First 'Amazing Spider-Man' Reviews: 4 Stars Galore

The Spider-Man reboot opens in a week in the UK and so arrives its first critical reviews.

Helmed by Marc Webb, director of fresh rom-com (500) Days of Summer, starring the weedy Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) and painted with the tiresome "reboot" brush, the movie has been anticipated with healthy dose of intrigue and scepticism in equal measure. But, the first reviews are positive...

Total Film Magazine warns "it's Spider-Man Begins Again, struggling in places to assert its own identity", but gives it 4 stars: "The leads [Garfield and Emma Stone] charm, the action crackles and the grooves are well-laid for part two."

Time Out London also 4-stars it, calling the movie "low on psychological trauma and high on regular teen woes... Delivers an enjoyable rush over a patchwork of genres – romance, action, sci-fi, horror and comedy. The action sequences are gripping and have a bouncy, parkour-style giddiness to them."

The Guardian's 4 star review is the most positive, saying: "In re-engineering Parker into the introspective, uncertain male, Webb is aided by a terrific performance from Andrew Garfield. It's the successul synthesis of the action and emotion that means this Spider-Man is as enjoyable as it is impressive."

The newspaper does take aim at the climax though, saying only then "when there is no choice but to revert to CGI – as Rhys Ifans' Lizard goes on the rampage – that The Amazing Spider-Man gets a little less amazing: cartoony reptilian carnage has just lost its power to enthral if it's rather obviously happening inside a computer."

The usually upbeat Empire Magazine shades things a little with a 3 star review: "Graced with great performances from Garfield and Stone, [this is] a rare comic-book flick that is better at examining relationships than superheroism. If it doesn’t approach the current benchmark of Avengers Assemble, it still delivers a different enough, enjoyable origin story to live comfortably alongside the Raimi era."

The Amazing Spider-Man opens here July 4th. Tickets are now on sale.