With the recent revisions of Marvel Superheroes by Marvel Studios, I've been happily entertained. I loved Captain America, Thor, Iron Man 1 & 2 (haven't seen 3, yet), and especially Avengers. X-Men First Class was pretty good, but not great. The Amazing Spider-Man was certainly lacking in pretty much everything, save for CGI/special effects.

Yes, the CGI/special effects were awesome... I would argue that they improved these effects from Spider-Man (2002). However... that did little to save it from being a horribly disappointing movie.

When I watched this, I was expecting something of excellence, like the previous movies I mentioned. Something true to the origin, something that would get fan approval, and something with character development and an exceptional story. This is, after all, Marvel's bread-and-butter - besides X-Men/Wolverine, of course.

So... I waited with baited breath and continued to wait... and continued to be disappointed. Lo' and behold - there was no character development. The characters weren't even believable... Peter Parker the nerdy, accomplished skateboarder? Really? Peter Parker the woman's man? Sneaking up to his girlfriend's bedroom via the fire-escape? Really? Peter Parker? I'm sorry, but no.

The plot/storyline was shallow and paled in comparison to Spider-Man (2002). I watched Spider-Man (2002) just the other night, and again, I was blown away... just as I was when it first arrived on the Silver Screen. I was so blown away back then that I saw it five different times in the theater. Even the music was paltry. In 2002, you were enticed with a Danny Elfman theme that just blew you away and prepared you for ensuing awesomeness. What did you have for this one? James Horner not even trying.

I'm greatly disappointed by this mess. Tobey McGuire? Believable. Andrew Garfield? Not so much. The same could be said for each actor via a side- by-side comparison for both movies. A sadly and horribly disappointing new direction for Spider-Man. To think that there will be sequels to this... *gag*