In Hollywood, summer does not wait for June, and the web slinger himself is back in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 to ring in blockbuster season on At the Movies. But Peter Travers is not so ecstatic: Im sorry people, the most I can go with is adequate. I would call this movie The Adequate Spider-Man 2.
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Coming off the heels of the Sam Raimi-helmed, Toby Maguire-starring Spider-Man trilogy, the 2012 reboot found Andrew Garfield playing Peter Parker and though it was a relatively fun ride, Travers found himself questioning whether a new Spidey series was even necessary. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 suffers from similar problems: Its top-heavy, packed with too many villains and rife with dull 3D and digital effects standardized by the ever-growing Marvel universe.
Still Garfield shines as Parker/Spider-Man and Emma Stone is wonderful as his girlfriend Gwen Stacy. And while director Marc Webb shows a knack for dealing with personalities and romance (as he did in 500 Days of Summer), Travers says you can see his need to bring out his inner-Michael Bay. The movie has villains out the ying-yang: Jamie Foxx plays a nerdy Oscorp employee who falls into a vat of electric eels and becomes Electro; the wonderful actor Dane DeHaan shows up as Oscorp heir Harry Osborn/the nefarious Green Goblin; and because why not at this point? Paul Giamatti makes an appearance at the end as the Rhino.
Cant we deal with one villain? Travers asks. Do we have to make a two and a half hour movie that just keeps dragging in one after the other so we dont care anymore? I think not. I really think this movie should basically be the end but its not gonna be the end because theyre signed for at least two more sequels!