The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Rating: 6/10 (23 October 2014)

The first film in the reboot series was reasonably good, despite me being skeptical, because I really like the Sam Raim/Tobey Maguire series, so I was hoping it would be the same for the sequel, from returning director Marc Webb (500 Days of Summer). Basically Peter Parker (The Social Network's Andrew Garfield) continues to fight crime in the city of New York as Spider-Man, including rescuing Oscorp employee Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx), but he keeps seeing visions of deceased Captain George Stacy (Denis Leary) warning him to stay away from his daughter Gwen (The Help's Emma Stone), he wants to keep this vow and the two break up. Peter's childhood friend Harry Osborn (Lawless's Dane DeHaan) returns to the city to visit Oscorp CEO and his terminally ill father Norman (Chris Cooper), his father warns his son he could develop the disease, the next day Norman dies and Harry becomes the new CEO. Max meanwhile is convinced Spider-Man has become his best friend, he idolises him, on his birthday Max is tending to maintenance in an Oscorp laboratory, but he gets electrocuted and falls into a tank of genetically modified electric eels, he is mutated into a living electric generator, he soon wanders into Times Square and accidentally causes a blackout, Spider-Man attempts to diffuse the situation, but angered by his press coverage Max, now calling himself Electro, attacks the hero, until he is stopped and taken to Ravencroft Institute. Harry begins to develop his father's disease, he deduces Spider-Man's blood could be the key to saving his life, he asks Peter to find him, Peter though is unsure what his superhuman blood could do to his health, he tries to dissuade his friend, and as Spider-Man he refuses to help, so Harry hates him, and he is removed as CEO after being framed by board members for covering up Max's accident. Harry learns of equipment that could help him, inside the Oscorp building he finds a suit of armour made by Norman, and venom from genetically altered spiders, injecting himself with it his illness accelerates and he turns into a goblin-like creature, the Green Goblin, but the suit's built-in emergency protocol restores his health. Peter, wanting to find out more about his father's research, finds a secret hidden lab in an abandoned subway station, including a recorded message from his father Richard (Campbell Scott) explaining him leaving, refusing to cooperate with Norman's biogenetic weaponization plans, he then gets a call from Gwen, still his friend, who says she will be leaving for her scholarship to Oxford University in Britain, he finds her and professes his love. Max, who was let out by Harry, causes another blackout that takes out all power to New York city, Peter becomes Spider-Man and with Gwen they confront Electro, overloading his body, killing him and restoring power. Then seconds later Harry arrives equipped with the armour and weaponry, he kidnaps Gwen when discovering Spider-Man's true identity, the two battle in a clock tower, Harry is subdued, but Gwen tragically falls to her death. Distraught Peter gives up being Spider-Man, and for several days beside Gwen's grave, five months pass, Harry heals from his treatment at Ravencroft, associate Gustav Fiers aka The Gentleman (Michael Massee) visits him, and also breaks out criminal Aleksei Sytsevich aka Rhino (Paul Giamatti) who rampages on the streets, Peter inspired by Gwen's recorded graduation message returns to battle the armoured villain as Spider-Man. Also starring Sally Field as Aunt May, Colm Feore as Donald Menken, Embeth Davidtz as Mary Parker, Marton Csokas as Dr. Ashley Kafka, B.J. Novak as Alistair Smythe, Felicity Jones as Felicia and Stan Lee as Graduation Guest. British actor Garfield is still good as both Peter Parker and the superhero Spider-Man being witty, not so much vulnerability though, Stone is nice as the hero's love interest, Foxx is a little cheesy as the villain, at least DeHaan tries to be scary. There are only two problems I have with this sequel, firstly is that it tries to cram in too many ideas at once, and secondly it doesn't know when to stop, you think it's going to end at a particular point, but it goes on for almost two and a half hours, however the action sequences with splendid special effects make it engaging, it is an entertaining fantasy adventure. Good!