In the The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Andrew Garfield reprised his role as Peter Parker, the secret identity of Spider-Man. For this film, Peter had already transformed into his superhero alter ego, but he is still struggling with the absence of his parents and his Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen). Peter also comes together with his old friend, Harry Osborn (Dane Dehaan), whose father, Norman Osborn (Chris Cooper), is the owner of OsCorp. This storyline wasn’t the main plot, but was mostly present to set up the rest of the story. The movie did not have the freshness of the first and didn’t quite hold its footing as a stand-alone, but regardless was a great film.

Electro (Jaime Foxx), the main villain, was not nearly as effective for the audience as he could’ve been. Max Dillon, his original identity, was a lonely nerd who became obsessed with Spider-Man after he was saved by him once. The portrayal is cliché and not very funny. I guess laughing at sad outcasts just doesn’t seem right, even if they are strange. However, after Dillon turns villainous, his character becomes much more interesting. While working, he falls into a vat of eels at OsCorp. Dillon becomes a kind of human electrical conduit. His obsession with Spider-Man transforms into hatred, which fuels the main plot.

The strongest part of the movie was definitely the emotion both in Peter and Gwen Stacey’s (Emma Stone) relationship and between Peter and Aunt May (Sally Field), who raised him. Peter and Gwen’s playful relationship was delightful to watch. Even though the couple has a bumpy love story in this film because of Peter’s superhero life, they still make it work. They were especially adorable when he wrote “I love you” with webbing on the Brooklyn Bridge towards the end of the film. The other relationship in the film also hit the mark, but in a different way. Aunt May is protective of Peter since he just graduated from high school and likely will be leaving her soon. This could have been ridiculously cheesy and overplayed, but Field and Garfield played off each other beautifully.

The star of this movie, though, aside from the emotional performances, was the special effects. The way Spider-Man is shown as he swings through New York makes the viewer feel like he or she is there with him. When Electro turns blue as he draws in electrical energy from the city, as unrealistic as that sounds, it looks as though that’s actually what he’s doing. My favorite moment with the special effects is a chase scene between Peter and Electro. Electro is high on electricity and is jumping from energy source to energy source. As he does so, he leaves streaks of blue and yellow energy in the air. This, paired with Peter’s swinging, made a more exciting chase scene than the classic one with cars.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was in no way a perfect film. The audience was supposed to sympathize with Electro, but the over-dramatic script hurt the plot. However, as a sequel, it set up a third film perfectly, with the development of Harry Osborn’s character and Peter and Gwen’s relationship. I highly recommend The Amazing Spider-Man 2 to anyone interested in watching the entire series of films in the future.