A solid movie

Rating: 7/10 (17 April 2014)

As someone who really enjoyed the first Amazing Spider-man movie I was really looking forward to this and I can safely say its a good movie, not brilliant but good.
The movie opens by showing us what happened to Peters parents after they left him with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben.
The first glimpse we get of spider-man is as he is free falling through the air in response to the sounds of sirens chasing after a hijacked truck carrying highly radioactive materials. The CGI is incredible and Spider-man has never looked better. Although the actual chase scene isn't anything you haven't seen before. There are some quite funny moments with Spidey trying to collect vials in the back of a moving truck being driven by Paul Giamatti and Peter talking to Gwen on the phone.
Speaking of, Paul Giamatti is awful. Miscast would be an understatement, he is utterly terrible. He is over the top and his accent his ridiculous. I predict a Razzie nomination for him in this role. Thankfully his role is very minimal. Which surprised me, as I was expecting Rhino to play a larger part.
Jamie Fox doesn't quite fit here either. He plays an Oscorp employee who just wants people to take notice of him and develops a slight infatuation with Spider-man after he saves him. There is a very cringe inducing scene where Jamie Fox's character has an imaginary conversation with Spider-man. It actually reminded me of Jim Carey's rather over the top portrayal of Edward E. Nigma in Batman Forever. Im not sure which is worse.
The main draw of this movie is Peter and Gwen and their relationship. If you're a comic fan like myself then you'll know why this relationship is important.
Peter is still trying to keep the promise he made to Gwen's father by staying out of her life to protect her from his enemies. The scenes between Peter and Gwen really stand out thanks to the amount of chemistry these two share on screen. Their scenes are playfully intimate and really succeed in portraying the love they have for each other.
Dane Dehaan plays Harry Osborne, a once childhood friend of Peter's who was shipped off to boarding school while they were still young and returns to New York for family reasons. Dane Dehaan is great in this role and its shame he wasn't introduced in the first movie as he takes a bit of a back seat to Jamie Fox's character for a large part of the movie.
There are some truly great moments in this movie from Spideys battles with Electro to a scene showing Peters loneliness through the changing of the seasons. I would of liked more of Dane Dehaan as Harry and the Green Goblin as it feels like Electro was shoehorned in to keep this movie from feeling like a rehash of Sam Raimi's first Spider-man movie with the Green Goblin.
I enjoyed the movie but hope the next one can focus more on the characters that matter rather than trying to cram in as many new ones as possible.