Surprisingly watchable

Rating: 6/10 (23 October 2017)

A rare case of the sequel being an upgrade on the first installment. This film is a mixed bag. It sometimes suffers from the same disjointed storytelling as its predecessor, and is often corny as hell and therefore predictable. There are too many competing story lines, and they don't entirely add up or resolve themselves. Spiderman is a certified jerk. There are some bits that just don't quite work - how, for instance, a man who consistently demonstrated to be made of pure electricity, and who can disseminate himself at will, can be physically punched and tied up in the final battle is beyond me. But the characters themselves are intriguing, well-cast, compelling, and visually exemplary. The best thing about this film is that it feels quite like a video game - the segmented nature of the plot, the visuals, particularly in the Electrode battles, and the overall tone really take you along for the ride, and it was quite refreshing to have a film like this just having some fun with its content, something which the first installment entirely failed to do. Doing so draws the eye away from the problems, making them, if not less noticeable, then at least less irritating. This is a deeply flawed film, but once it gets into its stride (which, admittedly, takes a while) it is pretty good fun. The ending is surprisingly brave, and is a powerful way to round off the narrative. Also, any film that nicks its final scene from The Incredibles knows what's good for it. Glad I watched it.