Review: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2  (ACTION/FANTASY) 
2.5 out of 4 stars 
Directed by Marc Webb
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Sally Field, Paul Giamatti, Felicity Jones, Chris Cooper, Colm Feore, Campbell Scott, Embeth Davidtz
Rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action/violence.
Verdict: The biggest battle in the newest chapter in the Spider-Man film franchise is between the misguided and cynical ambitions of franchise "enhancing" and the noble sincerity of a talented director with a magnetic cast.  Ultimately, the two forces cancel each other out, so it's not such a terrible time at the movies, but once it's over, the effect may leave you feeling a bit crestfallen.
YOU MAY ENJOY THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 IF YOU LIKED:
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN  (2012)
SPIDER-MAN 3  (2007)
CHRONICLE  (2012)
TRANSFORMERS  (2007)
CLASH OF THE TITANS  (2010)

The newest installment in what used to be the most bankable superhero film franchise around is a frustrating combination of superbly promising talent and misguidedly ambitious suits and writers.  There are some scenes so marvelously constructed and sincere that they elicit "squeeing", but many of these moments eventually feel somewhat cheapened by contrasting scenes that smack of cynical commercialism and overly eager storytelling, jumping ahead to beats before they can be fully earned.
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 is perhaps the first really significant event out the gate during the post-THE AVENGERS effect, with film studios now having realized the potential of a far-reaching "film universe" to unite independent franchises into one super-franchise.  Unfortunately for Sony Pictures, Spider-Man is the only bankable superhero they have the rights to, while a fellow Marvel property, Ghost Rider, hasn't been working out.  So following the release and subsequent relatively moderate success of THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN in the same summer that rocketed THE AVENGERS to $1.5 billion worldwide (third-highest of all time), Sony started tooling around on a set of sequels and spin-offs that might hopefully bring the more limited Spider-Man universe into a caliber similar to Marvel Studios' independent features.  The greatest downside to this is that while following up the previous film should have given director Marc Webb greater clout to see his vision through (THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN was largely hindered by last-minute studio edits eliminate revelations to be saved instead for future films), it yet again feels like Webb is not being sufficiently trusted with the material, while writers like Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (the writing team behind the first two Transformers films, the Star Trek reboot and COWBOYS & ALIENS) figure out a way to cram as much studio input into the film as possible.  Granted, this is all speculation based on what the final product is, but the pieces certainly fit.
The story takes place approximately a year or a little less after the events of the previous film; playing the hero as Spider-Man has become the great joy of Peter Parker's (Andrew Garfield) life, but his incessant desire to be with his high school sweetheart, Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), conflicts with a promise he made to her late father (Denis Leary) to keep her out of harm's way.  Meanwhile, Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx), a loser of truly cartoonish proportions and a downtrodden electrical engineer at OsCorp Industries, develops an extreme obsession over Spider-Man after the web-slinger pulls him out of the way of high-velocity debris and gives him a quick pep talk.  After a highly unusual accident basically turns Dillon into pure electricity and he encounters Spider-Man again, Spidey comes up blank on the name-check, and Dillon, dubbing himself "Electro", turns villain.  But that's not all folks!  Peter's childhood friend, Harry Osborne (Dane DeHaan), son and heir to OsCorp founder and CEO Norman Osborne (Chris Cooper), has returned from boarding school to take up his father's mantle, which it turns out, includes a genetic disease that is slowly killing him, but may be stopped with a cure from OsCorp's more secretive projects.

Jamie Foxx as Electro in THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2

 The set-up in the first third is rabidly fast-paced, before it sags some in the middle and then rushing to its conclusion.  If this were a movie comprised of scenes between Garfield and Stone, where the primary dramatic source was the romantic plot, it would be an unqualified success.  I wasn't a huge fan of Webb's breakout feature, the independent rom-com 500 DAYS OF SUMMER, probably because I'm not such a Zooey Deschanel fan, but his Spider-Man films soar when he's plying his hand on the smaller, intimate and romantic moments.  It certainly doesn't hurt either that he has Garfield and the incomparable Emma Stone to work their magic on the screen together, where they have perfect chemistry, such as what is undoubtedly my favorite scene in the film, when Peter and Gwen are trying to establish ground rules for a platonic friendship, but are clearly flirting.  I love it.
The film's biggest problems are not new to the series either; similarly to SPIDER-MAN 3, when Sony executives pressured director Sam Raimi to include multiple villains, the crowding of these fan-favorite antagonists causes them to minimize the impact of each other.  Because none of the multiple villains ultimately holds the spotlight, their threat inadvertently appears insufficient to sustain the drama of an entire film, and when a villain who's been onscreen for half or less the time of a typical screen villain suddenly dominates the climactic action or deals a serious blow, it feels wrong, unearned.  And even if an emotional beat seems to hit effectively, it feels infuriatingly cheapened by the rush to have gotten to that beat.  By the conclusion of THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2, with a little thought of all that has passed, it appears to be a battle between the strengths of what works in the film and the weaknesses of what doesn't, directly attempting to cancel each other out specifically.
But don't mistake me for being purely negative in my opinion; the thing is, the parts I didn't like, I really didn't like, but the parts that I liked, I often loved.  Right up until the final act, for better or worse, it's a darn good fun time at the movies.  Like I said, I couldn't possibly get enough of the scenes between Peter and Gwen, and there was also a lot of funny and very ridiculous humor and exhilarating action.  Electro is one of the strangest screen villains ever attempted, and sometimes he works, while at other times he doesn't, but there's no doubting the filmmakers' confidence in him when his bizarre rap theme starts playing in the middle of a big Times Square standoff.  Dane DeHaan, as a villain on the rise, is excellent and always sympathetic, even as his role becomes more and more over the top as he goes.
Like its predecessor, the most aggravating thing about THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 is knowing, and even often seeing, just how amazingly good it has the potential to be, but then witnessing that potential denied by the cynical ambitions of the franchise-builders.

Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield) and Harry Osborne (Dane DeHaan) in THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2