Spidey's back!

Rating: 8/10 (8 July 2012)

10 years ago, I remember seeing the opening of the biggest film that year, Spider-Man. I'm not kidding, I remember everything about that opening. It was the first time I ever saw teenagers bring comic books to the movie doing comparison notes. I remember it being so crowded and crazy. But I also remember loving the movie and I still watch it today. So when I heard that they were rebooting the franchise, I was kind of curious why they were rebooting so soon. But after seeing the trailers, I still wanted to see the movie. I'm not a crazy comic book fan or anything, I just like super-hero movies. So this review is from the movie-goer, not the comic book advocate. I really did like The Amazing Spider-Man, this was a great pick up from Spider-Man 3. It was trying to touch the territory of being like Batman Begins, taking the character and story a little more seriously without the overage of cheesy one-liners and costumes. What worked well for this movie was the cast and story.
Young Peter Parker's dad, Richard, gathers up hidden documents, and Peter's parents take him to the home of his Aunt May and Uncle Ben, then mysteriously disappear. Years later, a teenage Peter attends high school, where he has caught the eye of Gwen Stacy. At home, Peter finds Richard's papers, and learns his father worked with fellow scientist Dr. Curt Connors at Oscorp. Faking his way into Oscorp as one of a group of high-school interns, Peter sneaks into a lab where a "biocable" is being created from genetically modified spiders, one of which bites him. On the subway ride home, he is shocked to find strange spider-like abilities manifesting. After studying Richard's papers, he visits the one-armed Connors at home, reveals he is Richard Parker's son, and gives Connors his father's "decay rate algorithm", the missing piece in Connors' experiments on regenerating limbs based on lizard DNA. Connors is being pressured by his superior, Dr. Ratha, to devise a cure for the dying, unseen head of Oscorp, Norman Osborn. He one night does the experiment forcing to him to become a giant lizard and wants to seek revenge on those who wronged him, but Peter with his new powers will try to stop him and save the city.
Did I need to see why Peter becomes Spider-Man again? Not really. Also for "nerds", our two leads Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are extremely good looking people. But I'll buy into it and just have fun. I liked the explanation given a little better than the first on why Peter feels the need to be Spider-Man. Also, does Dennis Leary always have to be the downer in almost all his movies? I mean his last lines in the film*Spoiler Alert!!*, he's dying in Peter's arms and tells Peter to leave Gwen alone, that's the finest girl he's ever going to get and he's going to listen to that?! I was telling my fiancé, if I were Peter, I would've hit Dennis before he died and said "oh, how sad you're dying, just go in peace" and play it off like it's sad or just screamed after he tells Peter not to see Gwen any more "Why won't you die?!". Poor Peter, go get yourself a hottie, Dennis's character was a jerk anyways. I digress; the only thing I have to say that was missing from this one compared to the first Spider-Man, it doesn't quite have Raimi's heart. There are a few flaws with the movie, but all the movies are flawed in one way or another. I think this was a fine addition to the franchise and highly recommend The Amazing Spider-Man, it was a lot of fun.
8/10