The Mediocre Spider-Man

Rating: 7/10 (3 May 2014)

"The Amazing Spider-Man 2" was not what I had thought it would be. Though I did like the movie, it was just a little bit of a let down. It was not the Amazing Spider-Man when compared to the 2012 reboot film. It's more a long the lines of The Mediocre Spider-Man. The movie has a lot of good moments but, there are some issues with this film.
One of the problems with this movie really is redundancy when it comes to Peter's relationship with Gwen Stacy. They are on again, they are off again, then they are on again, and all they do is bicker. This of course is a example of bad writing.
Another issue with this movie is the set of villains. Here we are again with three villains just as we had with "Spider-Man 3." However, it is not that there are three villains that is a problem, it is that they got squashed. The Green Goblin makes an appearance but, he is only in it for about 10 minutes. We spend a lot of time building up his character and we do not get much screen time with him as a villain just as we had with venom in "Spider-Man 3." The only difference is that he does not get killed off.
It is clear that Goblin was just introduced as a villain for a future film yet to come. The Rhino played by Paul Giamatti makes an appearance at the end but, sadly, it is for no good reason at all expect to give Spider-Man a reasoning to come back into action after the death of Gwen.
Despite some of the issues with this film, there is a lot that I liked. Max Dillon/ Electro was the highlight of the movie. His make up, voice, music theme, and effects where all well done, including his character development. Jamie Foxx plays the character well. Max is smart but, absolutely insane. When he first becomes Electro he is scared at first, and then finds that he really likes his power. The fight scenes where really good, and they make up for the lack of fight scenes in the first Marc Webb direct film.
Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborn may have had a short appearance as his alter ego The Green Goblin however, he does play his part well. He makes for a great Harry Osborn and his character is also developed pretty well. This film also makes up for the lack of "The Untold Story" as the recent film was advertised to be. We learn a lot more of the secretes behind Peter Parke's Dad, his involvement with OsCorp, and the corruption of the company. There is also a lot humor in the film as well. After all, Spider-Man is supposed to be fun and entertaining. The score of the film is also a lot better, and you get this feeling that the film crew worked on it more.
Overall the film is a decent sequel for this rebooted trilogy, it just leaves you with the feeling of being cheated when it comes to the villains.