Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone return to the film adaption world of Spider-Man in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, but with the reports of so many villains (including three of which that were confirmed), does it suffer from the same fate as Spider-Man 3 from the Tobey McGuire era?

Spider-Man meeting Electro.

After a stunning first performance as Spider-Man in the original ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’, Andrew Garfield is back under the mask as the web slinging hero of New York City. Full of beautiful visuals and fantastic acting from the cast, the film still suffers from the long standing issue of the sequel; doing too  much in too little time.

Peter Parker with girlfriend Gwen Stacy.

Warning: This review contains complete, to near complete spoilers for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, if you have yet to see the movie, then please avoid until doing so. You have been warned folks.

THE GOOD: Andrew Garfield & Emma Stone’s on screen chemistry is one of the first noticeable things when seeing The Amazing Spider-Man 2, if given the opportunity, this real-life couple could have some fantastic moments together should they ever decide on working together again past TASM2. Performances from Dane DeHann and Jamie Foxx as Harry OsBourne & Max Dillon, respectively provided some fairly entertaining moments. The return of Denis Leary as George Stacy appearing in the form of Peter’s conscience was a bit surprising.

Jamie Foxx as Electro.

Beautiful CG visuals, mostly seen in Electro scenes, were quite the sight in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Spidey had some rather excellent visuals as well. The designs for the Goblin & Electro were pretty well made also. There was some pretty neat action sequences as well.

One of the most beautiful looking scenes in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

THE BAD: The story falls kind of flat due to the amount of focus on so many characters. Most of which is focused on Gwen & Peter, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it kind of had Harry & Electro felling like background characters more than real threats. I also felt there was an unnecessary lack of screen time for Harry as The Goblin, especially given that he’s very likely to return as the major antagonist in The Amazing Spider-Man 3, not to mention he’s likely going to be apart of the upcoming Sinister Six spin-off film.

“You’re my eyes and ears”.

With two antagonist, and the plot focusing on Peter & Gwen, including the then-rumored death of the latter, there wasn’t much to go on as far as screen time for Electro, which was probably the biggest issue given that he was this film’s main antagonist and not Harry. It also didn’t help hat Foxx’s outstanding performance will have some wondering (and perhaps even confused) as to why he wasn’t given a bigger spotlight. Fair enough, Gwen’s death is a big deal, but I don’t think most of the screen time Stone got was the right direction to go in favor of sacrificing the feeling of Electro seemingly like a major threat. Even Harry got more screen time than Electro, which is pretty ridiculous in and of itself.

DeHaan as The Goblin.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has a lot going for it, great visuals, fantastic acting, and an pretty ok story. However the limited amount of screen time given makes some key characters feel like nothing more than side characters, thus subsequently ruining part of it’s full potential. Otaku Dome gives The Amazing Spider-Man 2 an 75 out of 100.