The A-meh-zing Spiderman

Rating: 4/10 (11 July 2012)

First, let me just say that I liked the Raimi trilogy...yes, even Spiderman 3 was fairly good. Did it have some problems, oh yes, but mostly enjoyable.
Anyway, when it was announced that Spidey was getting a reboot I, like many other people, thought why? Why is it necessary to throw out everything just because you're changing lead actors and director. Could've just stuck with the Peter and MJ relationship but with different actors and kept the current film continuity. Sure it would've raised some eyebrows but there would've been far less uproar than a complete retelling of the story.
Where was I? Oh yes, this new Spiderman movie. While it's not terrible, it's FAR from great. It just has not heart to it, no drive. Everything in this story is so by-the-numbers that you can see every plot turn a mile away. That would be fine, even somewhat forgivable, if this movie was fun but that's not the case.
Nearly every actor in this film seems miscast. From the generic guy playing Flash to Sally Field, right up to Andrew Garfield as the man in tights himself. No one seems to have a real handle on the character they're playing so they resort to archtypes. Emma Stone, as a prime example, slips into the same well worn shoes of the character she seems to play, with minor variations, in every movie: sardonic girl who wears her inner girl power on her sleeve. A little of that goes a long way.
The effects in this movie were mildly disappointing for a big summer blockbuster especially Spiderman's web swinging and the Lizard. One of the "improvements" for this reboot has been the use of as much live action web swinging for Spiderman as possible, to make it look more life like. They must have realized early on that this was not the way to go because most of Spidey's web swinging is done at night, which I'm assuming is to hide the ridiculousness of a man swinging around in a harness.
Then there is the Lizard. What a visual train wreck of a villain he is. With all the money that Sony sank into this "reboot" there wasn't enough to hire a better CGI effects team? The Lizard looks like he's straight from one of the Syfy Channel's "Dinocrock vs Jurassic Lizard" B grade films. OK, maybe not THAT bad but certainly not at the level one would expect from a film like this.
This is getting long so I'm going to sum up my remaining criticisms of this film: 1) Everyone in New York knows that Peter Parker is Spiderman!!! I lost count of how many times he gave himself away, either by taking off his mask or displaying his superhuman abilities while in his street clothes.
2) Guess when you're a parent of a future superhero, or the girl he likes, your life is pretty much over. Peter's parents vanish, Uncle Ben dies, Gwen's father dies...good lord! You're next May Parker.
3) Sally Field and Martin Sheen were not believable as a couple. If it wasn't for the fact that they're named Uncle Ben and May Parker, I never would've believed they were married.
Whew, there I've said my piece...now I'm going home. G'dnight!!