Amazing is an understatement.

Rating: 9/10 (14 November 2012)

When I heard there was going to be a new Spiderman film with a new storyline and actors, I honestly looked forward to it while most people were bashing the idea because they loved the first three Spiderman films too much. But #3 ended on such a dissatisfying note that a new film was inevitable. And this is not technically a reboot, it's based on the storyline of the Amazing Spiderman comics while the other films are based on the Spectacular Spiderman comics (two different premises and story lines to this character). This film is just amazing in so many ways (save for 1 nitpick I'll mention later here), one being Parker/Spiderman himself. Andrew Garfield was a great pick for Peter in my opinion, and trumps Tobey Mcguire, because he portrays Peter as a very shy, timid, yet smart and likable character, and once he dons the Spidey suit on, he is allowed to act however he wants, one scene in particular being absolutely hilarious when he's apprehending a car thief. And when he's around his Uncle Ben and Aunt May (who are wonderful and I surprisingly like them a lot more than the other films, particularly Ben) it feels like a real family, they get along very well, but they get in arguments and disputes. On top of that, this films take on Uncle Bens death is so much more effective and emotional than the first one, it just feels like such a great loss. And Peter does not get to get his revenge yet in the first film, we'll probably see him get his vengeance in the upcoming sequel, so it's not thrown out the window right away as an emotional turmoil for him to conquer. And I love Gwen Stacey (played by the wonderful Emma Stone) as a character, and is so much more dynamic than Mary Jane (Dunst) as a love interest. Plus, Gwen is not a useless, damsel-in-distress like Mary, she finds out who Peter really is towards the middle of the film, and actually gets to do something very worth while and beneficial in this film (make an antidote to stop the Lizard). Heck, she even b$#@% slaps the lizard with a trophy (or stool, I forget) and that's pretty sweet. Dr. Conners/Lizard was the Spiderman villain I wanted to see for a very long time during the Spiderman movies, and we finally got him. Conners (Ifans) seems like a very intelligent and soft person due to his arm lost and his history with Peters father, and is soon drawn into a duel personality that makes him crazy to make the world a perfect place with perfect beings. The Lizard himself does have a very cool design, although I probably would have preferred he had a more lizard-like head as opposed to his human like/lizard face. It's just slightly awkward to see at first, but it's a small nitpick, and all in all, it's still a pretty decent and sometimes bad ass portrayal of the Lizard. I don't want to give anything else away, but this film is indeed amazing, and it is worth a buy over a rental at redbox if you didn't have the opportunity to see in theatres, I personally recommend it. (Fun fact, almost every single shot of Spiderman swinging through the air on his hand made webs, was all done by stunt work, not CGI, and that's awesome that they took the time to launch stunt men through the air to provide a fresh, unique feel to the swinging spiderman scenes.
(8.5/10) Amazing, except for a weird lizard/human face combo, but even that's still cool