot elements.
That's the main stumbling block for this incarnation of Spider-Man, familiarity. It hampers what essential is a good foundation. There were 25 years between the made for TV The Amazing Spider-man (1977) and Spider-man (2002) and in that time there were advancements in filmmaking and more money put into the first true film. With this Spidey there's less of a gap - with Sam Raimi's last surprisingly heavy and drawn out outing being 2007. Webb and cinematographer John Schwartzman can't get away from it being the same setting, period and time so the look here is inevitably similar. It's not that comic, film, cartoon Web slinger fans don't know origin story already but it's the fact it feels we've just seen the same thing, in the same medium only a moment ago.
For anyone alien to the superhero this will be a great version of Spider-man. It's an improvement on its predecessor - certainly in its spirit and tone but by default it's not fresh. Like the Hulk (2003) and it's reboot The Incredible Hulk (2008) it's a shame the studio didn't get it right first time, but hey, with great power comes great responsibility.