The Amazing Spider-Man

If you stop mining it for its self-proclaimed amazing qualities, and overlook its slow patches, The Amazing Spider-man' is watchable enough, even though it did not make my jaw drop anywhere.

It has the talent, the already endearing subject, but fails to deliver on the promise it had before.

The story works hard to integrate various elements from Spidey's history, and the score works even harder to let you know what you should be feeling at any given moment.

Thankfully, Webb's Peter Parker/Spider-Man is played by Andrew Garfield (whom you last saw in The Social Network), who is fully up to the task.

The Amazing Spider-Man isn't so amazing, actually, and is a reboot of a remake, or a remake of a reboot, or a remake rebooted, and remade, rebootingly.

This umphundredth origin story of a nerdy outsider turned unlikely crime fighter is surprisingly enjoyable.

There are some obvious flaws in Webb's vision of Spider-Man. The plot conveniences are a headache, Connors is a shell of his true self, and it proves origin stories aren't always necessary. But the highlights bring a comic book issue to life.

Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are electric every time they're on screen and web-swinging sequences are energetic and exciting, but the antagonists and overall story miss the mark.

While Garfield shined and some of the set pieces were nifty, the film’s plot and use of Rhys Ifans’ Lizard failed to really capture the imagination like other films with Spider-Man.



No matter how impressive a cast, no matter how moody the marketing, no matter what superficial alterations the film’s three credited writers make to the character, none of it can distract from the familiarity of Spider-Man’s origin story.