Spider-man? Yes. Amazing? Not so much.

Rating: 6/10 (11 July 2012)

I feel like I'm being a little harsh, giving this movie a mere 6/10. If I could do such a thing, I'd actually give it more like a... 6.4.
I saw a 3D viewing of this film (my first ever 3D!) with a friend of mine who is more of a respective Spidey geek than I am. My apologies, I'm more of a Batman kind of gal. It doesn't surprise me that she gushed praises for this movie as we left the theater. I half-heartedly concurred, though I felt somewhat unsatisfied.
I'll begin with saying that Andrew Garfield was an excellent choice for Peter Parker/Spider-man. The role of Peter did his talents and nerdy demeanor justice. I wasn't very surprised; Andrew Garfield had already impressed me with his performance in The Social Network. I was expecting this kind of contentment with his Peter Parker. This character version of Spider-man, however, fell a little short for me. Garfield's physique is much more true to everyone's vision of Spider-man than that of Tobey Maguire. But, yeah, that's basically it. I found myself liking Maguire's Spider-man more. I feel like Spider-man is a friendly figure, thus "Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man". (That line, unfortunately never made an appearance in this movie. Sad face.) This vision of this Spider-man is a little too dark and far too two-dimensional to flatter Andrew Garfield's skills as an actor.
For me, personally, the villain makes the movie, especially in the "Comic Book Adaptations" genre. The Lizard was an unfortunate failure. Also, the significant lack of confrontation between The Lizard and Spider-man was stressful. I don't know... I guess I can only say that, despite best efforts, The Lizard was a flat character. Nothing he did surprised me. I wasn't scared of him. And although this menacing creature was the spawn of a brilliant scientist, The Lizard didn't come across as a particularly smart villain. However, I thought it was very clever Dr. Connors became The Lizard because of his missing arm.
I'd also like to file a complaint about Emma Stone. Why was she even there? Her character in it of itself wasn't very prominent (save for the cliché "love story" aspect of the movie) and she did NOTHING to heighten Gwen Stacy's role in the plot. I feel like you could've used any actress to replace Stone and it would've meant nothing.
And it all comes down to this: the plot. The story. The meat of the movie. And if I had to choose one adjective to describe the plot of this movie: meh. If I could choose a second word, it would probably be: typical.
I mean, honestly.
I appreciated all of the modern twists about the creation of Spider-man. Cross species genetics! Whoa! This movie has a scientific one-up over the 2002 version. The acrobatics of the fight scenes were spectacular! This Spider-man is a very graceful fighter, and I enjoyed that.
But everything else fell short! A lot of the scenes felt rushed. Too rushed. The kind of rushed that left us hanging with a desire for a little more. Some scenes felt flat-out unfinished. And most of these scenes were important emotional scenes. The whole mystery about Peter's parents never really came to fruition. And the relationship Peter shared with the The Lizard, that he "created him", was vague and cheesy. Too often, I found myself whispering "of course" when we discovered something critical or a major plot element unfolded. Not to mention, The Lizard's entire ultimatum (releasing mutant-lizard creating gas over the city) felt like a huge knockoff on Batman Begins. I have a problem with that, mostly because, in the theater, I felt like I'd already seen the movie. What a waste of 11 bucks.
What I really enjoyed about the 2002 Spider-man was that the entire movie had a heavy comic-book feel to it. It was fun, stylish, with its own scruffy charm. This version was much sleeker, more modern, and much darker. Not that it was lacking style at all, but this is not what I expect from a SPIDER-MAN movie. Spider-man, to me, should not be the city's personal freak-vigilante/heretic. That's just wrong. Not only did the characters perceive Spider-man that way (especially the cops), but they were right! This Spider-man didn't seem to be saving the people to me. Each time a cop or another character said something slanderous about Spider-man, I didn't cringe with wrongfulness of the statement. I didn't feel justified in defending Spider-man. I did back in 2002.
I honestly expected a lot more out of this reboot. I gave it a 6 because, well, it was entertaining enough and a little better than average. There was nothing new or fresh about it, nothing mind-blowing or terribly exciting. By all means, see it for yourself. I may or may not watch it again.