There's a lot of love in this.

Rating: 8/10 (5 August 2013)

When I heard The Amazing Spider-Man is on the works, my first thought was "why?". After all, it hadn't been that long since Raimi's trilogy, and apart from the last one they weren't bad.
Was this needed? Probably not. Which is funny, because it's still very, very good. I just watched it for the 2nd time on blu-ray and there's so much good in this film.
The casting is excellent. Andrew Garfield is not just a good actor, he's far better Peter Parker/Spider-Man than I would've thought. He nails it. I really was surprised by it. Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy is equally good. I love it, that for once, Peter's love interest isn't a useless, idiotic damsel in distress with some trivial occupational/emotional problems nobody cares about. For once there's a female counterpart who isn't just an idiot, but neither a forced, overly strong woman with a bitchy character trying to portray some cynical girl power fantasy. No. Gwen Stacy is smart, funny and naturally likable character. Which can also be said of Uncle Ben and Aunt May (Martin Sheen and Sally Field). Warm, good characters, and the dialogue is usually good and/or well delivered. For once, I'm happy that characters aren't a) stupid or b) repulsive. It's clear that with this reboot, Marc Webb not only wanted to tell the origin story again, but he wanted to do it right. Although basic aspects are the same as in previous trilogy, there are differences here and there.
I complimented the dialogue. I'll also compliment the pacing. Sometimes corners are cut a little short, and the character of Connors/Lizard could've used a little more character development, but the movie just rolls forward in a satisfying manner. We do not need more forced "Peter hiding his identity"-based tension, and I'm thrilled how it's handled in this movie. That's how I felt, I felt I wasn't forced to care about things I don't really care, especially in a reboot. The action looks wonderful and I do like the suit - and of course I like the fact that Spider-Man's web doesn't come from his body anymore.
As I said, some corners are cut short and of course there are some stupidities. For me, these are all forgivable. Webb's crew is serious about this character and the movie. There is a lot of love put into this film. It shows, it really does. I'm saying this even if I thought the main villain wasn't handled the way I liked. The overall quality is that strong. Some genuine moments, like when Sally Field delivers an explosion of emotion without a single spoken word in the end, have such an impact that it's easy to forgive plenty.
Raimi's Spider-Man 2 is still the best one, but I enjoyed this almost to the same extent. It can be dumb and sometimes doesn't respect the intelligence of its audience, but it's simply an enjoyable ride nevertheless. Too bad the sequel was horrible. Let's just pretend that it didn't happen.