Marc Webb's newest entry into the "Spider-Man" franchise suffers from the same thing that Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man 3" suffered from: trying to do too much too fast, and sacrificing story elements in the process. No moment with emotional weight in this film is earned, because everything is so rushed in order to service three storylines that included two new villains. Neither of which are very interesting, or feel above two children throwing massive fits. Electro is completely static (shut up, I liked that pun), and Harry Osborn gets an undeserved emotional arc in which he is Peter's best friend, without so much of a mention in the first film.
On the plus side, Andrew Garfield remains a great Peter Parker, and a perfect goofball Spider-Man. Put him in the first two Raimi movies, and you have the perfect super hero flicks (especially the second one, which was damn near perfection). Emma Stone is mostly excellent as Gwen Stacy, even if the script doesn't give her much to do until the final fight. She does often feel bored with her tedious storyline, and its conclusion is telegraphed in pretty much every conversation she has with Peter. It was hard to not be pleased by the technical elements. They are so pleasing, that when I walked out of the film, I thought I enjoyed it more than I did. The more thought that went into it, however, the more I seemed to dislike it.
Grade: C
3D: Don't bother
Easter Egg: A scene from the new "X-Men", which was awful.
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx
Director: Marc Webb
Writer(s): Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci & Jeff Pinker
RT: 142 min
Rating: PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action/violence
