Last night I went to check out the sneak peek to the new Amazing Spider-Man.  Overall, I thought it was..well..amazing!  I really liked Andrew Garfield as Spidey.  I didn't think he was as much of a nerd as Tobey Maguire portrayed Peter Parker to be, but he was still a bit clumsy and goofy.  It was pretty cool that he was a skateboarder and when he finally started to train himself, he did some pretty cool acrobatics.  Andrew did alot of his own stunts too because of his previous experience with gymnastics.  Emma Stone played Gwen Stacy, and as usual, she was great.  I really enjoyed seeing Gwen Stacy as opposed to Mary Jane Watson, who most of the stories focus around.  Rhys Ifans played Dr. Curt Connors and did an amazing job as both a scientist and The Lizard.  I was quite surprised that when he was in Lizard form, he was still able to speak and think like a scientist.

The story itself was a bit darker than the previous adaptations of Spider-Man which I found reminiscent of the new Batman movies.  There was alot of death and dealing with some complex emotions.  I think one thing that you notice quite quickly was the all-star cast.  Even in the supporting roles we saw Dennis Leary, Sally Field and Martin Sheen, just to name a few.  It did take a while for Peter to get bit by the spider and turn into the web-slinger but I think without all the lead-up to that there would have been gaps in the story.

When it comes to the special effects, they really stepped their game up.  There are lots of crazy gymnastic type stuff and lots of first person point of views where you actually feel like you're the one swinging.  In the previous movies they did some really cool things too but there were certain shots where you thought to yourself "that totally looks like a computer generated image".  I don't think I thought that at all during this one.  He even used more of his spider instincts in this adaptation.  You'll know what I'm talkin bout when you see him in the sewer with his webs stretched into the different tunnels.. If you can make the 3D show I really suggest that you pay the extra few bucks.  It was pretty cool that instead of Spidey shooting the web right from his wrists, he had to actually make the web shooters himself.  For devotees, you'll be happy to know that Mr. Marvel (Stan Lee) makes his usual cameo.  You'll laugh when you see him because of all that is happening in the background.

All in all, I say this was definitely worth the wait.  If you're a kid, or just a life-long Spider-Man fan like me, I'm sure you're gonna dig it too.  Check it out and lemme know what you think :)

- Derek Scott