The Amazing Spider-Man was amazing.

Rating: 8/10 (8 July 2012)

Perhaps it is because I'm not an needlessly cynical old man lacking a sense of humour, but many reviews I've read are unfair.
I just got back from the cinema, and I was so so so surprised by the awesomeness of this movie. I remember enjoying the first Spider-Man but this just completely blew that out of the water.
Firstly, I think I laughed more at this film than most comedy movies. I was literally in hysterics at some of it - as was everyone else in the cinema. Namely, the part where a robber gets out a knife and Spider-Man cowers on the floor saying sarcastically something like "oh no you found my weakness - it's small knives" before whipping up and shooting his badass webs at the dude. Oh god I laughed so much. And this part where he first gets bitten, comes home, proclaims he is hungry and proceeds to taking an armful of /frozen/ food upstairs while his aunt an uncle just stand there looking utterly confused. Honestly it was just hilarious. When he wakes up in the morning and practically demolishes his bathroom and all the doors. After kissing his girlfriend "I'm going to throw you out of the window now." "Wha-?" SMASH! Hahaha. Sarcastic protagonists make every film better. I want to see it all again!
The story was also good, I liked the way the webs didn't just blast out of his fingers without reason but instead he created them from wires. And the whole sci-fi aspect was really interesting. It was a great curveball that Connors didn't actually start out evil but in fact it was almost Peter's fault he turned all lizard-y. There were also some really emotional parts, and I won't say I didn't cry because the development and everything just made them tenfold more heart-wrenching! I also thought it was good that they kept the human aspect of the superhero - he get's injured and he feels pain which, to me, isn't a weakness it's just inevitability.
ACTORS. Oh my god. They were all epic as hell. Garfield was just amazing, it was a completely different role from The Social Network and yet he slotted into it so naturally. He got the emotion, connection, humour and just everything down to a T. Emma Stone was also beautifully flirty and awesome. I was glad she wasn't the usual whiny, helpless female sidekick. Every single actor was FLAWLESS.
The visuals were also very aesthetically pleasing. Camera angles and scenes which made the 3D aspect perfect. I'm also very happy that they didn't go down the whole "OMG CRAM IT FULL OF CGI AND DAZZLING MONSTERS SO THEY DON'T NOTICE THE CRAPPY PLOT L0L" route.
My only downside is the backstory which didn't fit together or wasn't fully explained in some parts, but it didn't really matter because the rest was so satisfying. I've seen people say Parker and Spider-Man were too different in personality, but honestly did they not catch the "your boyfriend is a man of many masks" part? Or the part with the kid where he wears the mask and it makes him brave? It's obviously like bravado. At least, in my opinion.
Oh I absolutely loved the ending, when he breaks up with Gwen because of the promise. Then when he comes into class late and promises never to be late again, to which the teacher replies "Peter, don't make promises you can't keep" and as he sits down behind Gwen he whispers "but those are the best kind."
To conclude, it was a wonderful entertaining movie which I thoroughly enjoyed. Ignore the whiny negative reviews!