I think I see the problem here.

Rating: 9/10 (23 April 2014)

I'm a big fan of the Sam Raimi/Tobey Maguire "Spiderman" films. They were fun, light-hearted, silly, thrilling, special effects bonanzas. They were everything you'd expect from a movie based on a character from a 1960's comic book. They didn't take themselves too seriously. Even when people died, it was cartoonish enough that it didn't sting too deeply or for too long.
Now, enter the Webb/Garfield "Amazing Spiderman" film and, Wow. Holy crap. This is dark, man- *dark*. It's not at all what I was expecting from a superhero movie. This really isn't a comic book at all, is it? It's a horror movie that happens to have a superhero in it, not a superhero movie. I mean hey, I love this film and I think it's great, but wow is it disturbing. This is what you would get if you let Stuart Gordon ("Re-Animator," "From Beyond") direct a superhero film. I'm not familiar with Marc Webb's work- and his resumé seems remarkably thin- but I would be surprised if Stuart Gordon, Clive Barker and Wes Craven weren't deep influences of his.
It took me a long time to warm up to the idea of this film, and an even longer time to get around to actually seeing it, because I'm such a huge fan of the three previous Raimi films. I'm glad I watched it, it's very good... but it has little or nothing to do with "Spiderman" as I know it.
9/10 stars because it really is a great film, but -1 because seriously, Wow: *dark*.