Pass the Popcorn! review

Rating: 6/10 (25 April 2014)

In spite of earning a lot of money, the first installment in The Amazing Spider-Man franchise wasn't a very good movie. It had pacing and script problems while offering nothing new in return, and it overall seemed like a pointless reboot. Luckily, there's the unwritten rule that the sequel to a superhero movie will usually be better than the original. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 follows that rule, and is better than the first one, but not by a long shot. This movie has all the big problems its predecessor had, and if this franchise wants to rise above mediocrity, these problems should definitely be solved in future movies.
Beginning where the last one left, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 follows the life of Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) as he somewhat struggles with being Spider-Man. He is in a relationship with Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), although he feels guilty because of it, since he promised her late father (Denis Leary) he'll stay away from her. At the same time, he encounters a new threat in form of one Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx) – an electrical engineer turned super villain during an accident. Also, Peter's childhood friend Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) returns to the city after his 8 year long absence, and he seems to have sinister plans of his own.
The best thing about The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is surely the charisma between its two leads – Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. Garfield found his voice to a greater extent in this movie - he seems somewhat more relaxed and natural in his role and is arguably superior to Tobey Maguire – and, of course, Emma Stone is as sweet and likable as ever. They are accompanied by another strong performance – that of Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborn. DeHaan was a breath of fresh air to the franchise and I personally can't wait to see him in future installments. In addition to the overall quality acting, Marc Webb's direction is great, even better than in the first one. Not only that, but The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is also a nice combination of, more or less, thrilling action sequences and some grim elements which should generally entertain audiences who are looking for nothing else.
However, once again, the movie utterly fails in this, perhaps most important, aspect – the script. No one expects Oscar-worthy scriptwriting from a superhero movie, but the dialogues (and some scenes) in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 are laughably ridiculous, and the character of Max Dillon aka Electro was so poorly written that even an experienced actor like Jamie Foxx couldn't save it. Furthermore, once again, the villain designs were horrible: both Electro and Green Goblin looked cartoonishly goofy. And in spite of some action sequences looking great, some of them felt like they were taken directly from a video game (which is never a good thing) and were accompanied by a cheesy dubstep-like soundtrack. In brief, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is better than its predecessor, but that unfortunately isn't enough, since the movie is, at its best, mindless popcorn entertainment, and at its worst is a serious insult to intelligence.
Rating: 6/10 Read more reviews at passpopcorn.com