The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
It took me watching two separate Andrew Garfield-led Spider-Man films to suddenly realise that the director's surname is Webb. I found that delayed epiphany significantly more amusing than anything that actually happens on screen in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. When a sequel leaves you more entertained by a trivial coincidence about its filmmaker than by its own story, you know you're in serious trouble.
This is the most forgettable entry in the entire Spider-Man filmography. Not offensively terrible in the way that makes for a good rant down the pub, just hollow. A profoundly pointless piece of franchise machinery that was quietly swept aside two years later to make room for the Tom Holland era, and honestly, good riddance. The saddest thing is that it didn't have to be this way.
The fundamental problem is one of narrative purpose, or rather the total absence of it. Marc Webb and his writers seemed determined to cram as many villains and dangling plot threads into the runtime as physically possible, and the result is a script that goes absolutely nowhere fast. You've got Electro, you've got the Green Goblin, you've got a slow-burn romantic tragedy between Peter and Gwen, and you've got some half-baked corporate conspiracy subplot that the film itself doesn't seem particularly interested in resolving. It's chaos dressed up in a very expensive suit.
Jamie Foxx does what he can with Electro, but the character is embarrassingly thin. Dane DeHaan fares even worse as the Green Goblin, saddled with a rushed arc that asks you to care deeply about someone you've barely had time to meet. These aren't characters so much as checkboxes being ticked in service of a sequel that was already being planned before this one had even been finished.
What's genuinely frustrating is that Andrew Garfield is a terrific Spider-Man. He's got the wit, the physicality and the emotional range for it, and his chemistry with Emma Stone remains one of the few things here that feels genuinely alive. They're good together. But the screenplay gives them nothing of real substance to work with, so even their best moments feel like they're happening in spite of the film rather than because of it. Two decent actors doing their level best while the whole enterprise collapses around them.
On a purely technical level, it isn't entirely without merit. The web-swinging sequences are gorgeous, rendered with a kinetic, swooping energy that genuinely pops on a big screen. The action set pieces are competent, loud and punchy in the way a summer blockbuster is supposed to be. But flashy effects and a few well-staged brawls can't paper over the creative bankruptcy at the film's heart. It's a beautifully polished, deeply empty vessel.
Compare it to something like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which takes the character in genuinely bold, imaginative directions, and you really feel the contrast. Or even Spider-Man: Far From Home, which for all its own franchise obligations at least has a clear identity and a story it's committed to telling. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has none of that. It lacks the grounded charm of the Sam Raimi trilogy and the momentum of the later MCU films, sitting awkwardly in the middle and doing justice to neither approach.
Two stars, and both of them are mostly for Garfield. He deserved so much better than this.
Rating: ★★ | Year: 2014 | Watched: 2026-08-10
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: Netflix · Amazon Prime Video · Sky Go · Now TV Cinema
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Watch in the US
Stream: Disney Plus · fuboTV · YouTube TV · FXNow
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