Not Amazing, but pretty damn Good.

Rating: 8/10 (27 October 2012)

Here's a little confession, I have not seen the Sam Raimi Spiderman movies. Nor have I read any of the comics, or really watched any form of media about him, I think I saw a few episodes of the old cartoon once, but that's about it. So unlike everyone else, I didn't go into this movie with ridicuously high expectations. And for me, this movie actually exceeded my expectations. I just wanted a fun movie, but this movie was actually a very well done, pretty emotional movie that still managed to be fun.
There's quite a bit going on here, and because of this the film seems to forget about some of it's plot points. Maybe they were setting up for a sequel, but can we really just forget about some of these things that I won't spoil. And also because there is so much going on, sometimes it will either be going painfully slow, or feels rushed. I mean seriously it takes like 20 seconds after the bite and Peter already knows he has powers, but it takes almost a half hour after that for him to actually become Spider Man. Also some of the special effects weren't that great.
But what I really liked was the characters in this movie. I actually really liked Peter, he came off as a real person. He was nice but was sarcastic, he was picked on, but he wasn't a nerd, he gets dramatic about the stuff going on in his life, but he has a sense of humor. There's a bit of an emotional pull to the movie involving his relationship with the other characters. Gwen was likable, she was what a good female lead should be: tough, smart, likable, funny, but even she can get into trouble. Half the time I forgot Emma Stone was playing her. And the villain was threatening, but kind of sympathetic. Despite some of the effects looking fake, most of them look pretty damn amazing. And it's just fun, that's one thing Marvel has over DC most of the time, they have a sense of fun to them. The movie is serious, but it's also a little campy, I mean there's only so serious that you can take a man dressed in that suit. It has a real fun sense of humor (including one of, if not the best Stan Lee Cameos), along with some fun action scenes. And as for the story, it's pretty basic, but it works.
The Amazing Spider Man is definitely one of the better superhero orgin stories I've seen. Certainly more fun than Batman Begins and Iron Man. Despite some slow scenes, and some rushed scenes, the film manages to balance the seriousness of trying to make a superhero orgin story, and the fun that a comicbook movie like this should have. And while some people were disappointed, my expectaitons were actually surpassed.