Decent Reboot

Rating: 5/10 (3 July 2013)

When you reboot a franchise, the goal is to give the story a shot of stimulants to get it going again. Just like the recent Star Trek reboots, the Amazing Spider-Man does give the franchise a little boost, especially after the flawed and unfocused Spider-Man 3. However, it isn't the most groundbreaking, either. We have to get the origin story going again - although this time we get a little more into Peter Parker's absent parents. Once the story gets going, we are introduced to Dr. Curt Connors - AKA the Lizard. In all honesty, this was a great villain - probably the best one Spidey faced in the comics of yore. This was a flawed person that Spider-Man/Parker was always trying to help and redeem. We also have two vintage comic characters, Gwen Stacey and Captain Ned Stacey. Yes, they were introduced in Raimi's campy Spider-Man 3, but they were out of sync with the canonical story. This fresh take, does keep with the older comic stories and characters - and with Parker developing the web on his own. There was also a good casting call of making Martin Sheen who made a great Ben Parker. Sally Field, though, as Aunt May seemed a little weak as opposed to Rosemary Harris who gave the character a lot of strength. The one miscast (slightly) was Andrew Garfield as the new Parker/Spider- Man. I'm sorry, but Garfield did not give us the nerdy outcast vibe Maguire gave us. I thought the story moved a little slow. This one is also darker than the previous installments. It does not, however, resort to the camp and silliness of the previous Spidey venture. Overall, though, it was a fun time at the movies. It was not as fun as Raimi's first two ventures, but still enjoyable.