Another letdown from "Spider-Man"

Rating: 2/10 (2 May 2014)

I remember after watching "The Amazing Spider-Man" almost two years ago for the first and only time that I hoped the next film in the series would be better. My hopes came true as "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" is a little better than its predecessor. After watching the film though, I realized that almost two years ago, I should have hoped the next movie would be good. "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" is a sequel that learned from the mistakes made the first time, but only corrected a few of those mistakes.
Opening up on a heist conducted by a group of criminals, our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield) gives chase and foils the heist in an upbeat scene that suggests the people behind the movie decided to smartly move away from the darker tone a la Christopher Nolan's "Dark Knight trilogy". Spider-Man manages to get to his graduation just in time and ends up breaking up with his girlfriend Gwen (Emma Stone) because he is seeing her deceased father (Denis Leary), whom he promised in the first film that he would keep Gwen out of harm, which he has fluctuated on but this time he is certain with it.
In the meantime, an obsessed fan of Spider-man's who was saved during the heist at the beginning of the movie (Jamie Foxx) is believed dead in an accident that ends up giving him the power to harness electricity. As this happens, Peter's old friend Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) returns to Manhattan, dying from something known as the Osborn curse, and requires Spider-man's blood and its healing capabilities to save his life.
If "The Amazing Spider-Man" was the Raimi "Spider-Man" to this new franchise, than "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" would be the "Spider-Man 3" of the new franchise. The film attempts to balance too many story arcs, one dealing with Peter's parents, one dealing with the Peter/Gwen relationship, one for each of the villains, and so on. Each plot is brought up, then something comes up to distract from that plot line to follow another plot line just to pick up the dropped plot line ten to twenty minutes later (you able to follow that?).
The film adds more humor that is suitable for a "Spider-Man" film in this one with the darker scenes at the end, but the film is less humorous like like "Iron Man 3" and more along the lines of stupid and goofy like "Spider-Man 3". Toning down the darker, more realistic tone of the movie was a good move though, because it makes the presence of an electric man that was turned that way by falling into a tank of electric eels more suitable for the world that is being created.
Like "The Amazing Spider-Man", this film is just set up for the next movie. It ends in a similar fashion, this time with Harry Osborn instead of Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans) being met by a man in the shadows (Michael Massee). This time around, Osborn and the man plan to join a number of villains together to defeat Spider-Man, the first being the stereotypical Russian mobster from the opening heist (Paul Giamatti), now being called Rhinoceros. Several of the plot lines including the one about the parents had a loose end to it for the next movie, but at least this time we got to know about them.
Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone return in their roles as Peter Parker and Gwen Stacey, sharing a little chemistry this time around, but still maintaining the lack of interest from the first film. Garfield's Peter Parker does not fluctuate in character as much in this film, this time not having any definitive character traits other than some snappy on- the-spot joking. The only character who stands out is Foxx's Electro until he becomes another villain who is just out for revenge on the hero.
While it is better than "The Amazing Spider-Man", "The Amazing Spider- Man 2" is a mess of plot lines that are jumbled up and poorly balanced with one another for the sake of setting up sequels. With a weak, and at times stupid, final scene of the film, "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" ends on its lowest point, which is what will most likely stick with you after watching this film.