The Amazing Spider-Man 2

It seems that Spider Man is doomed to receive mediocre to abysmal implementations on the big screen. Well, at least in my opinion. The Amazing Spider Man 2 currently have a rating of 7.1 which quite surprises me. This was not the worst Spider Man movie. The 2nd instalment, Spider-Man 2, in the first series with Tobey Maquire still holds that title firmly. There are some nice special effect fireworks going on and there are some funny parts when Peter Parker puts on the mask and goes to action but apart from that I found the movie uninspired, with a mediocre plot and sometimes downright boring. The plot is perhaps suitable for a comics magazine with its standard set of unlikely events, backstabbing big-corporate employees and disgruntled scientists becoming super villains but on the big-screen one would expect a wee bit more effort going into the plot. The main villain, Electro, was … well not really giving much of an impression. He never lifted above the pretty silly scientist letting everyone walk all over him and doing really, really stupid things like trying to put two high voltage cables together without turning off the power. Sure he tried to give a menacing appearance towards the end but to me he never really managed to elevate himself to a real super-villain. I almost got the impression that the director actually realized that Electra was not good enough and so decided to come up with some convoluted scheme to throw in The Green Goblin at the end. None of these villains are really bad, just mediocre. Then of course there is the obligatory Peter Parker wallowing in self-pity that every director seems to just have to put in these movies. It is not funny and downright boring. And for the ending cliffhanger they throw in the Rhino…as some jerk in a monster mechanical suit :-( . What the f…? The Rhino is supposed to have a polymer bonded to his skin and augmented strength and speed. Not be running around in some silly mechanical Rhino toy! The entertainment factor of this movie comes almost entirely from the SFX action and a few select scenes. Otherwise the movie was fairly (yawn) mediocre as far as I am concerned. Having said that, being the sci-fi and super-hero fan that I am, I will probably buy the next instalment anyway if one comes out.

The story is predictable and with zero neurons on it but Garfield and Stone connection is good and the comedy moments sort of enjoyable. Probably you could remove the super-hero mess and you would had a much better romantic comedy.

Spider-Man stuffed once again. Marc Webb returns to direct what Sony had hoped was the second instalment of a longer running reboot of the Spider-Man franchise. Writing this now, I'm armed with the knowledge that once again the web slinger will get another reboot in 2017, which after viewing this sequel comes as no surprise. It's not so much that it's a bad film, or a bad Spider-Man film at that, it's just that it feels all very familiar, whilst simultaneously hugging the same pitfalls as Sam Raimi's Spiderman 3. Webb tries to juggle a screenplay with 3 villains (well two and a half really), a tricky romance between Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) and Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), and of course there's school, a best friend and affairs of the home heart to deal with. The introduction of Electro (Jamie Foxx) is a good move, inputting a new villain into the spidey world is most welcome. Yet in spite of Foxx earning some level of sympathy with the characterisation, it never really works and unfortunately draws comparisons with a certain Mr. Freeze from another franchise. Dane DeHaan comes in as Harry Osborn, soon to be Green Goblin, again the tortured soul act is well performed, but come Goblin time the make up and effects work is laughable. While Paul Giamati as Aleksei Sytsevich - cum - Rhino, is having fun but is barely in the picture. Stone is the best thing in it by far, while Garfield works hard, but there is no getting away from the fact that they both are - and look - too old for their parts. The action is fun and pulse raising, but there's not enough of it to sustain a running time of 2 hours and 20 minutes. Though on the plus side Webb and his team are to be applauded for choosing a story line that is ultimately bold and contains a great emotional whack. All told it's a shaky entry to the spidey world, one that once again forced Sony into another rethink. Lets hope the next journey spidey goes on has some clarity and streamlined sense. 6/10

Had high hopes for this one because of the first film. Was not disappointed!

I think maybe some of the lustre from Andrew Garfield's first outing as "Spider-Man" had already worn off for this really rather mediocre sequel. This time he has to don his red and blue lycra and save the city - and "Gwen" (Emma Stone) - from the marauding "Green Goblin". There is quite a degree of on-screen chemistry between Garfield and Stone, and as an action-romance, this is at the more entertaining end of the scale. It's the plot and the tech elements that let it down. The visual effects upon which it relies so heavily are really nothing special. Nor, it has to be said, are the baddies. The "Green Goblin" just isn't menacing enough. That might be, perhaps, because Dane DeHaan is one of those actors (a bit like Michael Pitt) whom I never really understood why he made it at all. The make up artists do work wonders in demonstrating his decline into moral turpitude, but as an actor he is just, well, insipid as the poor, misguided and bitter "Harry Osborne". Jamie Foxx has a bit more fun as the sparky "Electro", though that character is largely undeveloped and Sally Field can be relied upon to add a little maternal instinct as "Aunt May", but somehow the whole thing is just one beat off. The first film had a much stronger story and a cast that were still bedding down; this reverses that with much more assured performances from the two at the top of the bill, but with a much less meaty story to back them up. I did like Andrew Garfield in this role - he has charisma as an actor, but this is all just a bit flat and though impressive to watch on a big screen with big sound, is not a film that will make anyone's top ten - even Marc Webb's, I think.