It's a lot of fun, but the silly story does let it down slightly

Rating: 7/10 (30 May 2020)

I would normally write a short plot summary when opening a review, but there is quite a lot going on in the first hour of The Amazing Spider-Man so I'm finding it difficult to do this in a manner that is both short and concise. So I think I'll just skip that and give you some of my thoughts on the film...
Inevitably, this film is going to be compared to the original 2002 film starring Tobey Maguire and whilst in my opinion this version comes up a little bit short by comparison it is still a very entertaining film in it's own right...
I'll be honest with you I was really sold with the first hour where we have young Peter trying to find out what happens to his parents, wanting to learn about Connors research, tracking down the guy who killed his uncle and of course trying to bag the lovely Gwen Stacey. For the first hour this film is magnificent and the wonderful emotive and funny performance that Garfield gave in his portrayal of Spider-man really upped the ante making me genuinely believe that I was witnessing something truly special here. However...
Once we reach the second half of the film things weaken slightly; Connors decides to do a human trial on himself which goes wrong and turns him in to a crazy angry ass-kicking lizard. OK you could perhaps argue that the cross-species genetics went wrong which accounts for Connors psychotic rampages whilst he's in lizard mode, but to me it's a rather weak foundation to base a story upon particularly when it's one that has no real narrative rules. For example, Connors occasionally comes out of lizard mode and goes back to human mode, but with no explanation of how this is achieved. Its flimsy things like this that weaken the whole foundation of the film. Also Spider-man begins pursuing the man responsible for the murder of his uncle, but this pretty much gets forgotten about in the second half of the film for no apparent reason.
On the plus side though, I thought Garfield was amazing and personally I thought he was far more convincing than Maguire. He doesn't quite convince as well in his role as the dork as Maguire did (though I'm not necessarily sure that could be considered a compliment), but in the tough guy moments and in the emotive stakes he eclipses Maguire - one thing I also thought was funnier here were Spider-Man's vigilante moments which were almost conveyed in a Deadpool style comical way which was hilarious which I felt was achieved by a combination of Garfield's terrific acting and the wonderful humour employed by both the director and the screenwriter.
The acting was also top-notch; as I've said Garfield was quite literally amazing and blew the field apart. Emma Stone did an OK job (arguably a little more interesting than Mary Jane) and Martin Sheen and Sally Field (both very strong) were excellent in support.
The only other troubling thing I could think of was when Gwen rung Peter when he was in the sewer and the signal seemed to be crystal clear. Would a signal really be that good in a sewer? Also the disjointed and fragmented nature of the narrative takes some getting used to but it is a fun ride once you're on board.
Don't get me wrong this is a great film and is very entertaining and Garfield puts in a superb performance, but if I'm totally honest the story is a bit daft (close to Spider-Man 3 daft), but it's executed so well by director Marc Webb and his team of screenwriters that you rarely have chance to give it a seconds thought. Sure it's a little dumb at times and falls short of the greatness of the 2002 film, but it is very entertaining.