The Amazing Spiderman
Director: Marc Webb
Cast: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans
Rated: PG-13
Running time: 136 minutes
To re-boot a film franchise that was re-booted five years ago is sheer madness, especially when that re-boot was speared by Sam Rami. Granted, Spiderman 3 was an abomination to human decency, but the first two were great. Yet here we are, barely half a decade since Toby was bitten by the spider, with another "origin" story and the only way this would be awesome is if they added something mind-blowingly wicked-ass (spoiler alert: they didn't).
The thing that sucks about this situation is that everyone knows the entire story line and instead of watching the film, you're just watching all the points roll by. Seriously, is there not one out of the thousands of other Spiderman stories written that would make a decent movie?
I guess not, as the plot here gives us the same ol', with Peter being a quiet high school kid with a camera who gets bullied and has his eye on a cute girl. Wait for the spider bite and the fooling-around-with-new-powers scene, waiting for uncle Ben to die, waiting for the kiss, waiting for end battle with fellow recent mutant and we all go home.
But Emma Stone? Yes, yes, Emma is delightful and Andrew's not half bad, either. But at two-plus hours, a couple of young, good-looking people walking through a tired plot is not enough to justify its existence unless it's summer and a cool room escaping life for a couple hours is good enough for you. Then, by all means, enjoy.
