Amazing Spider-Man 2 (3 Stars)

This is the sequel to "Amazing Spider-Man", the second part of a trilogy that was never completed. It's just as well. I could grudgingly accept that the first film had some quality, but the second film is a mess. The blackwashing of Electro is one of the smallest problems. What's more disturbing is the increase in the Richard Parker sub-plot and the hasty addition of the Green Goblin.

To deal with the second point first: after two hours showing the conflict between Spider-Man and Electro, the Green Goblin flies onto the screen. It's at the 1 hour 57 minute mark, to be precise. He isn't even announced as the Green Goblin. Anyone who hasn't read the comics or seen the Sam Raimi films would have no idea who he is. This is bad scriptwriting and even worse directing. The director is mostly to blame, because there are several deleted scenes involving the Green Goblin that were removed at the last moment to make the film shorter. Marc Webb needs to go back to film school.

Instead of shortening the film, it should have been made longer. The Green Goblin is defeated after a four minute fight. As one of Spider-Man's deadliest enemies he deserved at least 30 minutes.

Now to Peter Parker's father Richard. The film opens with a lengthy scene of his plane being sabotaged and crashing. During the film we see various video recordings that he made. Peter Parker spends the film doing research into his father's disappearance, when he isn't busy fighting Black Electro.

Today I discovered an alternative ending on the Blu-ray that I missed when I bought it three years ago. The film should have ended with Richard Parker approaching his son at Gwen Stacy's grave and apologising for his disappearance. According to Marc Webb, this scene was removed because test audiences unanimously complained about it. I'm not surprised. I would have thrown something heavy at the screen. What a disgusting way to ruin the film! Richard Parker even speaks the words "With great power comes great responsibility", the words that have forever been associated with Ben Parker.

The ending was rightly cut out, but it tells us that we could expect Peter Parker's father to return in the third film. I'm glad it was never made. Let's forget the silly Richard Parker story-line once and for all. Let's also forget "Amazing Spider-Man 2". It's an embarrassment.

We shouldn't forget Stan Lee's cameo. He appears as a guest at Peter Parker's graduation ceremony for five seconds. Those are the best five seconds of the film. We can forget the rest.

Success Rate:  + 0.4

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