‘Amazing’ Spider-Man devolves to merely average in this unnecessary reboot

With the first three Spider-Man movies raking in almost $2.5 billion worldwide at the box office from 2002 to 2007, there was no way Marvel Studios and Columbia Pictures were going to allow the franchise to fade away just because their lead actor and director didn’t want to return for a fourth go-’round. Instead, Marvel hit the reset button like they did with Ang Lee’s underappreciated Hulk and like DC Comics did for their inspired rebirth of Batman via the ingenious mind of director Christopher Nolan. What we’re left with is The Amazing Spider-Man, an unnecessary and extremely average reboot of the series that offers slight tweaks to the overall story but never commands the mythology as its own.

In the newest adaptation, Toby Maguire (Spider-Man 1-3) is replaced by Andrew Garfield (The Social Network), a capable young actor cast well in the title role. He gives Spidey a bit more emotional depth based on a screenplay focused more on the mysterious disappearance and death of Peter Parker’s parents than the original 2002 film. Secret files and research related to cross-species genetics left behind by his father prompts Peter to investigate his work with fellow scientist Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans). Coincidentally, Peter’s love interest Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) interns for Dr. Connors while her cop father (Denis Leary) and the NYPD want to bring the webslinger to justice.

At its core, the story is a rehash of what we already know about Peter and his transformation into the masked vigilante: laboratories, a spider bite, teen romance, masterful sewing skills, revenge on a schoolyard bully, schizoid CGI villain. To have to re-watch everything play out again doesn’t benefit anyone, especially if the purpose of a reboot to this franchise was to give audiences something fresh and exciting.

Marc Webb’s modern take on the rom-com with 500 Days of Summer in 2009 was a much-needed change from the usual Kate Hudson schlock the genre delivers, so it was logical to think his take on the superhero movie could provide a similar resurgence. I mean, if Sam Raimi wasn’t using that chair anymore… Unfortunately, Webb doesn’t stray from the original tone and does little to build on the familiar themes that make Spider-Man such an interesting character. Raimi’s versions were far from perfect themselves, but Webb’s own voice is quickly engulfed by the big-budget comic-book universe that came before him.