Almost there...

Rating: 6/10 (16 November 2014)

It's obvious that the filmmakers looked to the successes that were the first two Nolan Batman films and tried to imitate the darker, more grounded tone that they embraced. However, Sony made the wrong move in doing so and failing to understand that Spider-Man is not a dark character.
One of my problems with this film is that it doesn't really feel like a Spider-Man film; it feels like Peter just takes up the mantle of Spider-Man out of nowhere and doesn't really fulfil what it means to be a hero. What troubles me even more is that Spider-Man is conceived out of revenge; the writers made Peter Parker go to the effort of creating the full Spider-Man suit and web-shooters for the purpose of Peter getting his vengeance on his Uncle Ben's killer, no.
The action scenes get quite dull (especially due to Horner's unforgettable score throughout the film), the crane scene at the end was a little cheesy for my liking, the Lizard could have had a lot more potential (especially if they had introduced Connors' family) and the film just fails to capture the true essence of Spider-Man.
Why the high-ish rating then? The cast is great and disregarding this as a "Spider-Man" movie, characters are believable and each actor/actress really brings their role to life. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone share wonderful chemistry together and the Peter/Gwen romance is the highlight of this film, trumping the dull relationship between Peter and Mary Jane in Raimi's trilogy. One of my favourite moments from the film was the bridge scene in which Spider-Man saves a young boy trapped in a burning car, hanging off the side of the bridge. Andrew Garfield's charisma comes through a lot here and it's that interaction between him and the young boy that makes his iteration of Peter Parker likable, more so than Tobey Maguire in Raimi's trilogy who often came across as a little too dull and lifeless.
I really want to like "The Amazing Spider-Man" but the material and storytelling is average, suffering from having to go through the origin again and having little justification for doing so, especially with the untold story about Peter's parents which is never fully resolved and just gets swept under the rug as the film progresses. The film tries too hard to copy the grittier tone led by The Dark Knight and is consciously trying to separate itself from the Raimi films rather than being its own thing, resulting in a poor execution for a Spider-Man film. That being said, I have watched this film multiple times because of the excellent cast making it worth sticking around for the 2 hr runtime. Andrew Garfield makes for a promising Peter Parker and Spider-Man (despite the poor material he's had to work with) and Emma Stone shines as the strong female lead and love interest Gwen Stacy. If it wasn't for the cast, then this film would most likely get 6/10.