Amazing Spider-Man 2 picks off where the first film left off with Spidey flying high, reveling in his power and doing his best to save New York, be a friendly goody-two-shoes and graduate from university while holding down a job as a photographer. But Parker is still in conflict over whether to not to keep Gwen Stacy out of his life as he promised her father he would; and yet here he is breaking that promise... There is a lot of opportunity for a good drama here, but it comes off as melodramatic and rushed. There is a lot of rushing past stuff in this film, and we'll get to that in a minute... While Parker is still trying to figure out what his relationship with Gwen is going to be, he's also still trying to deal with the idea that his parents, particularly his father, might've been guilty of treason against the nation. Aunt May is trying her best to not burden her nephew with this information and works hard to make ends meet with Uncle Ben gone. But we don't really spend much time on this...
Enter the new villain, Electro, now a black dude played by Jamie Fox, in an attempt to try and bring something new to the character. And when you discover what that it, you'll wish they didn't bother. Electro's origin story is very rote and about as believable as Selina Kyle's transformation into Catwoman in Batman Returns; but at least that movie was fun. Here, it's just embarrassing. Thankfully, the origin is rushed through quickly enough so the awkwardness doesn't last long. Once Electro is up and running, you will love the action sequences and spectacles Spidey goes through in his confrontations with him, so it's something that one can forgive over the course of the movie, even if his motivations and sudden change of heart isn't believable in the least...
Also, Electro isn't the only villain being set up in the movie. Harry Osbourne enters the scene, now in a race against time to find a cure for a disease that is running in his family which kills his father and will soon turn him into a hideous goblin-like state (not kidding!). There is some great chemistry between him and Parker as actors... but within the story, it's unearned. Who is this guy? And how can two people who haven't seen each other in years suddenly become so chummy? Wheres that history we're supposed to feel? Again, something that should've taken its time to be built up over the course of a film or two is instead rushed through so that the audience is given the idea they're expected to buy into on a silver platter... Anyway, Harry's desperate for a cure, and while rifling through Oscorp's data discovers that the spider venom that turned Peter into Spider-Man might cure him. But due to opposition in his father's company, things are being kept from him. As a last resort he connects the dots to Spider-Man and tries to see if Spidey can donate a sample of his blood to him; something he turns to his friend Peter Parker to help him with, given that Peter takes pictures of Spidey, but Parker/Spidey is reluctant because he's afraid his blood might actually end up killing Harry, or worse, turn him into something like the Lizard.
And perhaps you've also noticed from the posters and marketing, but it seems that the Rhino is also in this movie. And indeed he is... and I'll just leave it at that...
There's a lot of good ideas in this film. Ideas that could've worked had Sony Pictures taken it time to develop these elements over the course of a trilogy. But instead I suspect that the Sony executives saw the amount of money the Avengers made, and suddenly everyone is trying to get their big tent-pole franchise multi-character/villain projects up and running without paying attention to the time and long-term effort Marvel put into their franchise, subtly building things up for the inevitable show-down. So Amazing Spider-man 2's plot elements and characters are half-baked and under-developed. Romantic and dramatic situations are resolved in a stereotypical manner that are only made bearable thanks to the actor/actress working well with what they're given; and all in all it becomes obvious that Sony wants their Sinister Six epic up and running as soon as possible.
The biggest victim of this film is the squandering away of Gwen and Parker's relationship. A concluding moment between the two of them that is well known to comic fans is reached all too early, and we are never given the time to really feel Parker adjust to everything around him as a result of that. The ending moments of the film are handled as an utter travesty that one imagines the studio suits just wanted to get all of it out of the way so we can get to the so-called good stuff, which by the end of it, is just a cliffhanger for the third entry. What should've been a huge moment for Spidey that should've taken the time to have been built up over at least 3 films, sadly concludes in the most trite manner. It's really a crying shame...
Did someone call for a Spider-Man or a fire man?
I'll see myself out...
Amazing Spider-Man does have its spectacular moments, and is amazing to watch in 3-D to see Spidey swinging around and doing whatever a spider can. There are even highlight moments here and there of what this film could've been by keeping its eyes on the ball with regards to Peter & Gwen and numerous other things. But somewhere along the way, I'm convinced plans were upended to make way for an ensemble cast of super-villians to take priority. Sony treats Amazing Spider-Man 2 as a necessary but uncared-for expendable step towards the Sinister Six. So in my opinion, audiences should also see it the same way that Sony does and skip this step on the rungs for the next film that Sony actually might care about getting right... And even then, I'm already soured by the experience enough to just wait until it's on home video...
If you were on the fence about the film, I'd advise to see it later as a rental if you absolutely must once the inevitable Sinister Six marketing makes you want to. The mix of action and CGI is well done and from a technical level, I'm very pleased. If you're expecting any post-credits Easter eggs, there is nothing save for a promotional scene from the upcoming X-Men movie that is in no way related to Spider-Man, which is best saved for seeing when X-Men Days of Future Past actually does make it to theaters. Well... at least Amazing Spider-Man 2 is still a better film than Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3 was even while skirting uncomfortably close to the cheesiness... I guess that's something, right?
