Reboot of Marvel's Spiderman; good film experience, not brilliant

Rating: 7/10 (28 January 2013)

I enjoyed this film in so much as it was fairly exciting, interesting and the SFX were good, excellent in fact. I didn't mind the CGI, which is a good sign, it didn't annoy me, except I did wonder how much Andrew Garfield was actually IN the film. The character of Peter Parker did annoy me though; whilst watching I got sick of his selfish uncommunicative mooning around, I often wonder how quickly problems would be sorted if people just said what was going on. He was too fashionably good looking and intelligent, and a skater, to be the subject of such excessive bullying, and too confident, to my eyes, so didn't really cut it as a geek as well as the quiet and mousy Tobey Maguire in the role. That saying I really liked him, I felt he was believable in the character once he changed and how he dealt with it. The previous boot of the film had Spiderman finding his webtastic skills as the way he adjusted, and likened to adolescent change, whereas this skirted back to - I am led to believe from what I've read -the original Spiderman using technology to spray his webbing but this showed a similar transition in his inability to control his powers and strength, and so therefore perhaps his anger and mood-swings too. I preferred the emotional range of Garfield in the role. I'm sure Marvel fans will comment more knowledgeably on why there was a reboot and the authenticity of this one, but I was mainly hung up on a few things, that I saw as inconsistencies and imponderables that I found a little irksome which I should have just suspended my disbelief over.
The pretty and wide-eyed Emma Stone was typically great, I like her a lot, and in this she was sensible and mature in her role. I loved Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen), he was such a lovely character, as was Sally field as Aunt May, Peter's surrogate parents since his parents disappeared, and whilst I understood his anger and angst towards them, I didn't like it - but then you're not supposed to are you? The family brought the characterisation more to the fore in this adaptation, I think, so his anger etc did was it was supposed to; create a roundness to the titular hero. Rhys Ifans never ceases to amaze me as I always associate him with his character in Notting Hill and he's always so different, like a chameleon... also a Lizard! Great seeing C. Thomas Howell again as Jack's Dad, so I predicted we'd see him again as otherwise he was in too small a role, at least I would hope, and Captain Stacey (Denis Leary) as Gwen's father, was ideal as a comic book square-jawed Law enforcement hero, and I like him in most things I've seen him in, he has a dry authority which worked well. Overall an enjoyable and emotive film with a great score, atmospherics and performances. The teaser cliff-hanger in the credits - make sure you don't miss it - nods to obvious suspicions from the start of the film. Certainly an entertaining film experience, and I'd probably go see the sequel as it's got Emma Stone in again and maybe Jamie Foxx, which should be fun.