Get your web on! Unnecessary reboot to the franchise is a fun diversion and better-than-dreaded!

Rating: 9/10 (8 July 2012)

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (2012) ***1/2 Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Martin Sheen, Sally Field, Irrfan Khan, Campbell Scott, Embeth Davidtz, C. Thomas Howell. Unnecessary but entertaining none-the-less blockbuster reboot to the epic Marvel franchise in its re-imagining of the Peter Parker mythos of his web-slinging alter ego super hero whose origin story should now be known to every man, woman and child. Garfield - exuding James Dean cool/geekiness as the awkward teen - is indelible as he tries to find out who he is, why he is and how to use his powers for greater things (that's right crime fighting). Ifans is reptilian to the hilt as anger management in denial Dr. Curt Connors, a one-armed colleague of Parker's late scientist genius dad attempting to use hybrid species DNA for re- growth of lost appendages and instead becomes the menacing Lizard. Added to the mix is Stone as Pete's gal pal Gwen Stacy and a nice laconic by-the-book Leary police chief dad out to stop the masked vigilante in the jungles of Manhattan. Director Marc Webb (no puns please) does a remarkable, skillful and unlikely heir-apparent helmsman job with the Herculean task of making something old fresh and he's ably capable with a decent script by James Vanderbilt, Steve Kloves an Alvin Sargent (who scripted the last two SPIDER-MAN flicks under Sam Raimi's realm) and some truly vivid 3-D imagery CGI and fantastic lens work by John Schwartzman. Bonus: Stan 'The Man' Lee's fun cameo as a high school music librarian missing out on the action behind him! Get your web on!