'The Amazing Spider-man': The Reviews Are In!

Marc Webb's long awaited Spider-Man reboot hits cinemas this weekend, with Andrew Garfield taking over from Tobey Maguire in the lead role. His real-life girlfriend Emma Stone plays his on-screen love interest Gwen Stacey, and most reviews of the movie are focused on the couple's palpable chemistry.

'The Amazing Spider-Man' has already taken over $50 million in numerous Asian markets, meaning it's likely the film will become one of the highest grossing movies of the year, worldwide. Whether it can emulate the likes of 'The Hunger Games' and 'The Avengers' remains to be seen, though the superhero reboot should easily dispose of Seth Macfarlane's 'Ted' from the top of the box office this week. So, aside from the obvious anticipation, is 'The Amazing Spider-Man' actually any good? The majority of critics seem to think so, though their praise is limited to phrases like "Pretty good summer flick" (Salon.com) and "It's a nice try" (Seattle Times). Mary F. Pols of Time magazine sums up the general feeling of the latest movie, by musing, "None of this is new to us, but Garfield and Webb make it feel convincingly fresh and exciting". Claudia Puig of USA Today says the movie stands on its own "quite nicely", noting that it focuses "more on human emotions than on panoply of special effects". Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times points straight toward the two lead stars as to why the movie does a decent job of standing up to Sam Raimi's flicks, saying, "Garfield and Stone are good enough to ensure that you won't miss their predecessors, but you may well wonder where Doc Ock is now that we really need him".

Overall, it looks as though 'The Amazing Spider-Man' will do big business this weekend, and on the whole, fans of the superhero won't be disappointed. Whether the brilliance of 'The Avengers' movie is still too fresh in their minds, is another question.