The Amazing Spider-Man 2

8/10 - I know I am definitely in the minority on this one, but I for one feel that this 2014 sequel is not only not the "worst Spider-Man movie," but actually improves on its predecessor by doubling down on heart, the swoon-worthy chemistry between Garfield and Stone, and jaw-dropping visual effects.

I can't say I went in to the theater with high hopes. I did enjoy the first installment of this unnecessary reboot, almost anything seemed like a step up from "Spiderman 3", and Garfield felt way more natural than Maguire, and Emma Stone is always welcome. But after seeing the first trailer I thought it seemed like a total mess, and I wasn't convinced by Electro one bit. Unfortunately I was spot on, I hoped to at least get an enjoyable time at the cinema with my friends, but ended up feeling quite uncomfortable and laughing throughout most of the film.

Garfield and Stone has their chemistry and does their best with the incredibly thin script and cheesy one-liners, but their potential quite beautiful scenes together gets lost in the over-full and messy plot. I can't buy an emotional scene that is interrupted by heavy dub-step and a blue electric guy.

Oh Jamie Foxx, how did you go from Django to this? Before he goes all CGI-Electro he tries to play the nerdy unseen scientist (with a worse comb-over than Christian Bale's 'Hustle'-look). As Electro it's hard to say how much is his fault, and what can be blamed on the rest, I'd go with the rest. You don't sympathize with him nor do you believe how fast he becomes this super-villain.

Everything that Dane DeHaan did so well in "Chronicle" just feels unnatural and (maybe not misplaced, but wrong) here. And his character development is way too rushed and quite unnecessary for this film, it just becomes another sub-plot standing in the way of what really matters.

Sally Field does good work as Aunt May, but leaves no lasting mark. Paul Giamatti's Russian criminal is just in the way and only gives a couple of dreadful and laughable scenes. And then there's the mad German scientist named Kafka and I rest my case.

The action and visuals isn't bad, but still doesn't make up for the low "trying to be Marvel"-comedy and horrific soundtrack, a soundtrack that almost itself destroys the film throughout the exhausting 142 minutes. And sometimes it feels like the movie is taking us as an audience to be stupid, with pointers to what is going to happen. I would like to say that you might enjoy it if you just try and see it for what it is, but it's hard, but hopefully possible! It had an interesting start, with a glimpse inside the past and Peter's parents, but it's left underdeveloped, as is almost everything else, to make room for all its action and villains.

It's amazing how the difference between two big-budget superhero-movies can be so huge, if you put this against "Captain America: The Winter Soldier", a great and, opposed to this one, original film.

Oh how I wish that Marc Webb could have continued with a "(500) Days of Summer"-esque movie instead, he could keep the sub-plots starring Garfield, Stone and DeHaan, and it could very well be a great film, and probably not such a waste of talent.

This film is getting too much hate by some people and too much love by others (including me), and it seems to be only based on the mental image each group has of spider-man and movie scripts in general.

Those who love the soup opera aspects of Peter Park, hated, they missed the character grow, the motives of the villains (arguable) and complained for having too many story lines. On the other hand those who love comic spidey, loved, for all the stupid puns, the charisma and the of course the action. But the main complain is about the script, but understanding as a comic adaptation, it makes sense, the several sub-plots going on between each fight,the preface and Peter Parker/Spider-Man parallels objectives, it makes just like a regular comic (weekly or monthly) and less like a regular movie.

But What can I say, I was expecting to see the real (mental image, again) Spider-Man on screen, the costume is really (a lot of emphasis here) beautiful, Andrew Garfield really is in the character, Emma Stone makes an active love interest, Dane DeHaan makes a 'realistic' Green Goblin and Paul Giamatti goes a over-the-top, more related to an usual Spider-Man Villain. The only big flaw is Jamie Foxx getting the spotlight just because Django, the character is lost in the movie, half-way between fun villain and real threat, shame because he is the main villain.

Marc Webb got me, I'm gonna be the first in line for: The Amazing Spider-Man 3, Venom-Carnage, Sinister Six, maybe Spider-Woman (not confirmed yet), or any other release of a fun comic adaptation.

