The Amazing Spider-man 2

This film is an absolute mess, not terrible, it’s just a mess. The first film lacked the fun and excitement of Raimi’s masterful films (which these will never get close to emulating), to its credit this does up the action but it borders on nonsensical. So much time is focused on the relationship between Peter and Gwen that none of the films 3 villains are developed in any way, meaning you watch completely baffled at who these people actually are (like why the hell is Harry Osborn so easily able to dispatch two security guards at a high security prison). The films bagginess isn’t helped by the semi-conspiracy sub plot involving peters dead parents, again detracting yet more time away from character development. Then there’s Andrew Garfield who is quite witty and charming as Spider-Man, but I don’t believe him for one second as “nerd” peter parker, he achieves none of the nuances that Tobey McGuire achieved in his incarnation. Ultimately the original trilogy was brought to us by the man who created the evil dead trilogy, whereas these films are brought to us by the man who created 500 days of summer, and it just doesn’t work. (High 2 Stars)