I want more of Rhino!

Rating: 3/10 (26 April 2014)

I will start by saying that this series so far is inferior in almost all areas in comparison to Sam Raimi's trilogy. I have found this more annoying than entertaining and Maguire's Spidey was more like-able (in my opinion). I will start with the bad points regarding this film as there are more of them and together they create an appalling sequel.
CONS:

Backstory: As the film opens we get an explanation surrounding Peter's parents, their deaths and the Oscorp conspiracy. Although this was needed and I was glad to see it, I feel it perhaps came a movie too late and should have been covered in the first movie and put aside. Despite it being out of place, it was disappointing to find that this explanation was one of the better scenes in the film as it had one of the best action scenes and wasn't boring me.

Andrew Garfield: His Spiderman still is yet to grow on me as his arrogance never ceases to annoy me. As he arrives at the graduation and walks on stage as Gwen is speaking and starts kissing her just seems "Un-Spiderman like" as he should be allowing her to speak. Also his cockiness with the thugs early on in the film, joking around whilst in the midst of a dangerous police chase was just not on. Also, this rendition of Spidey is more of a "look at me, look at me as I do this!" rather than the Spiderman that gets the job done who has his mind set on making sure that no one is hurt in the process. At the beginning of this film, there is a huge car crash at a four-way junction and not once does he make sure no one gets hurt.. His ideology should be more like Raimi's and Batman's where he does everything to protect and never kills people otherwise he will become like the people he thwarts.

Promotion: The advertising for this film led us to believe the danger for Spiderman would be much greater than it actually turned out to be. On posters, there was the subtitle "Electro Rises" suggesting he would be a real threat in the NEXT movie. That could still happen in some strange twist, but that would annoy me even more. I was looking forward to the scenes featuring Rhino as I enjoyed him in the comics and we got a glimpse of him in the trailers, suggesting he would play a greater role but was only featured at the very end as Spidey makes his return.

The chemistry between Peter and Harry was NOTHING like it was in Raimi's films, in those their friendship was established immediately and was fun. You could tell they were best friends. In this however, they seemed distant, doubtful, plus their entire friendship seemed as it it had been quickly cobbled together. Not good.

Jamie Foxx was COMPLETELY wasted in this film: His character starts out as a lonely man that goes ignored by everyone, and Foxx portrays this character well! The plot then changes him from a obsessed Spiderman fan (good acting) into a vengeful weirdo (not so good..). The entire premise of his change in attitude is confusing as well, as it seems as if someone flicked a switch and he had SUDDENLY changed his views on Spidey..

The length is just diabolical: There is so much unnecessary dialogue (especially surrounding Gwen and Peter's subplot about moving to England) that, if not included, would have made it slightly less painful to sit through.

Plot goofs: Towards the end of the film as Gwen is falling to her demise, Peter shoots his web towards her in a final effort to catch her. It goes into a slow- motion cut as the web stream weaves through the obstacles and ultimately forms the symbolic shape of a hand to grab Gwen. If (like Raimi's Spidey) the web came from Peter himself, this COULD be understandable as his emotions could be in some way tied to his web. But this Peter uses his own custom built devices to shoot his web (One of the most disappointing things about this rendition of Spiderman by the way) so how come this one time, when it suited the plot, it does this?

PROS:

The CGI is so good!!! I'm not going to lie, the CGI in this film is breathtaking and the special effects throughout look incredible, the production team have done a great job of making the film LOOK good (If only they'd spent more time on the plot, character development, length and almost everything else...) They really do make for a good viewing experience and paired with good writers good make a really decent film. - Chemistry: Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are an exceptional pair in this film. Obviously, Garfield's character is doing what he does to protect his girlfriend (and so on) but both of their responses seemed genuine and 'un-generic'. Also, at the end of the film as Gwen dies in his arms, Garfield's acting is truly top-notch as you can really sense the emotion. Throughout this film, you really get a feel of how much Peter is in love with Gwen which is a sign of good acting.

Emma Stone: Her character is seriously sassy, feisty and of course makes for serious eye candy throughout. Major praise to the casting team!

To conclude, I think this a definite improvement over the first film in this series but is still tedious to watch and did not entertain me. Needless to say, I'm not looking forward to the trilogy's finale.