Better than Spiderman 3, not as good as Spiderman 2, on par with Spiderman

Rating: 8/10 (4 July 2012)

The story of this superhero movie is that Peter Parker is struggling in his life. He's the punching bag for Flash, the bully at school, and he's trying to figure out why his parents left him so many years ago. After he gets bitten by a spider (go figure), he starts to develop powers, which puts him on a collision course with Dr. Curt Conners' alter ego, the Lizard.
First off, let me say that this movie is a huge step up from Spiderman 3. I know that this is a reboot and really isn't a part of the Sam Raimi trilogy, but let me tell you that this movie is on par with the one from 2002. That's how good it is.
Next, I'm going to say that it's about time that we had the Lizard as the villain. We've already seen two films where Dr. Connors plays a supporting role, so it's great to see him as a main character to the movie, and Rhys Ifans plays him well.
Speaking of Ifans, he, along with Garfield, Stone, Leary, Sheen, and Fields all deliver terrific performances. Sally Fields plays Aunt May, the protective Aunt who worries about Peter when he's out late. Then there's Martin Sheen as Uncle Ben, who provides many words of wisdom for Peter that really echo Peter's destiny as a hero. Emma Stone plays Gwen Stacy, the love interest of Peter/Spiderman, while her father is played by Dennis Leary, who is great as always. As mentioned above, Rhys Ifans is a great Lizard, but if anyone steals the show, it's obviously Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spiderman. He seemed to be comfortable in balancing Peter the insecure nerd and Spiderman the loudmouthed crime-fighter, which is a good thing.
Overall, a job well done to everyone. It doesn't quite hit the heights of Spiderman 2, but it is enough to say that the franchise has been rebooted and it's in safe hands. A 9/10 for me.