Film Review: The Amazing Spiderman 2 (3D) (12A) (U.S.A. 2014) (Director: Marc Webb) Saturday 19.04.2014, 17:10, VUE, Omni Centre, Edinburgh

To those who know me, this choice may seem very odd. I don't like multiplexes or 3D. 

I had seen the first of the new batch of Spidey films, 'The Amazing Spiderman' (2012) on disk and enjoyed it much more than I was expecting or would wish to admit. I had particularly enjoyed the portrayal of Spidey in the new version with Andrew Garfield playing him with a lot more sass than Toby McGuire could ever muster. Now he even gets a tolerable love interest played by Emma Stone rather than the drippy Mary-Jane played by the equally wet Kirsten Dunst. 

I was intrigued to see the new film, knew it would not be shown at my preferred cinemas, though also did not wish to miss due to some rule I had made up for myself...

...The lesson learned, I should stick to my guns in terms of these rules, they are there for a reason. There are the elements I had liked from the Amazing Spidey, though there was also so many other issues, that it really was a huge disappointment. Here are some of the issues: 

1) There is a baddie called Rhino who does not fit the rules established for a Spidey villain (he has no mutative genesis),
2) There are a plethora of shots that are there solely for looking good in 3D and which will add nothing when seen on 2D, which will be the majority of times this becomes seen,
3) The natural ending to the film occurs approx 10 minutes before the end - the film ends mid battle. We all know these films are structured in such a way to generate sequels, though come-on, at least allow the film it's own ending, 

4) Electro (Jamie Foxx) is not the main baddie, he is made out to be in the advertising and promotion, though a patsy for a greater though less interesting or believable baddie,

5) Spidey 'sees' his girlfriend's father, who dies in the first film, after asking him to leave her alone for her safety. The 'sightings' appear like a cardboard cut-out each time they appear. 

I could go on...

It's like smelling your own farts, every now and again you just have to check to remind yourself that they are as bad as you remember. If only the fare shown exclusively at multiplexes smelt as good as my farts. 

Rating: 02/10.