The not so Amazing Spider-Man

Rating: 5/10 (12 July 2012)

So here we have it, merely a decade later, Sony's reboot of the Spider-Man franchise. Many critics alike questioned whether this new take on the web- slinger would justify a re-boot.. After watching the trailers, I did not have high expectations for this. However, I was prepared to be proved wrong. Sadly, my low expectations were met.
First of all, the movie tried too hard to add Nolan's Batman vibe- dark & serious. This works against the film. Most of the action took place during night time, which is pretty distracting. The director needs to realize that Spiderman is NOT Batman. Raimi's version was bright and colourful and had a perfect tone and feel.
As far as the cast is concerned, Emma Stone did a stellar job. She delivered a strong, heartfelt performance. The main lead, Andrew Garfield, was good in some scenes but corny in other scenes. Martin Sheen was decent in the role of Uncle Ben- more on this later. Rhys Ifans is a fine actor- but here I felt his role and metamorphosis into the Lizard echoed the role of Willem Dafoe as The Green Goblin, i.e, talking to himself & the split personality. Overall, The Lizard is a OK villain, nothing special.
The story here is weak. There is something missing- I can't pinpoint what. Uncle Ben's death (one of the most pivotal moments in the Spider-Man story) is swept aside very quickly- Peter Parker virtually forgets his uncle was murdered and there is not any mention of the events thereafter. Aunt May hardly has a role- apart from waiting every night for Peter to turn up with a bruised face. She is virtually non- existent. There is not enough character development- it all seems too rushed.
I was skeptical about the web-shooters. But this aspect highlights Peter's geeky intelligence well- something that was missing from Raimi's version. The transformation into Spider-Man is an improvement over Raimi's version- though, the writers could have at least spent more time on how he got hold of the costume, i.e, Batman Begins. However, I struggle to comprehend how it was possible for Peter to become a science whiz all of a sudden, simply by reading a few scrap notes and a book?
Compared to Raimi's version, the wow factor from when Spidey is swinging around town is not there- could this be because of the mostly night time shots? But as expected, the CGI has improved. The action scenes were thin- in fact, the train sequence from Spider-Man 2 was more exhilarating than all of the action scenes put together here. The special effects good. But overall, I feel this was a missed opportunity. The sequel needs to step up big time.