Webb has done it again

Rating: Null/10 (5 May 2014)

This really is a golden age for fans of super-heroes movies like me with Batman, Superman, Iron Man, X-Men and more hitting the screens month after month with big budgets and even bigger takings. When a character seems to run out of steam, one just has to leave him alone for a few years and then re-boot the hero. So, after three "Spider-Man" movies from director Sam Raimi, Marc Webb had such a success with "The Amazing Spider-Man" that he's back with another winner.
I actually prefer Andrew Garfield to Tobey Maguire as the titular arachnid and this outing he's somewhat schizophrenic in mood: astonishingly light-hearted in the face of any villain but really morbid when it comes to family history and current romance. There is genuine chemistry between Garfield and co-star Emma Stone (as Gwen Stacy) which is obviously helped by their real-life coupling.
The chief protagonist this time is a sparky character called Electro who had an unfortunate swimming accident with some eels and James Foxx clearly had fun in a different type of role for him. The subsidiary opponent is the Green Gobin whose starring role is obviously being kept back for the next movie in the series, ensuring that we will see the creepy Dabe HeHaan again. I enjoyed the more varied use of our hero's web in this movie for a lot more than swinging from one skyscraper to another. Stan Lee has met Tim Berners-Lee, so that the web has now become world wide.
There are three writing credits for this film which might explain why some characters are underwritten. Certainly I would like to have seen more of the excellent Paul Giamatti as The Rhino and newcomer Felicity Jones as Harry Osborn's assistant. So take that as a request for "TASM3".