***Minor Spoilers***

The Amazing Spiderman 2 features fascinating, gorgeous special effects, but unfortunately lacks in overall plot. The absence of depth in the character development of the villains in this film was upsetting, but should not in anyways keep people from seeing this fun Spidey adventure.

In the second installment of the web slinger by Sony Pictures, James Garfield provides a spot-on exemplification of the Peter Parker everyone came to know and love as a child in the comics. There are so many things that I enjoy about Garfield and how brilliant he plays Peter Parker/Spiderman. He undoubtedly has done his research on the character and lore. He brings emotion, humor, suspense and enthusiasm to the forefront of the screen.

Aside from Garfield’s spectacular performance, the entire cast for this movie was well suited. The difficulty was that characters didn’t have enough time to progress and that really hurt overall outcome of the movie. The entire movie feels like a race against time to get as many villains on screen as possible and there is not enough attention given to each of these three huge dynamite characters.

The movie introduced Electro (Jamie Foxx), Green Goblin (Dane DeHaan), Rhino (Paul Giamatti) from the Spiderman collaborative of evildoers. The most prominent super villain in this movie was Electro and I was pleasantly surprised at how well Foxx did at playing this role. Max Dillion (Electro’s alter ego) is a misunderstood individual that is only looking to be recognized by the world around him. That lost feeling would eventually turn to hatred that fuels his desire to rid the world of Spiderman.

As mentioned earlier, the characters are rushed in this movie. I really have no comment about Rhino and I was unimpressed with the development of Harry Osborn as the Green Goblin. Within a matter of minutes in the film, Harry becomes Peter’s best friend after not seeing him for seven years and then he is one of Spiderman’s most hated villains. Does that make any sense?

The love story of Peter Parker and Gwen Stacey (Emma Stone) continues over into The Amazing Spiderman 2. The chemistry of these two actors is quite believable and draws the audience into a movie that was lacking in plot. This movie is more about Peter Parker trying to re-discover himself and Gwen Stacey helps him to do so. It is unfortunate that to do this, the plot of the movie has to take a detrimental turn for the worst. For anyone that knows the Spiderman mythos then you know what I am talking about.

From a visual perspective, The Amazing Spiderman 2 is one of the finest IMAX Experiences that has ever been produced. With a budget of $200 million, the mesmerizing graphics are evidence of this huge chuck of cash. If you want to see Spiderman in action, this movie literally takes the audience on the shoulders of the web-slinger through swinging action and fantastic fight scenes. Where the plot was definitely lacking in this movie, the behind the scenes crew made up for it with the special effects. My favorite visual feature in this movie was Electro and his ability to manipulate himself into pure energy to later reform.

Overall, this was a good movie. The message is good prevails over evil, but in the end there is definitely something missing from The Amazing Spiderman 2. This is in no way an Empire Strikes Back for the current Spidey trilogy, but is a good boost for the inevitable Sinister Six movie that is sure to follow in the third-installment of Spiderman that is already slated for June 10, 2016.

This is a fun movie for all ages and extremely entertaining. Go see this one and have an AMAZING time!

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Galen is a Graphic Designer in Wake Forest, NC. He is the husband of a wonderful Oklahoma girl and dad of a future Marvel Comics fan. He enjoys comic-related anything, the Boston Red Sox and sharpening his axe for the zombie apocalypse.