I know that this review is a little late in the game, so I'll dispense with the general thoughts that everyone has expressed about this movie. Yes, it's weird that they're making a Spider-Man reboot so soon after the last entry in the franchise. And, yes, I know it was for contract reasons that they did so. Yes, this movie is better than Spider-Man 3, but, no, it's not as good as Spider-Man 2.
Now that we've gotten that out of the way, I'll sum up my feelings about The Amazing Spider-Man: Meh.
As the story goes, this was a movie that had to get made in order for Sony to maintain the film rights to the Spider-Man franchise. According to the rumors that I've heard but am too lazy to verify at the moment, they decided to go with a reboot because principals in the previous trilogy -- Sam Raimi, the director, and Tobey Maguire, the star -- wanted too much money.
And, that's what this movie feels like: a movie made just for the money. They needed to make a Spider-Man movie, so they cranked one out. There's none of the affection for the characters and passion for the story that permeated the other Spider-Man movies. Indeed, even when they were terrible -- and Spider-Man 3 was pretty terrible -- you got the sense that everyone from the writers to the director to the stars put some effort into what they were doing. Aside from the special effects, this movie just felt lazy.
We all know the Spider-Man origin story. Peter Parker (played in this incarnation by Andrew Garfield), a high school nerd being raised by his aunt and uncle, gets bitten by a radioactive spider and wakes up with all kinds of spidery super powers. The twist this time around is that, in the back-story, Peter remembers his parents and their mysterious disappearance. And, as it turns out, his father was a scientist whose work led directly to the creation of the aforementioned super spider. In fact, Father Parker was a an employee of Oscorp (ooh...Green Goblin...ooh sequel foreshadowing) and it's in his quest to find out what happened to his parents that Peter wanders into the labs at Oscorp and crosses paths with the Arachnid of Destiny (TM).
It's also where he meets Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans), his father's one-armed former partner. Connors is working to find a way to splice lizard DNA with other species in order to give them the power to regrow limbs...did I mention that he only has one arm? As it turns out, Peter's father had been working on the missing equation to this hazardous undertaking, and it appears to be the reason for his sudden disappearance. Unbeknownst to Peter (but knownst to us) Connors was involved in that whole rigamorole
Through a series of events, Peter ends up giving Connors the equation and the good doctor ends up injecting himself with lizard DNA and it eventually overtakes him and turns him into the giant reptilian thingy Spider-Man fans call The Lizard. Those that are familiar with the comic books will tell you that The Lizard is awesome...in the comic books. Here, not so much. More on that in a minute.
As you might expect, the central conflict of the movie is between Spider-Man and The Lizard. Oh yeah, in addition to turning him into a giant dinosaur, the lizard DNA makes Connors crazy. That's why they're fighting.
So, why didn't I like this movie more? I think it has to start with Garfield. I've enjoyed his work in previous movies, but he just seems miscast here. He's awkward and really seems out of place the whole time. Now, I get that Peter Parker is a nerd, he's also insecure and dealing with a lot of anger issues, so awkwardness is to be expected. But, there's teen-angsty awkwardness and drunk nine-year-old awkwardness and, far too often, Garfield seems like he's going for the latter. I'm probably being a little too hard on him...it's not terrible, it just didn't do it for me.
Then, there's Ifans playing the villain. Ifans is a great character actor, but there's a reason why he's never been the lead in a major movie before: he's just not charismatic enough to keep people interested. Like Garfield, he doesn't entirely botch the role, he's just utterly forgettable, which is a problem for a villain in a comic book movie.
The visual rendering of The Lizard is fantastic. It's a truly terrifying creation. But, then, the creature starts talking, rambling in Ifans boring voice. In every one of those moments, any momentum built by the well-choreographed action scenes and the superb special effects is washed away.
And, of course, we can't not mention Emma Stone's portrayal of Gwen Stacy, Peter's eventual girlfriend. Stone is a fine actress, with impeccable grace and timing. Indeed, she's almost always fun to watch, and she's put to mostly good use here. Any Gwen-related failings are the fault of the script. Don't get me started on her dual role as high-school crush and high-ranking staffer at Oscorps labs. I can suspend disbelief when it comes to super heroes with mutant powers, but I can't for a second accept that a teenager would have access to every area of a lab controlled by super villains.
Anyway, moving on...
For the most part, The Amazing Spider-Man has been looked at as the forgotten super hero movie sandwiched between The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises. That's a pretty fair assessment, I'd say. It's not bad, it's just not good enough to care about.
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