Overall, an enjoyable film that’s hampered by too much going on. What works well, just like the first film, is the chemistry between Peter and Gwen. It gets a little corny at times, especially with the repeated breakups and makeups. Andrew Garfield is still strong in his role as Peter, but even better as Spidey. I’ve laughed out loud from Spidey’s one-liners while reading the comic books, and they nail this aspect of him here…although this comes very close to being too silly sometimes. Jamie Foxx’s Max Dillon is a bit too eccentric to truly pity, but he’s a step up from the very bland comic book version. As Electro, he seems much more interesting when he first appears then the CGI-heavy version later in the film. Harry Osborn’s story arc is extremely rushed. Harry’s story in the Raimi films grew organically through the first two films. Here, they try to accomplish everything in part of a film. They never really establish his character, his friendship with Peter or his reasons for quickly becoming so bloodthirsty. Rhino is completely wasted here, and this wouldn’t be so annoying if he wasn’t so heavily hyped in the promotional material. (In fact, there are quite a few scenes in general and lines of dialog that don’t make it to the final cut.) There’s actually a lack of action, with the best stuff early on, leaving the finale anti-climactic. The final part of the film has some that was expected, but still had more impact than I anticipated. (But, even then, they just kind of move on past one of the moments that I really would’ve like to have seen. Finally, there is a scene during the mid-credits, but it’s just a clip from the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past.
*** out of *****