The Amazing Spider-Man Movie Review

So, thanks to a wonderful gift from a friend I was able to see Maria on Thursday, and off we went to see the one movie we'd promised to wait to see together: The Amazing Spider-Man! We got into the movie theatre, sat down, and well... gosh, I like this movie. So very, very, very much... I'll break it down into a few parts: story, casting, and accuracy. I'll use this review to refute a few of my friends who did not like the movie as much, and use this as a platform for why I think this really is the best Spider-Man movie ever made.

Story
Webb took a very unexpected direction with his reboot by going back to Spidey's origins and working his own story within it. The story is no longer just about "power and responsibility", but about Peter's maturation into someone who no longer uses the abandonment of his parents as an excuse to have a low self-image. Peter's powers are not there for their own sakes, but are used to further highlight Peter's exploration of himself as a maturing adult. Every element of the story serves to show Peter's self-exploration, and the movie really only makes sense in that context. It's a story about being a teenager, really, and the fact that Webb knows this and makes sure that everything serves that end is nothing less than stellar.

Casting
Oh.. my... God... THAT WAS PETER PARKER, FOLKS! That was  him! YES! You have no idea how happy I am that someone finally made a movie that actually showcased Peter Parker, and not some whiny boy pretending to be him... oh wait... that's not what I'm supposed to be saying, is it? Oops, too bad. Andrew Garfield is Peter Parker. I officially cannot imagine anyone else playing Spider-Man, not ever again. Everyone else's casting was pretty damn good (especially Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy), but it's Garfield's casting as Peter Parker that makes this movie so damn good. If it had been handed to anyone else, it just wouldn't have worked the same way, and considering that I like this way, that'd be a crying shame. Garfield gets Peter Parker and Spider-Man, and that's something that's beyond beautiful to watch on the big screen.

Seriously, props to the whole damn cast.

Accuracy
This is the only movie I've ever seen where Spider-Man moved like Spider-Man. From fighting like a little chicken-shit to his webslinging to his wise-cracks to his heroism, this Spider-Man looked like, sounded like, and felt like Spider-Man in a way that no other film has ever been able to achieve. While they took more than a few liberties with the story (like not having the criminal show up ever again in the movie) it made me believe in Peter Parker in a way the comics never did. It may not be 100% accurate, but like the Nolan films I find that The Amazing Spider-Man got Spider-Man so well that I frankly couldn't care less.

The only thing holding this film back? There were three films before it, all of which presented a very different (and flawed) vision of Spidey that's going to stick in my mind no matter how hard I try to get them out. Seriously, I'm thinking of junking my original Spider-Man DVD just so I can replace it with this movie when it comes out...

8/10, for being awesomesauce.