'The Amazing Spider Man' Review

  The Amazing Spider Man is the new release from Columbia Pictures and Marvel, which brings Spider Man back to the big screen after a 5 year hiatus. No, this is not Spider Man 4, but it is no Spider Man 1.2, as some people are portraying it as.

      The Amazing Spider Man features Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Dennis Leary, and Sally Field. It is a reboot for the Spider Man franchise and features the origin story being retold. This is however, still a completely different movie than 2002's Spider Man.

     Amazing Spider Man begins with Peter Parker as a young kid; his parents have to leave him, for a reason we're not presented, and after they leave, it switches to Peter as he is now. Peter is going through high school, living with his aunt and uncle, and crushing on Gwen Stacy. He stumbles upon an old briefcase that belonged to his father. Its like "Scooby Doo" to him; he finds so many new clues that leads him to Oscorp. He investigates and soon encounters Dr. Connors and also gets in closer with Gwen. Obviously, he is bitten by a spider and soon after develops his "spider sense". True to the comics, his web does not shoot out of his arms. As he explores this new found power, he neglects various tasks that he was supposed to do; he also gets into an incident at school which starts to strain his relationship with Uncle Ben. I don't want to go much deeper from here because I don't want to spoil, but in the meantime; Gwen invites him over for dinner, he develops his suit and web shooters, and Dr. Connors regeneration program is shut down, leaving him to try the experiment on himself, which in turn turns him into the Lizard on and off. Peter, knowing that Connors is the Lizard, must now find a way to stop him from terrorizing New York, show the police that Spider Man is not a reckless vigilante with a hidden agenda, and he also throws Gwen into the mix.

     The acting was stellar from the cast. All the main actors brought their A-game. Garfield plays a more "true" Peter Parker and the chemistry between him and Emma Stone is very believable and realistic. The action was also a step above. Spider Man and the Lizard had great chemistry fighting and the scenes were well choreographed. Ranging from the sewers to a high school to the top of Oscorp; the fights provide great action that crowds now a days want to see. You also get scenes with Spider Man trying to evade the NYPD, which makes things interesting.

     Even though an overall a good movie, one of the main faults of Amazing Spider Man was the story. The plot did jump around at times. Dr. Connors went from trying to regenerate his arm to transform New York seemingly fast with little transition. There were also a few plot holes that may make you say, "I knew that was gonna happen" or "I knew it was gonna be that guy." And even though the die hard Spider Man fans who have been waiting for the webslingers return will not be dissapointed in the movie; the average movie goer who doesn't care, they just want to go see something, will probably brush this off as "been there, done that", even though this movie does a well enough job at supplying itself with a new identity. The laws of box office will prevent this movie from reaching the levels domestically or attendance wise of the original, but Amazing Spider Man should do big business with worldwide numbers, thanks to overseas 3D fad, the popularity of the character, and inflation. The movie has obtained an "A-" cinemascore and 74% on RT, so word of mouth should carry this on for a few weeks, but Spider Man may get tangled in his webs when Dark Knight Rises hits on the 20th. Either way, Amazing will finish with amazing numbers and should be able to secure the #3 spot for summer releases.

     The only other release coming out now until Rises is Ice Age 4, which is already out in most other countries, so to all the Americans, you still have plenty of time, check out The Amazing Spider Man, its an overall great movie, and a great way to beat some of the record heat this summer.