Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Paul Giamatti and Sally Field.

Director: Marc Webb

I'm not usually a big fan of remakes and reboots but I actually think that the time was right for Spider-Man to make a re-appearance given the huge success of the recent Marvel films.

So in 2010 / 2011 a fairly unknown director Marc Webb (I kid you not.) was allowed to direct his first attempt at a superhero film. His only previous full length movie was 500 days of Summer (2009). Maybe Sony was more influenced by his surname?

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Aunt May and Peter

As it turned out Webb proved that he had a talent for directing action movies and the film also made a name for a young man from our own Surrey town of Epsom, Andrew Garfield. The follow up to The Amazing Spider-Man, the cleverly named The Amazing Spider-Man 2 can be seen in UK cinemas now. "Is it Amazing?" I hear you say. Actually it was a lot better that I was expecting and Garfield has really got into the role of Spider-Man and to coin a Louis Walsh phrase He's made it his own. Emma Stone also returns as Peter Parker's love interest Gwen Stacy as does Sally Field as Aunt May.

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In this follow up, life is good for Spider-Man swinging between New York skyscrapers catching bad guys and being loved by the good people of the city. The only major downside is that he still has feelings for Gwen and he made a promise to her late Father, Police Captain Stacy (Denis Leary) to keep Gwen safe by staying away from her. Needless to say the pair cannot be parted for long and actors Garfield and Stone really produce a great chemistry together. But this wouldn’t be a Spider-Man film without a bucket load of super-villains to ruin the day intent on destroyer New York (again). Jamie Foxx plays lonely handy-man Max Dillon who works for Oscorp. Max is quite a sweet guy and has an almost childlike hero worship for Spider-Man. However, following a freak accident including some damaged heavy duty electric cables and a tank full of electric eels, Max is transformed into Electro, a blue neon super villain who feels that he has been betrayed by Spidy.

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Max and his hero Spider-Man

Peter’s old childhood buddy Harry Osborn (Dan DeHaan) returns to New York from boarding school to see his dying Father Norman (Chris Cooper) and discovers that he has the Osborn genetic curse. Of course the former friends fall out and Harry turns all psycho and takes on the persona of the Green Goblin adding to the danger about to impact on Spider-Man’s world.

Andrew Garfield gives 100% in his performance as both the not too geeky Peter Parker and Spider-Man complete with the usual trade mark quips. This is balanced well with some very emotional scenes as he battles with his inner demons and the loss of his Parents. At least in this sequel we find out about his Father’s involvement in Oscorp and why Peter was abandoned at a young age.

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Electro

Emma Stone was well cast and gets involved in some of the action. Jamie Foxx’s Electro is a villain that you have empathy for up to a point. It’s unfortunate that his character isn’t fleshed out a bit more. I almost forgot to mention Paul Giamatti makes an appearance as a Russian criminal who is recruited by the Ravenscourt Institute to destroy Spider-Man and dons a metal suit armed with massive machine guns and becomes the villain Rhino. I like Paul Giamatti but not sure why he is even in this film with his appalling eastern European accent. Fortunately there are enough elements in the film to satisfy the hard core comic-book fans, plus a few surprises thrown in as well.

The film is by no means perfect but for shear entertainment value I give it a Foker On Film 4 out of 5 stars.

Out in UK cinemas now.
Certificate 12A