All Max Dillon wanted in the world was to be noticed, and just his luck, his friendly neighborhood Spider-man did just that. In true fashion, Spider-man, played by Andrew Garfield, swung in just in time to save the unsuspecting electrical engineer from being crushed to death. All’s well that ends well, until Dillon, played by Jamie Foxx, falls into a tank of electric eels resulting in his transformation from unintimidating nobody, to Electrode, a villain with the power to use electricity to destroy his enemies.

One of the main issues found in “The Amazing Spider-man 2” was clarity. Many plot points were hard to follow, not at the fault of poor acting, but rather poor directing.

Though Dillon becomes severely mutated, when he initially ventures into public, he does not want to hurt anyone. He even enjoys being truly seen by people for the first time. However, these feelings go away as soon as they attempt to control him. This point is confusing as Dillon says that he wants to talk, and then suddenly all he sets his mind on is killing Spider-man.

Another point of convolution befalls the relationship between Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy, played by Emma Stone. In the prequel to “The Amazing Spider-man 2,’” Parker promises Stacy’s father that he will stay away from her in order to protect her from the dangers that accompany being a super hero. But, in the second film, Parker routinely flip-flops between honoring her father’s wishes and honoring his heart. Though these emotions are understandable, they are portrayed in such a way that they are unbelievable to the audience.

A better point highlighted throughout the film was the special effects.  The 3D aspects were particularly well done and did not appear to be gimmicky, refreshing as opposed to other 3D flicks in which objects frequently pop out of the screen to make the viewer flinch.

While “The Amazing Spider-man 2” was a good traditional superhero movie, it lacked the substance to be a good movie.

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action/violence

Run-Time: 114  minutes

Rate: B-