I honestly didn’t think that I was going to like this one … but in hindsight, I ended up being really, really wrong… 🙄
The thing is, I’ve always been a really big fan of Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man and have often regaled that it was pretty much my favorite series of superhero movies to date … well, before Iron Man and The Avengers came along, anyways. The movies were exciting, each did a great job of building upon the last, and I don’t think that I could name a single role that I would’ve preferred to recast.
Ok, so Topher Grace as Venom in the third one was a little weird – I’ll give you that!
My point is, I really liked the last series of Spider-Man movies, and which was why I wasn’t exactly crazy about this latest reboot because I just felt like the studio was abandoning such a great track record simply for the sake of starting over again … I mean, seriously – how many different times to we have to tell the damn origin story instead of continuing to dig deeper into the world of Spider-Man actually being a superhero?!
There’s only so many different ways you can show a guy getting bit by a radioactive spider!!!
And all of that said makes it especially weird for me to admit after watching the new movie last night that I actually really enjoyed it … because frankly, I’m not sure that I know how to like two versions of the same universe at the same time… 😯
### Spoilers Ahead, Probably ###
Where do I start???
I was probably most nervous about Andrew Garfield taking over as Spider-Man, but by the end of the movie I was really sold.
Of course, Emma Stone played a very cute love interest for our hero.
The eventual story of watching Uncle Ben die seemed a little tired and drawn out, as well as him randomly falling into a wrestling ring to persuade him that he needed some sort of mask, but on the other hand, Martin Sheen played a wonderful Uncle Ben.
(wife didn’t really care for Sally Field as Aunt May … I was just meh about her)
The scene near the end with Spider-Man swinging from the cranes through the city was cinematically one of the most beautiful scenes in an action movie in the last five years – the visuals were incredible … truly something to make watching it both in IMAX and 3D something special, and the soundtrack matched the mood just perfectly. That’s going to be a great experience to try and recreate this Christmas when everyone finds themselves getting new Blu-Ray players and stereos and flat screens for the holidays! 
It was also just a little bit scary – let’s face it, The Lizard is a pretty freaky villain when he gets to his full size, and having him jump out of dark places and lunge at our hero and heroine certainly made me jump out of my seat a couple of times!
I didn’t love everything, though, per se – I felt that certain parts of the writing could used more work … namely Uncle Ben’s death scene, as previously noted, and also the exchange between Gwen and Peter when he tells her that he can’t see her anymore … or doesn’t, hence my issue with the scene! I guess it just seems like such a tired mechanic – “I can’t be with you because it would be too dangerous…” – and we already saw Spider-Man fight that battle through 3 movies with MJ, so after seeing this pair more buddy-buddy even with her knowing his secret, it seemed a little back peddling for him now to avoid dating her just because her Dad had said so on his deathbed.
I also kinda missed seeing Peter working with The Daily Bugle, although I don’t think that anyone could portray a better J. Jonah Jameson than J.K. Simmons!
Still, 136-minutes later the credits rolled with yours truly being pretty darned impressed that a movie could be so well executed while re-telling a story that has already been told before, but I suppose that’s just something that I’m going to have to deal with! It does make me kind of look forward to buying a copy of it on Blu-Ray when it comes out, although I’d love to use it as an excuse to upgrade our entertainment system that’s in sore need of some modern technology … we’ll have to wait and see about that… 😉
One last thing that I did notice while putting this post together – in hindsight, the trailer absolutely doesn’t do this movie justice, so go see it anyways even if you’re a little “Meh…” by watching the following…
And a P.S. for Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst – I’m sure they’ll always have a place in my Spider-Man lexicon, too! Kinda makes me want to go back and watch those ones, too…