A disappointing sequel to a beloved superhero...

Rating: 6/10 (2 May 2014)

After the less amazing and darker reboot of the Marvel Spidey franchise, Spider-Man is back again with a sequel, swinging between skyscrapers in New York City, with his perfectly-designed costume. It seems that Spidey's costume has evolved throughout the years...this newly-designed costume finally resembles the costume he always wears in the comics.
Moreover, it is noticeable that Spidey's CGI renders have improved a lot as we see Spidey swings by on the streets of New York City. We also get to see what Spider-Man really does in battle - always jokes while moving swiftly with his super-reflexes. Garfield and Stone have terrific on- screen chemistry as a couple and they have a few genuinely funny and heartfelt moments together in the film. The film does come with a major shocking plot twist at the end (not so much for the fans who knew Spidey for a long time though)
Despite the CGI and costume design improvements, plot twist and a strong relationship between Garfield and Stone, the entire plot structure of the film is a disaster as things just keeps on happening from scene to scene. The film is overstuffed with various subplots and the pieces don't fit together nicely, without a central story tying them together: the mysterious disappearance of Peter's parents, Peter and Gwen's complicated relationship, the dual-sided nature of Harry and Peter's friendship, development of the new villains - Electro, Rhino and Green Goblin, Sinister Six setup, Aunt May and Peter's relationship after Uncle Ben's death...all in one film.
The villains' motivations are fuzzy and poorly conceived. It's a pity to see such potential go to waste. Max/Electro and Aleksei Sytsevich/Rhino barely have character development in the film at all. Their character arcs aren't properly fleshed out as intended and they're barely connected to the main protagonist's character arc. You won't feel anything missing if they're both completely removed from the story, since it doesn't affect the overall plot of the film at all. It's understandable that the purpose of Rhino's inclusion to the film is for the next sequel's setup. However, it seems that the inclusion of Electro in the film serves no purpose other than to add more exciting, extravagant action fight scenes for the audience to watch. While the extravagance of the action scenes make the film more entertaining, it feels cartoony and not realistic at all.
Worst, the tone of the film shifts drastically back and forth between fun, not-so-serious and entertaining to emotional, serious and dark, which takes some time for the audience to adjust and keep up with, hurts the film a lot. When there's a tender, intimate moment between Peter and Gwen happening in the film and you start to feel the emotions coming, the film robs them away by abruptly shifting to an Electro scene, a clue to Peter's parent disappearance appears, or another Harry scene.
As a long-time Spidey fan, I personally feel that the film fails to capture the most influential, emotional and devastating moment in Peter Parker's life before meeting his lifelong partner, Mary Jane in the future. It lacks the much-needed emotional buildup to deliver the punch in the end, which is not present due to the horrendous plot structure and inconsistent tonal shifts of the film. The various subplots constantly interfere and collide with each other because that's how it was structured in the script. While seemingly looks good in script, it just doesn't translate well on screen.
Furthermore, the Amazing Spider-Man 2 repeats the same mistakes as Iron Man 2, too many heavy-handed foreshadowing for future sequels, instead of making it a compelling stand-alone film. While the sequel is better than its predecessor (the first Amazing Spider-Man film) in many ways, it's still not the hands-down, best Spidey film that many fans would hoped to see.
Rating: 6/10
Although the story has a terrible narrative structure, I believe the central theme of the story should be dealing with life's two biggest questions:
Are you capable enough to deal with the repercussions of taking chances, knowing that they might happen in the future? Are you willing to accept the consequences of not taking those chances and in turn living regretfully because of it?
http://yjcool.blogspot.com/2014/05/movie-review-amazing-spider-man- 2.html