With great films come great risks. This movie took none.

Rating: 5/10 (8 September 2012)

When I first heard of the Amazing Spider-Man, I was highly skeptical. Indeed, a reboot of a series only ten years old would need to bring originality to a character whose image is still close in our memories. However, after hearing from friends and reviewers of its above average quality, my expectations were changed. Nevertheless, The Amazing Spider-Man unfortunately was no more than what I first expected, making many mistakes that seemed elementary.
When the developers of this project presented The Amazing Spider-Man as a "reboot", what they meant to say was "remake". There was simply no originality to this piece, failing to differentiate from its predecessor, and as a result was dwarfed by superior writing, characters, and casting.
It's cinematography was make do, lacking style and was completely unspectacular for its spectacular subject. The soundtrack I've heard a million times, attempting inspiring tones, but ultimately feeling amateur and lacking in rhythm or flow. The Amazing Spider-Man is filled with lazy plot elements to rush the story along.
A victim of its unoriginal story and characters, the casting seemed off. Though the performances of the original trilogy were painfully bad, they were casted perfectly. Toby Maguire, though terrible at looking sad, was born to play Spider-Man. Andrew Garfield was just to cool to be an awkward nerd. It would be like Jim Carrey as the Godfather. The acting was definitely a massive improvement to the original, and it did produce one or two heartfelt scenes.
But alas, this was all null and void. The Amazing Spider-Man lacked direction. It aspired to be dark and emotional, but the writing did not support the move. The characters would be acting ultra serious and foreboding, but the stupidity of some of the scenes was an unbearable contrast. It was catered to the lowest common denominator. They helped the inattentive audience with blatant foreshadowing and presentations screaming, "THIS IS HIS PLAN!!! LET ME SPELL IT OUT FOR YOU!!!" But for the audience such as myself that has at least a sliver of focus, this felt insulting and annoying. At parts I (literally) laughed at how lame their effort was. In one scene, Spider-Man discovers Dr. Conner's evil master plan, as a result of a childishly convenient 3D animation demonstrating step by step with fun little graphics how the dirty deed will be done. Why does Dr. Conner have this on his computer? Is he worried that he will forget his plan? Really, he's much too young for that level of senility. As a result, the movie was completely predictable and by the first 15 minutes, I knew the entire plot. Except for the surprise ending, which unfortunately spat in the face of the main idea of the movie.
Yes, the one recycled from the original (with great power comes great responsibility), but the failed to improve on it, and for the almost the entire movie, completely neglected it. This movie was horridly shallow, which rubbed off mostly on Parker's and Gwen Stacy's relationship, which was simply laughable. It was the old, "Oh, you like me? 'Cause I like you! Let's make out." Face-palm.
Not merely does it hide in the shadow of the original trilogy, but in the shadow of every other super hero and action movie ever made. As a result, The Amazing Spider-Man was completely unspectacular and unoriginal. With great films comes great risks, but The Amazing Spider- Man took none. Having only the acting and a couple of powerful scenes to give me air to breathe, I became suffocated with boredom. This did not feel like Spider-Man. Spider-Man doesn't need mechanical web shooters. Spiderman grows as a hero (it's called characterization James Vanderbilt). No, this is Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, and Rhys Ifans on Halloween.