"The Amazing Spider-Man 2" seems to be garnering mixed reviews from critics who have praised the sizzling chemistry between lead pair Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, and at the same time lambasting the sequel's plot, which seems to lose direction halfway.
The film opens with Richard Parker and his wife Mary leaving their six-year-old son, Peter, at his aunt's place with just two parting words "Be Good." Now, a grown up Peter finds the clues that his father left behind to about the path-breaking scientific discovery that got his parents killed.
While the story starts off pleasantly enough, with a number of adorable Peter-Gwen scenes being its highlights, the introduction of too many villains has been pointed as one of the movie's drawbacks.
First there is Electro (Jamie Foxx), a nerdy Oscorp engineer who later falls into a tank of eels and becomes the supercharged super-villain. Then there is Peter's friend Harry Osborn, played by Dane DeHaan, who is dying and believes that only Spider-Man's blood can save him.
The movie has garnered only 56 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie review aggregator. "While the cast is outstanding and the special effects are top-notch, the latest installment of the Spidey saga suffers from an unfocused narrative and an overabundance of characters," a review on the site read.
"When the screenplay focuses on its villains, it strays from its own reality and gets lazy, something not even Jamie Foxx's best efforts can overcome," another review noted.
Meanwhile, Garfield and Stone have been receiving a lot of praises for their on-screen chemistry and multiple reviews note that it was the only highlight of the movie.
"Garfield gives Peter a touching sensitivity and Spidey the playful wryness the Marvel Comics creators first envisioned. Stone's Gwen is flinty, flirty and super-smart. Though she is forever being swept off her feet, quite literally, she never swoons. Together they give the film heart and a true romance-styled love that fits the fantasy of this make-believe world," a Los Angeles Times review read.
The movie is directed by Marc Webb and it opens in the U.S. theatres on 2 May.
(ED:AJ)
