Simon Dillon reviews the new incarnation of the comic book hero

It's been a mere ten years since Sam Raimi rebooted the Spiderman series and just five since the most recent installment. Rebooting it again so soon is a risky proposition, especially as there is no real artistic reason to do so. Even more risky is picking a director untested in big blockbusters (Marc Webb is best known for indie romantic comedy 500 Days of Summer). There was a real chance this could turn out to be the Indifferent Spiderman at best. Against the odds however, that is not the case. This new incarnation of the webslinger should prove a hit with comic book audiences worldwide.

Admittedly there is nothing particularly new or different about this version. Much of the backstory - teenage orphan Peter Parker gets bitten by a genetically engineered spider, develops superpowers and becomes a superhero following the death of his mentor Uncle Ben - was covered in Raimi's first film. The nagging sense of déjà vu in these scenes is irritating. It isn't that it's done badly; it's just that it's been done before, and very recently. What is new however, is the focus on Peter's mysterious parents. Why did they leave him with Uncle Ben and Aunt May? Why were they killed?

Marc Webb (a man called Webb ends up making a Spiderman film - what are the odds?) has cast his film very well. Andrew Garfield is terrific in the lead - a less goody-two shoes Peter Parker than Tobey Maguire. It seems that science nerds are a lot cooler than they were ten years ago, so the boy-chasing-girl-out-of-his-league theme of the original is ditched in favour of a romance that is less Comedy of Errors than Raimi's version. Emma Stone provides said love interest in the form of Gwen Stacey, and she is also very good. In fact, she is much more than a love interest.

Elsewhere, Sally Field and Martin Sheen are well cast as Aunt May and Uncle Ben respectively, though quite why the screenwriters were so determined to not say "With great power comes great responsibility" baffles me. As you hear Uncle Ben lecturing Peter to that effect, you can practically see the writers clutching their hair and scribbling line after line that expresses the same sentiment without actually saying those exact words. What's the point? A Spiderman film where no-one says "With great power comes great responsibility" is like a Star Wars film where no-one says "May the force be with you".

There is no Jonah Jameson here, as Peter Parker doesn't get out of high school in this film. The closest we get is Gwen's father (Denis Leary), a police captain who sees Spiderman as a vigilante menace. But he ultimately lacks the hilarious belligerence of the Jameson character. On the villain front, we get Dr Curt Connor (aka The Lizard played by Rhys Ifans), who provides the regulation good-scientist-gone-bad typical to the franchise.

There are some fine action set pieces, including a terrific one with cranes and a wonderful moment involving the rescue of a boy in a burning vehicle suspended from a bridge. Stan Lee's cameo is particularly hilarious this time. It also - dare I say it - makes surprisingly good and pleasingly old-fashioned use of the 3D format, with webs shooting out of screens and the like.

All things considered, The Amazing Spiderman is a lot of fun and well worth a look. It doesn't top the first two films in Raimi's trilogy, but it certainly betters the third one. Incidentally, my seven-year-old loved it, so clearly it hits the target audience.