UK "Spider-Man" Reviews Are In

With shockingly little fanfare (as in, did anyone outside the UK actively know that "Amazing Spider-Man" was having it's premiere there early?) "The Amazing Spider-Man" had it's World Premiere in the UK last night, and the reviews have started to come in.

The good news? Mostly positive. Not the explosive enthusiam that hit after "Avengers" started showing, by any means; but also nowhere near the disasterous reactions that greeted "Green Lantern."

The bad news? One of the MOST positive reviews (from The Telegraph) calls it "The superhero film for the 'Twilight' generation." Which feels strange to read, given that I was told it was ridiculous of me to nickname the film "Spiderlight" during it's production, even though turning the franchise into a "Twilight"-competitor was widely-reported to be Sony's original pitch for the reboot. Oh, well...

io9 has a nice rundown of the other major UK Press reviews - one of which might have revealed something that probably shouldn't considered a spoiler but which I'm going to put after the "jump" anyway...

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AFTER THIS POINT!

The Standard's review (negative) is the first I've seen anywhere that seems to mentions Norman Osborn appearing in the film as a character. I think pretty-much everyone expected him to show up anyway, since his company plays such a big part in the new storyline, but this is the first time anyone has SAID it.

Interestingly, he's refered to as "dying plutocrat" Norman Osborn, which gives me a really icky feeling. The original films monkeyed around with The Green Goblin's origin, too, but at least preserved the original basic idea of a seemingly-decent corporate guy who unwittingly manifests his own Id "Jekyll & Hyde"-style. I don't know that there's a way to read "dying plutocrat" and not think that this won't be "Osborn is funding the research that makes Spider-Man and Lizard in order to cure himself;" which would be SPECTACULARLY trite - especially if it means he'll wind-up shooting-up with Spidey/Lizard-making-stuff and turning into some version of the shitty Ultimate-Universe Goblin in the all-but-innevitable "Batman Begins" Joker-tease stinger.