Soapy tease

Rating: Null/10 (1 May 2014)

Fact - this will make tons of money all over, and those Sinister 6 and other side/sequels will get made, no matter what. Fact - this is wayy inferior to this summer's 'Captain America 2: The Winter soldier', and there are better summer movies coming along (perhaps). Fact - this is definitely inferior in quality to both of Sam Raimi's versions, but might match up to the quality of his much-reviled 3rd one. Fact - effects-wise, this has to be the best trip to the big screen that the wall-crawler has ever had, to date. Pity. Along with that, the final 15/20 minutes (minus the last 5) kinda redeem the movie as a whole, but are not enough overall. More's the pity.
The crux of the movie, like it was in the previous Webb outing, is the relationship (however simplified, but unnecessarily projected as overly complicated), between the leads. Everything else is just filler. Denis Leary keeps turning up too, leading me to imagine him glaring at Pete even while they make love (Ugh). Unnecessary, and unintentionally hilarious (the audience I was with as well, kept tittering whenever the Leary vision kept appearing). In spite of this gross oversimplification, watching them interact with one another, and keep throwing high school musical lines at one another, is engaging, and keeps the movie afloat for the duration that Webb deems we spend with them. Not Webb's best work, since the chemistry between Levitt and Deschanel was much better realized in '500..'.
Completely unnecessary - Along with the (Leary) visions, the flashbacks with Campbell Scott and Chris Cooper. The entire background for something Webb edited out of the first movie. The guy in the shadows. Felicity Jones. The kid in the suit. Giamatti/Rhino. (Where was Ratha, btw?)
What we should have got more of - Chris Cooper as ........, Gwen, J Jonah Jameson (still pondering the reason for having this iconic character off-screen in this reboot, esp. since Ratha did not even exist in the comics but they had him in the first one, though they were consistent with the standards they've been setting that they have no explanation for his absence in this one), the action sequences (too few, and too easily resolved - and that's a pity, since the CGI is perhaps some of the best ever committed to screen.....
All in all, a decent summer watch on IMAX 3D, but I somehow think that there are better movies in this summer queue (Edge of tomorrow, Godzilla), and I'll be waiting on those.