Zachariah Swope
Staff Writer

“The Amazing Spider-man 2”, “Rise of Electro” in some countries, is the sequel to the 2012 reboot by Marc Webb. This sequel might worry some fans by having 3 villains, much like the 2007 Sam Raimi “Spider-man 3”, but they can be rest assured that this movie is superior to the 2012 reboot in every way. What director Marc Webb has accomplished is a set up for a bigger Spider-man universe that actually works.

Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield) faces off against Electro (Jamie Foxx).
Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield) faces off against Electro (Jamie Foxx).

The story of the sequel isn’t without its problems but it is enjoyable non the less. With tons of fan service to the wide range of comic book history of the webbed hero, there is much to be amazed about.

For starters the portrayal of the film’s central villain Electro, played by Jamie Foxx, is one of the best things about this movie. Electro is a bit likable and a sympathetic villain to be sure. All he wants is to be accepted for who he is.

Then there is Dane DeHaan’s portrayal of the iconic Green Goblin, this time being Harry Osborne and not his father Norman. Dehaan steals the show as the Green Goblin, though his character doesn’t play a huge part till the very end. Fans of the comic will definitely like the story line the character brings to the movie and will be clambering for more when he will most likely return for the sequels.

Paul Giamatti as the Rhino really is more of a cameo appearance. Even though he only has like five minutes of screen time, his performance was funny and brought an awesome opening scene to the movie (no spoilers!). There are also some other villains that fans of the comics might recognize in their cameo capacity. At times these cameos do hinder the film’s plot and could have been cut from the movie all together.

Besides the film’s villains there is the hero of course. Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-man brings more charisma and humor to the character than the 2012 film. Returning from the first movie, the story of Peter Parker’s parents plays a much bigger part with Peter tracking down what happened to them, while all things point to the ominous Oscorp. Also worth mentioning, Oscorp seems to be the focus point when it comes to the birth/creation of the villains in the Spider-man universe.

The problems with “Amazing Spider-man 2” mainly are in part of too much fan service. It seems director Marc Webb, even though making a good movie, was caught up in trying to set up for future movies.

There are some parts in the movie where one could get a bit lost because they haven’t read the comics or because it was something for a sequel. This is a big no-no and it definitely hurt the movie. The incorporation of more than one villain, even though they were good performances, did hinder things quite a bit as well. “Amazing Spider-man 2” should have focused on just one villain instead of propping in another about three quarters of the way in.

Overall though “Amazing Spider-man 2” is better than the 2012 reboot. Marc Webb has proved that he can still do well with comic book movies and that he himself is much a fan as everyone else. As usual with a Marvel movie, stay for the credits for something that will delight fans of Spider-man quite a bit.

GRADE: 3/5