The Redundant Spider-Man
Have you ever gone out to eat at a fancy Chinese restaurant, ordered something called "orange-peel chicken," and been served something that tastes exactly like it came from Panda Express?
That's The Amazing Spider-Man.
Don't get me wrong. I like Panda Express. It's not fine cuisine, but if the franchise is being run well and you arrive at the right time of day, your meal will be tasty. Unfortunately, it won't be new.
There are lots of reasons to adapt old material, or to re-tell a story that's been told before. Sony's reason was that if this movie didn't get made, the motion picture rights to Spider-Man were going to revert to Marvel/Disney. Sadly, their reason was not "we have this really cool story to tell, and the Spider-Man mythos is the best place to tell it."
Seriously, I felt like I'd seen this movie before. MANY TIMES.
The good news? It's very well executed. The dialog, the action, the special effects, the acting, and the editing are all solid. The music called attention to itself a couple of times, but not in a bad way. Sure, the plot and the science were awful, but they were super-hero awful, which means they work in this context. In short, as long as you're not hoping to see a NEW movie, this one will keep you happy.
This one comes in mid-field for me for the year. Not awesome, not truly disappointing. Sort of "meh." The a-meh-zing Spider-Man.