Good Reboot Despite Some Issues

Rating: 7/10 (30 June 2014)

Reboot of the Spider-Man series without Sam Raimi is surprisingly good, even with its flaws. It's a little more emo than I would prefer my Spider-Man. It also suffers from a sense of familiarity, being an origin story released ten years after the first movie already did that. Of course, they change a lot between that version and this but the gist is the same. I will say that no "With great power comes great responsibility" is a huge fail. On the plus side, it has a great cast. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone have a believable, likable chemistry. Garfield's Peter is a bit more of a jerk than I am used to seeing or reading, but I will chalk that up to them trying to make him more "real." Realism is the enemy of fantasy but unfortunately, many filmmakers who tackle comic book movies don't get this. The direction is nice, especially considering Mark Webb is new to this kind of movie-making. The effects are so-so but the movie takes place mostly at night, which is a convenient way for them to utilize spotty CGI. Unfortunately, that also lends to the overall dark tone the film has. I don't view Spider-Man as a dark character so the navel-gazing gets old after awhile. Still, if you're a fan of comic book movies and Spider-Man in particular, I doubt you'll regret watching this.