It was with a certain amount of trepidation that I approached the new reboot of the Spider-Man franchise, The Amazing Spider-Man. For the most part, I had enjoyed the Tobey Maguire movies (except for the horrible 3rd film), so I was a bit ambivalent about the reboot. Clearly the third movie showed that the previous creative team had lost their way, but did we really need to see the origin story again? So I finally broke down and went to go see the movie. Overall I was disappointed, but there were some good parts that make it likely that I might enjoy a sequel. Let’s see what it was about.

I won’t bore everyone with the details about Spider-Man’s origin. But this version has Peter Parker(Andrew Garfield) in a Science High School* with the object of his creepy stalking Gwen Stacy(Emma Stone). Peter’s dad was a scientist for Oscorp who worked with Dr. Curtis Connors (Rhys Ifans) who, for unknown reasons, left with his wife after their house was broken into. Mom and Dad Parker left young Peter with his Aunt May (Sally Field) and Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen). Sheen was decent as Uncle Ben and I was happy to see Aunt May as something other than a frail old lady. Due to the plot in the script, Peter goes to see Dr Connors at Oscorp and lucks into an intern group arriving and steals a badge to get in. The intern group is led around by Gwen Stacy who, knowing Peter doesn’t belong, does nothing. Peter then wanders around a top-secret reseach facility without anyone caring and gets bitten.

*How exactly did Flash Thompson get into a Science High School. Did they have some sort of athletic scholarship? Was the Science High School tied someway into a regular High School? This is never made clear. It’s clear that Flash is an idiot and really has no place in a Science High School.

Part of the plot involves Dr. Connors trying to come up with a way to regrow/regenerate limbs like reptiles do. Peter’s dad had been working on it as well when he skedaddled. He’s helped out by Peter mentioning an equation he found in his dad’s notes. A middle manager pushes Connors to go straight to human trials by mentioning that Norman Osborn is dying (with the underlying assumption that this could help him). Connors refuses to do illegal human testing and is fired. Needless to say, Connors tries the serum on himself and turns into a lizard. He then sets up a top-secret lab in the sewer (no chance of contamination there) and works on perfecting his serum and/or going mad.

Meanwhile Peter is doing is Spider-Man thing and starting a relationship with Gwen Stacy. Her father Police Captain Stacey (Dennis Leary in a serious role) is anti-Spider-Man until he needsSpider-Man. Gwen helps Peter work on a anti-serum to combat the Lizard and all ends well.

Things I liked. Emma Stone was amazing as Gwen Stacy. She was the best thing about the movie even if she’s a little old to portray a teenager. I liked the fact that they used Gwen Stacy instead of Mary Jane. I loved the Spider-Man special effects and I love that Peter Parker is using Oscorp technology for his webbing (although I question how he could afford it).

Things I didn’t like. Andrew Garfield is sleepwalking through the movie. I didn’t like him as Parker and he had trouble delivering the Spider-Man wisecracks. I didn’t like how the movie just glossed over Peter doing a slam dunk through Flash Thompson and throwing a football 50 yards and denting the goal post. Peter Parker does things no one would expect puny Peter Parker to do and no one mentions that. The fact that Peter Parker is able to wander through Oscorp twice without anyone seeing what he was doing was ridiculous.

Overall, it looked like the movie needed a few more passes on the script and I would’ve liked a better lead actor. The rest of the movie was decent and did a good job setting up the basic character and mythos. There were numerous mentions of Norman Osborn and with Gwen Stacy, I expect to see that story line play out in the sequel, which I expect to be much better than this movie. I shouldn’t have liked this movie due to its numerous flaws, but it was charming and that gives me hope for the future. Mildly recommended.