Very Disappointing, yet shines through here and there

Rating: 6/10 (23 April 2013)

The Amazing Spider Man? I would call it The "Almost amazing but not quite there" Spider Man. On one hand, you have excellent performances from Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) and Rhys Ifans, incredible action scenes coupled with some surprisingly gorgeous special effects and awesome choreogrpahy, and a funny script. On the other hand, you have a villain that could have been so much more intense and frightening, an unused pallet of comic book lore, a really ultra bad screenplay (for the first 2/3 of the film), and an overall feeling of "this could've have been so much more grand, big, epic, and exciting".
And that's just it. One phrase that a director never wants to hear: that could've been much more exciting. While the finale is undeniably cool and cinematic, that's when the movie actually starts getting good. All of the rising action happens in the latter part of the film, in an explosive fight in a high school none the less, but you don't really feel any intense emotion for any of the characters or conflicts happening on screen, nor does the villain have any tangible conflict with Spider Man. (this might get cleared up in the sequel, but for a 136 minute flick this is lame). And can't you find a better way to kill off Martin Sheen?
But enough bashing, The Amazing Spider man does plenty of things well. Special effects are spectacular and the stylization and colors screams "comic book". Andrew plays a sharp, like- able, and witty Peter Parker/Spider Man, Rhys Ifans plays an intense villain, Emma Stone is OK, and the rest of the character roster is either cliché or stupid, but mainly because of the bad screenplay. The design of The Lizard is incredibly cool and savage, and Spidey's new suit is neat.
If there is a takeaway from TASM, the new series reboot is in shaky hands. This origins story has an apparent identity crisis, where most of it wants to be a funny romantic comedy with some cool action thrown in. This is obviously not a good direction for Spider Man, as the last Spider Man (Spider Man 3) movie fell apart due to the love interest becoming too much of a focus.
Webb seriously needs to head back to the drawing board in terms of character development and story, villainy and tension. He has all of the source material, actors, lore, and style just sitting there, and it just needs the right direction. It's an origins story that never really fully takes off, so here's hoping that the sequel is truly amazing.