The Amazing Spider Man

Actors:  Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Martin Sheen, Sally Fields, Rhys Ifans, Dennis Leary
Rating:  9 out of 10, when this first came out I really questioned why because of the excellent Toby Maguire series (at least the first two).  I guess there was a lot of scuttlebutt in nerd world that the earlier films got some things wrong but nothing that made me think a new series was needed this soon.  I’m sure a lot of it came from the success of the Batman re-boot.  As I stated when I saw this in the theaters – I was very pleasantly surprised by this film.  It all has to do with casting because there isn’t a miss in the entire cast here.  The lead, Garfield, who was so impressive in The Social Network, strikes just the right amount of humor, wonder, and angst as Peter Parker.  The real revelation though is Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy who completely elevates her role out of the mundane and becomes an equal partner to Parker.  I really appreciated the way characters weren’t all completely good or evil – it leant a lot more depth to the story.  The plot was well done and moved the action at a brisk pace without losing sight of the fact they had a story to tell.  This was a huge set up for future sequels and given the quality of this offering I’m more than ready for those.
MVP:  Stone – another in a long series of stand out performances who makes Gwen so much more than just a pretty face – but she’s got that going for her too