Amazingly unnecessary

Rating: 5/10 (12 March 2015)

Apparently the maker of this film's surname is Webb, spiders have webs, so that must qualify him to make a movie about Spiderman.
So here's the plot: well actually you should just save yourself some time and watch Sam Raimi's Spiderman instead. It has a far more interesting villain, a cameo from the late Randy Savage, an amusing busker, and follows the comic book far closer than this. Well actually, let's look at one part of the plot in particular. You remember in the original film when Peter gets upset at Uncle Ben because he crossed the line and started talking to him like his father? Well in this one Uncle Ben crosses a line by actually expecting Peter to, you know, kind of be where he said he would be? Well after this spat in the original film he goes to have a wrestling match wins and gets screwed out of the money he was owed by the promoter. The promoter is then robbed, but Peter allows him to escape. The man kills Uncle Ben and Peter hunts him down in a display of out of control vigilante justice. He realizes he has a great responsibility, which also includes his conduct, and proceeds on a mission of sacrifice, losing his friendship with Harry and even giving up MJ. Well in this one, Peter goes to the corner shop where he doesn't have enough money to buy a milkshake. So when someone robs the store he just lets them do it. Let's think about this. This person's crime was not selling him a product he could not afford. Wow, this Peter Parker is pretty petty. Then that person shoots Uncle Ben. Peter starts apprehending villains who look like the assailant (a plot line that goes nowhere). Becoming Spiderman has no great impact on his life and he is even quite happy to put Gwen in danger at the film's end. Could there be a bigger contrast? The original Spiderman was inspired and haunted by the death of his uncle, weighed down by responsibility, forced to go at it alone. Being Spiderman is his calling. In this reboot being Spiderman is a hobby, to sit alongside other hobbies. I'll tell my girlfriend who I am, I'll get innocent people killed and then do nothing to keep them out of danger: your hero Ladies and gentlemen.
Apparently Raimi was taking far too long to develop Part 4 so Sony decided to reboot the whole thing, so we get a more boring and slower burning introduction to the character than the original and the dullest villain in any comic book film apart from the Green Lantern. If you made it to the final credits, your patience is to be commended.
3 times I have attempted to sit through this, 3 times I became completely bored about an hour in. I have never made it to the finish. Garfield is good as Parker and Emma Stone has nice legs. Nothing else about this patently unnecessary film is worthy of comment.