THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2

RATING: 7/10

Disclaimer: This review judges the film on its own merits and not as an adaptation of the comic books.

This instalment of “The Amazing Spider-Man” picks up from the previous one with Peter Parker graduating from high school while juggling his responsibilities as the neighbourhood hero and as the boyfriend of the talented and supportive Gwen Stacy.
The movie features two main villains. We have Jamie Foxx playing Electro/Max Dillon. A former engineer at Oscorp, an accident turns him into a living walking electric cell of a kind, absorbing and shooting electricity from the city's power lines. Dane DeHaan plays Peter's childhood friend, Harry Osborne/ Green Goblin, who, as it turns out, is not only the heir to Oscorp, but also to a rare genetic disease -- a disease so bad that it made his father Norman Osborne succumb to death's slimy, green hands. Here, Harry is lonely, depressed and quiet and resents his father for never really developing a relationship with him. Both the villains are more helpless than evil, and generate pity rather than contempt.
Another sub-plot is that of Peter's parents, who had left behind a mystery for him to solve with their strange disappearance. The movie follows Peter's personal development as a hero, a role model and as a responsible human being. His relationship with Gwen suffers as he becomes increasingly scared of losing her to the dangers of his heroic role and feels obliged to honour her father's last request to keep her safe. There's an internal conflict in him that is iconic as he fights his anger and frustration in having lost so many important people in his life and fears losing more.
Marc Webb does a great job in portraying these emotions and making the audience empathise with Parker. Andrew Garfield did a more convincing job as Spiderman this time. The action is the frosting on the cake, with sequences and battle scenes that exemplify Spiderman's agility and reflexes very well. It's obvious how much effort and work has been put in the CGI and action scenes.
While a central theme of this movie is the idea that Spiderman symbolises hope, I wished there was more sense of danger so that there could be a climactic sense of relief. The battle scenes were great, no doubt. And the penultimate moment was as grievous as it could get. But it missed the turn-around in the climax by bringing an unimportant villain out of nowhere in the end. The villains weren't memorable; Green Goblin was especially disappointing considering that he played a major role in the previous series. While Webb does a great role at displaying the romance in Peter's life, he disappoints a little when it comes to portraying his relationship with Harry. As I said, the central theme of this movie is Peter Parker and his character development, and everything else seems like a side-show.
All of that being said, I believe Webb has done a way better job than the last time. I didn't expect much after the last disaster, but I'm pleasantly surprised. What made the experience even better was the knowledge that this is the first movie to be screened in Bangladesh at the same time with the rest of the world. Big ups to Star Cineplex for participating in the worldwide release, and celebrating the premiere with performances from local artists, 42 and ABD.