*WARNING! MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!*

Five years since Spider-Man 3, the last of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy and now we have The Amazing Spider-Man. The proposed new Spider-Man series that was originally going to be the fourth Spider-Man movie but both Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire dropped out and Marvel decided to reboot it. We now have Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker / Spider-Man, Martin Sheen and Sally Field as Uncle Ben and Aunt May but we have now a few characters that were introduced in the previous movies; Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, Denis Leary as Captain Stacy and Rhys Ifans as Dr. Curt Connors / The Lizard. The weird choice was giving Marc Webb the director’s chair, his only previous credits was 500 Days of Summer, he has dealt with drama and comedy but action was something he’s diving in first time.

This movie takes us back once again to the origins of Spider-Man, except it takes us to a different way that doesn’t all feel deja vu. We’re actually introduced to Peter’s parents, they leave him to his aunt and uncle. Though his parents die from a plane accident and Peter grows up during his childhood and teenage years orphaned. He eventually comes across his dad’s belongings in a briefcase, inside he finds some papers and a photo of his dad and Dr. Connors. So he goes to OsCorp (pretending to be one of the interns) and meets Dr. Connors. Though he goes off to a restricted area and eventually gets bitten by the inevitable spider. Thus slowly becoming the web-slinger we all know and love (cue montage on having some hijinks and learning some new acrobatic skills). Meanwhile, Peter solves the algorithm his dad started and shows it to Connors and that leads to Connors using that algorithm to create a serum to regenerate limbs.

The story works well for newcomers but also makes it fresh for those who are already familiar with the character (from comics, movies etc.). Andrew Garfield really does play the character well and gets the classic prankster Spider-Man some already know (the scene where he plays around with a car thief). It also displays Peter Parker’s smarts, where we get to see him creating the classic web-shooters (though how does he get a hold of those web cartridges?). What’s also great about Garfield’s portrayal is there is a difference between Peter Parker and Spider-Man; Peter Parker is more reserved but not afraid to stand up for himself, whilst Spider-Man is wacky and gets his enemies off-guard by making wise-cracks. Gwen Stacy finally gets more meat to the character, as she was poorly written in Spider-Man 3. Emma Stone plays the character strong willed and not being a damsel in distress (which is a nice change considering Mary Jane Watson kept getting saved in every movie). The chemistry between Garfield and Stone is actually really great, they couldn’t do better awkward hallway talk then they just did. This is all credit to director Marc Webb, as mentioned earlier, he succeeded on making the chemistry between Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel affecting and charming in 500 Days. Rhys Ifans does the character of Dr. Connors well but he really isn’t explored enough to really feel sorry for him and be the tragic character the movie is trying to imply. His character seemed to be side-lined, more focusing on Parker’s evolution on being Spider-Man and his relationship with Gwen. The supporting characters you know little to nothing about, except Martin Sheen and Sally Field play their characters respectively and actually make an impact. Aunt May is under-played and is actually better than Rosemary Harris’s version, you actually feel for her being overly protective for Peter.

The action sequences were very well done, it was very easy to watch and I wasn’t confused what was going on. The stand-out action scene was where Spider-Man and The Lizard are fighting in the High School (although it could’ve had some build-up) and features a great Stan Lee cameo (barely a surprise he has a cameo in the film). I was interested with the direction on having Spider-Man’s POV when he’s web-slinging. As much as the performances and chemistry between the characters were great, some of the technical aspects were a bit flat. The orchestral score by James Horner (Aliens, Titanic and Avatar) really is forgettable, especially when compared to Danny Elfman’s score from the first two Spider-Man movies. It all feels very generic and doesn’t really stand out from the other superhero movies. Even some scenes could work without music, such as Peter Parker finding his father’s briefcase or even when he’s humiliating Flash Thompson (who’s more fleshed out this time around than being the typical bully). The film also felt all too rushed, it did not feel like 2 hours and 17 minutes long. Usually that’s a good thing but this film could’ve been better being longer. Uncle Ben’s death felt too rushed, it didn’t all feel enough to let it all sink in.

Though some plot points and events that come off being ridiculous to the point on not being able to suspend your disbelief and not making much sense; the machine that shoots a chemical cloud that both Richard Parker and Dr. Connors was working on but was shut down because the military deemed it dangerous. So it was left at OsCorp behind a glass door? The police firing at Spider-Man, even though he was unarmed apart from having web-shooters? The most ridiculously laughable scene involved a bunch of crane operators helping Spider-Man to swing to OsCorp tower. I can honestly say that I already claim that scene to win The Most Cheesiest Scene of the Year! It’s almost as bad and cheesy as the citizens of New York throwing stuff at Green Goblin in Spider-Man and a forced 9/11 reference when one of the citizens says “you mess with Spidey, you mess with New York!”. A couple plot points are brought up and suddenly disappear, such as Peter Parker trying to find Uncle Ben’s killer. Is he going to eventually find him or has he just given up?

Overall; it is an enjoyable start to the new Spider-Man series and really am interested where they will go from there. Great performances from the cast but it all feels a bit underwhelming from the plot feeling rushed and the incredibly bad cheesy moment. More like The Average Spider-Man.

3 out of 5