It’s good, but not great.
There’s my review in a nutshell. Want more details? Go see the movie. If you’re a fan of Spider-Man, of course you have to see the movie. And if you’re not a fan, this would be a good introduction. If you enjoy fun summer fantasy sci-fi action films in general, you should see this movie. But for my money, I think you’d have more fun taking in a second viewing of The Avengers.
The Avengers is fresh and full of fun. I’ve seen it three times now, and each time I discover something new and find it more enjoyable. I did enjoy The Amazing Spider-Man, but I couldn’t help thinking…haven’t we been here before?
It wasn’t that long ago that Toby Maguire portrayed Spider-Man in a trio of movies. Did we really need to reboot the series after only ten years? Did we really need to see Peter Parker getting bit by that spider…again? Did we really need to see Uncle Ben killed on the streets of New York… again? Sure, we’ve got all new actors—and by the way, the actors were all great (but more on that later). I’m just not sure why we had to go all the way back to the beginning to belabor the origin story for what seemed like at least half the movie.
It really did. It seemed like we were halfway through the movie before we even get a glimpse of the famous red and blue costume. Once we do, the action picks up as Spider-Man takes on the Lizard, which gives us plenty of good summertime action fun. But geez! 
What a long time it took getting there! As far as I’m concerned, this all would have worked just as well if the filmmakers had plopped us down somewhere in the middle of the Spider-Man mythos and said “Okay. Spidey… Lizard… GO!”
Of course, they would still need to introduce us to Gwen, Peter’s new love interest. We spent a good deal of time on that story, and it was time well spent. But I don’t think there’s any particular reason both these characters need to be in high school. Peter could have met Gwen in college, right? In fact, I think it would work better if they were in college, because personally I had a hard time believing that Gwen, as a high school student, is interning at Oscorp, giving tours of the facilities, and apparently knows enough about the organization to….no, wait. I don’t want to spoil anything. Let’s just say, either she’s one damn smart high school kid, or it would have worked better to have her in college, even graduate school.
So that didn’t work for me. And the overall tone of the movie didn’t quite work either. This is no Batman, to be sure (those movies are always way too dark and ominous for me!), but I missed the usual comedic moments I’ve come to know and love in so many of these Marvel movies. The Avengers is chock full of them. Here we have a mere sprinkling of comedic moments—-and will I be spoiling anything to say keep your eye open for Stan’s cameo? It’s the best! But overall, the tone, the musical score, the melodrama, the angst…all a bit heavy-handed.
With all that drama going on, you would think it would be a sure bet that the famous Spider-Man line “With great power comes great responsibility” would somehow work its way into the movie. There was a perfect opportunity for those words at the very end which would have actually been extremely poignant, but…no. Didn’t happen. Russ remarked that having a Spider-Man origin story without that classic line is akin to having a James Bond movie without the 007 theme music (I said it would be like a Bond movie without the line “Bond…James Bond,” and some reference to how Bond likes his martinis “shaken, not stirred”). Something seems missing.
As for the actors, they rise to the task. I really liked Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker. I know there will be a tendency to compare his performance to Toby Macguire’s, but I don’t really remember the original Spider-Man movies well enough to do that right now. I will say, however, that Garfield perfectly captures that teenage awkwardness that is Peter Parker, pre-Spidey. 
Afterwards, once he’s put on the suit…he’s good, with all that annoying chattering at his opponents. But it’s as Peter that he really shines.
And what an inspiration to put the Gwen Stacy character in the female lead! Emma Stone is so cute. (Oh! And I love her boots!) I liked this pairing a lot better than the Peter/MaryJane story from the first set of movies. There’s a brief scene where Peter takes Gwen on a “swinging” date across the night skies of New York City. Very brief, in long shot. For a moment I was afraid we might start hearing Margot Kidder breathlessly wondering “Can you read my mind?” I think the director of The Amazing Spider-Man was wise not to belabor this moment, which would no doubt evoke and encourage comparisons to that classic Superman scene.
Martin Sheen and Sally Field portray Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Of course, in the comics (and the first set of movies) these characters are both a lot older (especially Aunt May), but as Russ points out, it never really made sense that teenaged Peter would have an octogenarian aunt and uncle. So it works to have solid, classic actors in these solid, classic roles.
Gwen’s father, Captain George Stacy, as portrayed by Denis Leary, is a somewhat one-dimensional stereotypical character, hard-nosed cop with the inevitable friction upon meeting his precious daughter’s new boyfriend. And then of course the inevitable change of heart. Rhys Ifans was outstanding as Dr. Curt Connors but I didn’t quite understand his sudden change of heart, which turns the plot on its end.
Basically this ends up being a monster movie, Spider fights Lizard, but I guess that’s all right, because after all, these are comic book characters. Personally, though, I like my villains to be a little more intellectual, conniving, evil and dangerous. Well…yes, there is danger, but thinking back to the earlier movies, it seems Dr. Octopus and Green Goblin gave Spidey a little more run for our money.
Speaking of money, we paid a little extra to see this in 3D. I’ve seen a few 3D movies now, and I’ve got to say I’m not really all that impressed. My original hope for 3D was: “Oh! I feel like I’m REALLY THERE!” But instead, I get: “Oh! I feel like I’m watching a 3D movie.” But only in certain scenes, and in most cases, the 3D effects, when they show up in full force, are so distracting, they fairly scream: “Hey! Look at what we can do because this is a 3D MOVIE!” These effects draw attention to themselves rather than to the story; they cause you to mentally jump out of the storyline momentarily, rather than draw you further in.
Perhaps the technology has not advanced far enough yet. Personally, I’m putting 3D on the back burner until I hear that improvements have been made. And even if they are never made, so what? I’ll take a good story, well told, any day, over gadgets, gizmos, effects and window dressing.
The tale of Spider-Man is always a good story, and this one was well done, but, I think, could have been better. Still, it’s summer, so get thee to a movie theater! Sit down with a giant tub of buttered popcorn and an obscene amount of candy and soda and have yourself a marvelous time!
