Not Amazing But Good

Rating: Null/10 (6 July 2012)

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
*** (out of 4)
This reboot comes just a short amount of time after the third and final film in Sam Raimi's trilogy and features Andrew Garfield taking over the role of Peter Parker. In this film, Parker is trying to discover the secrets of his parents when he's bitten by a spider, which of course turns him into the title character. Spider-Man must then battle The Lizard while also trying to keep the girl of his dreams (Emma Stone). THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN is certainly far from amazing but I think it was good enough for a summer blockbuster. One could argue if it was too soon to start the franchise up but I'll leave that for someone else. Overall I thought the screenplay was pretty good as it mixed in plenty of drama, laughs and some good action sequences. I'm not sure how many mainstream movie goers would agree with me but I thought the high points was the personal drama. The story of what's going on with Parker was extremely well handled and I thought the screenplay devoted just the right amount of time letting us get to know this character. The Parker here is certainly a lot different than previous movies so I'm glad they really built the character up. The same is true with his relationship with Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) and even the love story has some good moments to it. The performances are all a major plus as well. Garfield has no problem pulling off both sides of the character and Stone makes for a very good love interest (not to mention the mini skirts on her are great). Denis Leary is terrific as the girl's father who also just happens to be the Captain of the police. Sally Field is strong as Aunt May, although I'd argue that the script doesn't do much for her character. I thought the real standout was Sheen who was simply terrific as Uncle Ben and stole every scene that he was in. Rhys Ifans was okay as the villain but I thought this was the weakest aspect of the film. I must admit that I was bored each time The Lizard was on screen as I didn't find him to be a good villain and the doctor's backstory was also rather boring. I also didn't think there was enough imagination to the action scenes and this is the one spot that was really lacking from previous movies. Still, THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN is a winner thanks to the screenplay and performances.