Childhood pal Harry Osborn ( Dane DeHaan) has returned from boarding school and years abroad to visit his dying father Norman ( Chris Cooper), only to be told that he’s got the same disease. But he’s not the only guy with a potential to turn against Spidey. But the obsession gets darker when an after-hours accident turns him into a being of almost pure electricity. Meanwhile, after Parker’s alter-ego saves his life from a car chase caused by a Russian mercenary ( Paul Giamatti), much-ignored low-level Oscorp engineer Max Dillon (a mostly inaudible Jamie Foxx) has become obsessed with the hero. But the promise he made as Spider-Man to her dying father that he would stay away to protect her still haunts Peter, and their relationship is rocky as a result.
The result is a film that kicks off the summer blockbuster season with a resounding thud.Īfter a ‘Dark Knight Rises‘-aping prologue showing the death of Peter Parker’s parents ( Campbell Scott and Embeth Davitz) in a plane crash, we pick up an indeterminate amount of time after the original (this is a film that’s very good at indeterminate amounts of time), with Peter and Gwen Stacy back together and graduating high school. Unfortunately, that’s not what director Marc Webb and his team have managed to pull off with follow-up “ The Amazing Spider-Man 2.” The sequel, hitting less than two years after the first (and respectively, two and four years before the already-scheduled third and fourth films, not to mention the “ Sinister Six” and “ Venom” spin-offs that are in the works) doesn’t just double down on what didn’t work in the first film, it manages to undo some of the good qualities of the original as well. And creatively, the film had some strong building blocks-an increased emphasis on romance, a hugely appealing central pairing in Andrew Garfieldand Emma Stone (plus support from ringers like Sally Field and Martin Sheen), a bright sense of humor, a fresh-ish take on the characters-but a patchy script, disappointing action and lackluster villain meant that there was plenty of opportunity for a sequel to prove itself worth of the title “amazing.”
As far as superhero reboots go, “room for improvement” was probably the best way to sum up 2012’s “ The Amazing Spider-Man.” Certainly financially, the film made a very healthy $750 million worldwide, but that’s still less than any of the three Sam Raimi films that preceded it.