The Good
So my feelings on Raimis original Spider-Man is that its close to a 5/5 movie right up until Spider-Man turns up and then the Power Rangers fights and horrible Goblin moments knock the film down to around a 3/5, despite the fact its hitting comic book lore bang on for the most part. With that said, Webbs interpretation of Parkers origin is a mixed bag. Parker getting bitten just over complicated what is essentially a perfect superhero origin. Adding Peters Dad's work as a backstory hovered pretty close to the Hulk origin in Ang Lees Hulk movie. Parker getting bit by the spider on the neck was a change for changes sake. Also the quick show of powers on the subway train felt rushed and awkward in places but it was more the editing, a problem the film suffers from in general (longer cut on Blu-ray please Sony). What is it with poor editing in big budget movies of late? It's just frustrating. None of this stuff is bad. All of it is entertaining but its all a bit choppy for my liking. That said, the Ben Parker death was totally felt. Its not the classic story but its close enough and even though Parker falling into the wrestling ring, only to be inspired to make a mask felt a little too Batman Begins, it was good to see Peter Parker make a costume I believed he could make. Same can be said by the joy of seeing Peter make webslingers, and seeing him act all sciency and feel like a real outsider at school. Webb makes us feel for Peter Parker more than Raimi did in my mind. I felt quite sorry for our hero at times and the pain of losing Uncle Ben really hits here without feeling as comic booky. Before I hit the good stuff, Ill focus on a few more of the 'just about pulled it off' moments, that didn't quite make it into the 'good stuff' part of this review. I dont think weve ever had a good first reveal of Spider-man. 9/11 understandably stopped the Twin Towers reveal in Raimis original and editing down the long POV stuff from the first trailer of The Amazing Spider-Man to be a quick swing and jump up to the mirrored glass revealing our hero in full costume, just felt rushed and unimportant. That scene should have played out in full but damn I liked that costume on film. After 15 ,minutes, I even stopped noticing the variations in the costume as it just felt like classic Spider-Man, which moves us onto what makes The Amazing Spider-Man get close to living up to its name.