It's complicated...

Rating: 8/10 (16 April 2014)

Never being a fan of the Raimi films, I was amazed how much I liked the first TASM film. It improved greatly on the original cheesetastic first film, and this one continues with that, providing an improved sequel to the original trilogy's (overrated, in my opinion) second film. I'm still preferring Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker/Spider-Man to Maguire's. Yes, this Spider-Man cracks jokes (that are at least actually *funny*), but he's also a likable person who's not so full of himself. He's got his heroic side, but also believable flaws. And thank heavens we're not hit over the head with anvils about how sucky his life is like in SM2. His relationship with Gwen Stacy is still one of the best aspects of these new films. Thanks, in large part, to Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone's effortless chemistry, they make the relationship between their characters so easily likable, whereas with Maguire and Kirsten Dunst...did anybody actually LIKE them together? Another improvement over Dunst's eternal damsel in distress is that Stone's Gwen is actually *helpful* to Spider-Man. Like in the first film, she saves his butt just as much as he saves hers, makes her own choices and doesn't allow him to make them FOR her, further proving why she's such an awesome love interest...which makes what happens near the end all the more powerful. Yes, that big thing concerning Gwen Stacy? It happens, and it's every bit as effective as you'd hope it would be. There's more tragedy packed into that moment than the original films had combined. Although this brutal event sees the end of two of the new franchise's biggest assets (Stone and the Peter/Gwen relationship), it proves too much of an important moment to have gone any other way.
The other big casting benefit is Dane DeHaan, who takes over from James Franco as Peter's old friend Harry Osborn. Although he's only introduced in this film, he and Garfield manage to make their character's history/friendship more believable than Maguire and Franco ever did. There's an easy back and forth between these two, and despite having only a few scenes together, you buy them as old friends. Even Harry's change into the Green Goblin is better handled here. It's not due to a misunderstanding about his father's death or regaining memories after a bump on the noggin that leads him to becoming bad, it's due to his need to save himself and Spider-Man's unwillingness to go along with it. As it turns out, Peter was right not to grant Harry's wish, as once he does get what he wants, he goes from being already kinda creepy-looking to downright impish. Unlike Willem Dafoe's Norman Osborn, there's no costume that looks purchased from a toy store here. This time, we have an actual menacing-looking villain (that, granted, looks a bit like a homicidal leprechaun, but still...an improvement over the last Green Goblin incarnation). His physical transformation is truly horrific in how it's presented. He becomes this ghastly creature and proves to live up to the infamy as Spider-Man's greatest enemy.
Somewhat less effective is Jamie Foxx as gap-toothed Max Dillon. He seems a good-natured enough guy (albeit with occasional violent internal feelings), who appears to be as big a fanboy of Spider-Man as they come. However, one lab accident later involving electric eels and something as simple as his hero forgetting his name for a minute sets him off. Perhaps time would've been better spent more on showing how he went from fanboy to enemy, and less on his nerdiness or ability to create Dubstep on the soundtrack. Is it simply because he NEEDS electricity that he goes all crazy, or is becoming Electro such an ego trip that it causes him to go off the deep end? Foxx is quite good as Max pre-Electro (as much as an adult behaving like he does CAN be), but it feels like a little more motivation was required for Electro. At least he provides some stunning visuals/epic battle scenes with Spider-Man, who (unlike a so-called 'Man of Steel') goes out of his way to save the lives of innocent people when crap is being destroyed in Times Square.
Although I found Sally Field's Aunt May to be an improvement over the last one, those who didn't will be happy to hear she shares some emotional scenes with Garfield's Peter here, which proves she can do more than just nag (although, when she does, it's actually quite amusing). Chris Cooper is only in one scene as the dying Norman Osborn, but he does a lot with a little and we get his history with Harry without resorting to anvils (no screaming "Avenge me!!!" here, thankfully). Felicity Jones as Felicia Hardy also makes the most of what little screen time she has, managing to make her character mysterious/intriguing, with (hopefully) the promise of seeing more of her next time. The film's thrilling opening scene shows what happened to Peter's parents/how important they are to this new trilogy's overarching storyline. The only WTF casting is Paul Giamatti's hammy Russian mobster, Aleksei Sytsevich, who has two brief scenes: an opening car chase and the end, where he pilots a Rhino-shaped armoured suit. He does feel a bit out of place, like a goofy throwback to the original films, but it's far from the "multiple villains" stigma there had been an outcry from fans about.
TASM was an above average set-up film, this one proves a worthy sequel and proper groundwork has properly been laid out for the third. The score, the effects, the direction and the acting are all top notch here. This film shows the consequences of the life Peter leads, but it's not all doom and gloom. There's good humour sprinkled throughout, it's not as overstuffed as people had feared, and we even got a mid-credits scene setting up X-Men: Days of Future Past. Hey, bonus Jennifer Lawrence is always a plus in my book.