Not bad....but *something* was "missing"

Rating: 6/10 (5 July 2012)

*****WARNING!! This review Contains SPOILERS!!*****
I just saw "The Amazing Spiderman and boy oh boy....where do I begin?
Honestly....I have some mixed feelings about this movie.
First off the Pros: 1)I like how the movie tried to be a little original and slightly different from the Sam Raimi Spiderman films. 2)The cast was fairly solid. The acting was pretty good actually. I didn't detect any "weakest links" in the acting dept. 3)Andy Garfield was pretty decent as Peter Parker and as Spiderman. 4)I liked Emma Stone. She and Andrew had some pretty good on-screen chemistry too!
Now for the cons: 1) I think the biggest let-down about this movie is the fact that this movie didn't really have any "heart" to it. Honestly, after watching the movie, I actually felt the urge to go back and watch Sam Raimi/Tobey Macguire's Spider-man films again. 2)There was barely any character development for certain characters. The villain especially I felt was sorely UNDER developed. They could have done a better job. What were his TRUE motives? It felt like he turned completely overnight. 3) The musical score SUCKED!! (Another BIG let-down) Like....big time! Almost to the point where it seemed out of place in some scenes. Danny Elfman did a MUCH better job w/the musical score for Spiderman 1 & 2 imo. It was memorable, exciting, and got you hyped for the movie. The music in this film however felt REALLY out of place. 4) Plot holes galore! I liked the premise about trying to show more hints about what happened to Peter's parents, but half-way through the film, they kind of like drop the subject, and you never really find out WHAT happened to his parents. Smh.... 5)No JJ Jameson?? No Daily Bugle?? 6)I didn't really feel a connection to Spiderman at ALL. Say what you will about Tobey, but I felt more of an emotional connection with HIS character than with Garfield's character. For some reason I just wasn't buying his character. idk.... I didn't really care if he lived or died sad to say. Maybe he was just TOO smart alecky...idk... 7) I didn't sense a real internal struggle with Peter regarding his desire to get revenge and his need to do what was right. 8)Peter practically let all of NYC see his face outside of the spidey mask, and told Gwen who he was on a first date. Not cool at all! Where's the mystery? The guessing?? Ugh! This irked me to no end.
9)The movie just wasn't all that enjoyable. It was funny and entertaining in many parts, sure...but it just didn't have any SOUL. I can't explain it! Something was missing and Idk what. With the previous Spiderman franchise, I really felt ENGROSSED in the story and in the movie. This newer version felt like the storyline/plot was a bit rushed and all over the place. I didn't feel excited about this film at ALL for some reason. It was NOT the same feeling I got anytime I watched the Raimi Spider-Man films. Sure, those older Spidey films may have been somewhat cheesy on some level, but they were still filled with EXCITEMENT!
Not only that, but during this film I found myself comparing it to the older Spider-Man films the entire time. Usually when a new movie franchise is REALLY good, you pretty much forget the old previous franchise. Like for example, with Nolan's new Batman Franchise. When I first saw "Batman Begins", I was like...Michael Keaton who?? Val Kilmer WHO? George Clooney who??
Bottom Line: Overall, if you're a big fan of the Spiderman films, then you might actually ENJOY this film a lot. If you're NOT really a fan of the spidey comics, OR if you really enjoyed Sam Raimi's Spiderman films (esp. 1 & 2) then this film might feel like it's "lacking" something. It's probably rentable for you.