I think maybe some of the lustre from Andrew Garfield's first outing as "Spider-Man" had already worn off for this really rather mediocre sequel. This time he has to don his red and blue lycra and save the city - and "Gwen" (Emma Stone) - from the marauding "Green Goblin". There is quite a degree of on-screen chemistry between Garfield and Stone, and as an action-romance, this is at the more entertaining end of the scale. It's the plot and the tech elements that let it down. The visual effects upon which it relies so heavily are really nothing special. Nor, it has to be said, are the baddies. The "Green Goblin" just isn't menacing enough. That might be, perhaps, because Dane DeHaan is one of those actors (a bit like Michael Pitt) whom I never really understood why he made it at all. The make up artists do work wonders in demonstrating his decline into moral turpitude, but as an actor he is just, well, insipid as the poor, misguided and bitter "Harry Osborne". Jamie Foxx has a bit more fun as the sparky "Electro", though that character is largely undeveloped and Sally Field can be relied upon to add a little maternal instinct as "Aunt May", but somehow the whole thing is just one beat off. The first film had a much stronger story and a cast that were still bedding down; this reverses that with much more assured performances from the two at the top of the bill, but with a much less meaty story to back them up. I did like Andrew Garfield in this role - he has charisma as an actor, but this is all just a bit flat and though impressive to watch on a big screen with big sound, is not a film that will make anyone's top ten - even Marc Webb's, I think.
