A Superior Sequel That Delivers Excellence and a Promising Franchise to come

Rating: 7/10 (21 April 2014)

Dark, suspenseful, emotional, funny and indeed epic, the sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man is a pure jolt of excellence in terms of 'superhero' movies. Just like we saw in the incredible sequel Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the leading hero is pitted by not only diabolical enemies but is faced by personal problems that change the way the story's hero fits into the world.
Continuing on from where the first film left off. Peter Parker may have accepted his destiny to be the heroic Spider-Man for New York but he still faces the mystery of his parent's disappearance and promise he kept to Gwen Stacy's father, being that she had to be out of his alter ego role due to the dangers Peter's enemies can cause both himself and Gwen. Meanwhile, Max Dillon an Oscorp Industries employee who is often outspoken by others, feels alone in the world and is an obsessive fan of Spider-Man who had saved his life in the opening action/chase sequence after the prologue. However is life is soon to be different forever when is he's involved in a bad accident that causes him to mutate into a living electricity generator (becoming Electro) and where else Harry Osborne has returned home from boarding school to find his terminally dying father from a family- hereditary illness and Peter attends to amend their long-gone friendship (despite his current status). What follows next for Peter Parker is an journey that will not only help discover who he is meant to be, but will ultimately alter his life for what he discovers and faces against will have consequences, choices and great responsibility.
TASP 2 goes further in character development than the first movie; it is this installment that defines why Peter has become Spider-Man for a reason. The film-makers here chose to have the origin story expanded here as it plays a big role in the hero's journey; the audience is taken to see why Peter's parents had disappeared on him and for a reason that defines why trust and responsibility are important for Peter. The way the story is presented too is much a comic book; there are many great camera shots that is like each panel of any comic book but only on the screen, never losing itself or leaving any plot holes in the process. If you know the comic book's storyline by heart, you can expect what is coming but as well be surprised by the unexpected.
The love story between Peter and Gwen is interesting all the way, the relationship they share is emotional, touching and deep and the acting chemistry from Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone is strong (and in my opinion Oscar worthy as well if the film were to be nominated). Just don't take it as a cheesy romance at first; it often plays out like a serious 'Drama' movie type relationship but once every while it has its cute moments to share to lighten. But it's near the end that will break the audience's hearts for what occurs in the story, I won't give too much detail but it left me and other audience members feeling sorry for both characters (this could have not been achieved by the acting talents of Garfield and Stone).
The villains too here are as important as the story's hero, two of which have a personal journey that transforms them into the threatening dangers that Spider-Man/Peter faces in the film. These gives the audience a deep insight into why we should care for them or even hate them, but it gave me a feeling that the villains were out to reach their goals of domination and be their own hero in their world. The performances from both Dane DeHann and Jamie Foxx is achieving and convincing enough to make their villains believable and a reason to exist in the story. All the leading and supporting characters in the film all have emotion and wow moments of any kind, and the relationships they all have in one way or another is indeed amazing.
The action sequences here are all intense, dark and very exciting in every way imaginable like in the comics, it seemed like a big step up for the film-makers to top the action sequences as shown in the previous film but giving more punch, realism and quality (though the first film had impressive sequences as well). It may not appear as often as the first one did, but the timing of where action is needed is placed well; as story and character is every bit as important as the original comic source. The climatic finale indeed had my heart racing till the very end, making me glued to the screen as much as its plot.
Lastly, the music score in the film is composed and performed by the always amazing Hans Zimmer (Man of Steel, Inception and the Dark Knight trilogy) but working alongside The Magnificent Six (seems like a new collaboration was formed). All I can say that it is incredible; the music pieces performed in TASP 2 are worth listening to and will definitely stay in your head for days to come. Each of the leading characters in the film has their own music themes but it's Electro's theme that is catchy.
To summarize, The Amazing Spider–Man 2 is both a superior sequel that delivers excellence, emotion, quality and sets the confirmed third film to be anticipating and promising a stronger franchise to come in future. I have already seen this twice and I could see it again and again