The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Thankfully, Andrew Garfield looks a bit less smug in the role of Peter Parker as Marc Webb's sequel turns a shade darker, but once he puts on the Spider suit, it's a different story. That's a problem for Webb, as he tries to balance comedy, pathos and action in a sprawling plot that brings our hero face-to-face with skeletons in the family closet as well as an eerily blue-lit Jamie Foxx as Electro. The latter threatens to throw New York into darkness, and his powers overwhelm Spider-Man in their first spectacular encounter in Times Square. Meanwhile there's push and pull of a different kind with girlfriend Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) and childhood pal Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), who finally inherits his father's biomedical corporation. DeHaan's Osborn, slowly twisted by fear and loneliness, is a standout performance. Unfortunately, Garfield cannot match Tobey Maguire's vulnerability as Spider-Man in Sam Raimi's closely preceding franchise, and this takes some of the heft out of later scenes. This proved to be the best we saw of Webb's saga as it took him a while to get into the swing of things.