Lets give a disclaimer here: I am a comic book nerd-geek and Spider-Man is one of my favorite fictional characters ever, so maybe I am inclined to be fully absorbed by this movie very easily, yet this doesn't take away from my film nerd-fan side that genuinely thought very highly of this film from a simple filmaking point of view. As storytelling goes I was very-pleasantly surprised to find a really strong grip: it never commits the Spider-Man 3 mistake of being over-crowded and maintains a brilliant balance on all the characters flowing naturally with a story that feels perfectly fine despite the pressure it had from Sony. It never tries to be over intricate but manages to pull of multiple inter-twining story lines in a magnificent way. Never does it leave loose ends and that is something I hadn't seen in a comic-book movie for a couple of years. Furthermore it isn't a banal plot, there of course are some clichéd moments but as much as they don't get me in 90% of movies they got me here (credit to director/actors for making those few feel very spontaneous), it has valid originality and keeps a core fidelity to the source material that deserves high praise. Just as good is the way in which this sequel builds on its predecessor tying up loose ends, proceeding with minor story lines of the first movie and adding great parts in it. As a director Webb proves to be amazing. The action scenes are complexly put together, with visual brilliance and continuity in them. Great improvement from the first movie. They really were breathtaking, nail-biting sequences that found me on the edge of my seat continuously. Another visual aspect that is stunning is the swinging sequences of Spider-Man: this is what I always wanted to see but never fully experienced with the other Spider-Man movies; the shots there were fantastic. Yet what I most admire Webb for is the talent he has for character development and coherence, we have seen this in his previous two movies and here it is firing once again in all cylinders. There just isn't one character in whom I did not believe, I never spotted the stereotypical comic-book person in here. Everybody had there chance to shine. Sure a couple of characters have minor short-comings and I understand if somebody doesn't believe in Electro's personality, but I found that it walked the line between movie acceptability and comic-book campyness in the perfect dose. To this I also have to give credit to the soundtrack which blew me totally away when Electro is introduced to the public: that was some serious use of music and sounds for storytelling, brilliant, intelligent! Adding to this is a really powerful score from Hans Zimmer, one of the better ones I have heard from him and generally in recent years. Our introduction to Harry Osborn/Green Goblin was positive on the character part (indeed there was no need for him to be green goblin in this one but I honestly did not mind him), yet from an acting point of view I think Dane Dehaan overacted in some scenes, nevertheless he was good enough. There have been many criticisms of this movie in regards to messy tone, unoriginality and rushed villains and as much as I see where people are coming from and I would indeed have appreciated a more untraditional villain(s) introduction and story I just never thought of that during the movie: there are many movies in which I simply cannot be taken in because of originality issues, but for some reason this one felt to me so fluent I never had any problems with this and actually felt it kept a consistent tone throughout. Yet I must address the fact that watching it twice I could feel the studio putting too much of its hand in the movie: they were way to manipulative of this and I think that by leaving Marc Webb just some more creative power this movie could have been enormously better. The CGI wasn't always seamless but great in many moments and anyways it never bothered me because the story was always the driving force behind it and what I was most interested in: this also speaks to the fact that the action was used to propel the plot so it never felt out of place, that is something really hard to pull off. There is lots of humor in the film and I can safely say that it actually is very funny and very faithful to who Spider-Man is and how he acts and to expand on this the humor fits both the tone of the movie and the storytelling, speaking again to the fact that, just like the action, it is used appropriately for the character development or the story, it is never gratuitous. I was excepting more fan service, but I can't really fault the movie for not satisfying my unsatisfiable thirst for it, that was nevertheless kept at bay. "The Amazing Spiderman 2" truly was a comic book movie. It took the best aspects of the two world and combined them in what I always figured in my head when I read Spider-Man comics. Yet, I have been holding back this for all my review and here it is: what truly is the best part of the movie, the most riveting element, the thing that Webb does best in a really majestical way, the driving force behind this film, the main reason and thing that kept me most absorbed in the drama and what gives it honest emotional depth is the relationship between Gwen Stacy and Peter Parker. honestly do not know how Webb is so amazingly good with romance and character interaction but what we have here (and in the previous movie) is something really special.

The original trilogy seemed incomplete but now, that incompleteness is completed by this new one. I love the background story of Spiderman shown in this movie, at least it has got one unlike the original. The story of how Peter Parker ended up with his Uncle and Aunt, the story of why "Peter Parker" is the only one who could be Spiderman and no-one else. It all feels complete now. A satisfactory plot for a superhero movie.

Talking about the performances, I like the new Peter Parker, humorous and entertainer. I've started to feel the original 'Peter Parker' was actually boring. Really good job by the actors here. And with that SuperVillian : 'Electro', the movie becomes one of the best SuperHero movies. Visual effects are quite good and the movie is perfectly entertaining. For me, this is the best version of Spiderman movie till now. I don't care what the critics have to say, this movie is a good one.