The Amazing Spiderman is Above Average

I thought it was dangerous to reboot a superhero that  just left the big screen, but Marvel wasted no time bringing it's biggest crime fighter, the Amazing Spiderman, back this week and you can't argue with the results of the reboot. The movie finished number one at the box office bringing in about $140 million, but so closely removed from its predecessor, it will always draw comparisons. After watching "The Amazing Spiderman", I couldn't help but feel underwhelmed. Some critics think that Marvel changed too much of the origin story, but having read the comics and even the newspaper strips as a kid, it isn't the first time the origin story has been changed. But even with the changes, I just felt like just got done watching this movie. Peter Parker gets bit by a radioactive spider, uses his new found powers to get even with a bully, and lets a criminal go who eventually kills his Uncle. I just didn't need to see this part of the story again. 

Other similarities, the villain is another genetic experiment gone wrong, and like the Green Goblin, the Lizard gets his superpowers by injecting himself with some green goo and it makes him mentally unstable. Dr. Curt Connors even hears another voice (just like the Goblin) while he struggles to control the beast within him.

Here are the positives about the Amazing Spiderman. He doesn't ever become disco Spiderman (like Tobey Maguire did in the last Spiderman movie-Who knew that an alien symbiote would make you want to get down). There's a darker, edgier quality to this version of Spiderman movie.

Andrew Garfield brings a real human quality to Peter Parker. He's just a skateboarding kid, trying to be liked and get the girl. He also showed some guts even before he had superpowers. He even does a decent job wise-cracking his foes like any good spidey should. Emma Stone is immediately likable as Gwen Stacy and you root for these two science geeks to hook up. Poor Dennis Leary. No this isn't the guy from the other Spiderman movie. But he does a decent job as Gwen Stacy's father and no, he never becomes the Green Goblin.

There's also a look at Peter's parents who were killed when he was just a boy, which could set up some neat story lines for the imminent sequel (in the comic books the Parkers plane was blown up by Red Skull) and Dr. Connors genetic work is being done for Oscorp and Dr. Normon Osbourne which could set up a return for the Green Goblin in a future sequel.

So the Spidey reboot is a good popcorn movie with some tragic elements. It shows potential,  but it's not one of the great superhero movies of all time. At least not yet.