The Amazing Spider-Man

I was 100% against this reboot of the Spider-Man franchise, but I was 100% wrong. After all of my worry that it was too soon, we could never accept a new Spider-Man so quickly after Tobey Maguire, and we were getting a secondary, weaker villain than any other before, I loved it.

Andrew Garfield is Peter Parker - the geeky high school kid who loves photography and Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone). With a streak to defend the weak and bullied, Peter is about to get a chance to carry that out to the extreme.

While trying to find out why his father (Campbell Scott) and mother (Embeth Davidtz) suddenly left him as a child with his Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) and Aunt May (Sally "I love how she wears a union T-Shirt in the movie" Field), Peter goes to Dad's former office at Oscorp, meets one of Pop's old colleagues, Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans), and gets bitten by a spider that is hanging out as part of a cross-species genetics experiment. This might not go all that well for Peter. Now, he's super fast, super strong and super sticky.

Will Peter use these new found powers for good or revenge?

I think I loved The Amazing Spider-Man because of Garfield. His hair is too perfect and he's too good looking to be a real nerd, but Garfield brings wonderful vulnerability, fear and apprehension to Parker that we need to help make him the hero he becomes (and, no Hollywood studio would allow someone who looks like, say, David Spade to be Spider-Man). People relate to the kid who isn't sure of what to say or do, especially when standing next to a hottie like Gwen Stacy, and Garfield makes this part of Peter Parker so real and relatable.

I think I loved The Amazing Spider-Man because we don't stray too far from the Spider-Man we know. Director Mark "The dude who made 500 Days of Summer" Webb and the writing team still keep the key portions of Spider-Man's origin story the same, with slight twists to make the story different for a new generation to own for themselves. Plus, this version of Spider-Man doesn't have the same level of campiness the Spider-Man movies displayed in the previous incarnation. This opening hour is the best part of The Amazing Spider-Man with plenty of heart and soul to prepare you for the action.

I think I loved The Amazing Spider-Man because it looks cool. I was lucky enough to check out the movie in IMax 3D (granted, it was a MiniMax theater, so I sat wicked close to the screen to make it look massive, like some women did when watching Magic Mike). The audience gets to fly through the streets of Manhattan with Spider-Man as he swings from skyscraper to skyscraper, which can be a bit dizzying, but I think that's the point. It gives us a better appreciation for how Spider-Man fights crime the way he does.

Finally, I think I loved The Amazing Spider-Man because of Rhys Ifans and Dr. Curt Connors. His motivation is more complicated and complex than something as simple-minded as wanting to rule the world or to become super rich. Ifans shows us Dr. Curt Connors's conflict over what he wants to accomplish, what actually is happening and the troubled mind he now possesses. It's not Shakespeare, but it is a refreshing take on a villain who shouldn't be this interesting.

The Amazing Spider-Man is the best movie to come out since The Avengers.

The Amazing Spider-Man is rated PG-13 for sequences of action and violence.