On the cusp of high school graduation, with the death of Gwen’s (Stone) father lingering in Peter’s (Garfield) mind, he follows through on his promise to cut her out of his life. As Peter continues to wrestle with his parents disappearance OsCorp scientist Max (Foxx) is involved in an accident that gives him the ability to control electricity and puts him on a collision course with Spider-Man. Meanwhile, Norman Osborne passes away and bequeaths OsCorp to son Harry (DeHaan), but leaves him with a death sentence in the form of a hereditary degenerative disease. Harry recognises Spider-Man may hold the key to saving his life and is determined to go to any lengths to save himself. Peter is left to face a number of moral dilemmas regarding Gwen, Harry and his responsibility to the people of New York. The question is: will he put himself or others first.
The story mostly focuses on Peter and Gwen and where their relationship is going; credit must go to Garfield and Stone for delivering a thoroughly believable love story. Their laughs, tears and chemistry are the heart of the story and although it takes away from potential middle act action, it oddly doesn’t feel too heavy as you await the film’s climax.
The subplot to the ‘will they won’t they’ love story is the development of the baddies and it has to be said that in casting DeHaan and Foxx they managed to get it both right and wrong all at the same time. Foxx is terribly miscast and his character development is a collage of disaffected nice guys from every superhero movie for the last thirty years. DeHaan on the other hand is on cracking form as the eccentric Harry Osborne, carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders and bringing much more depth the character than his predecessor James Franco.
Spider-Man has never looked this good on screen, with some very inventive camera work and the best use of depth in terms of web slinging and swinging through the New York City skyline to date. The lingering want for more action is hard to shake, but that does not mean that the journey isn’t worth the wait because when it does kick off it’s very good. The final act is as action packed as you could possibly imagine and it features an epic conclusion in setting up the next phase of the franchise.
Managing to tie up lose ends from the first effort and successfully setting up the third instalment, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 packs quite a punch; possibly the best Spider-Man movie to date.