Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) struggles to balance his double life, keeping his grades up and girlfriend (Emma Stone) happy while protecting the residents of NYC with current threats emanating from Oscorp, which include some unexplained rhinocerus creature (Paul Giammati), another off-kilter scientist turned baddie via an experiment gone wrong (Jamie Foxx), and the son of the CEO and Peter's best bud Harry Osbourne (Dane DeHaan). Marc Webb's follow-up to his 2012 Spidey reboot is not so much bad as it is lame and uninspired, an extreme disappointment considering how enjoyable that first entry was. The stars bring nothing to the table this time around, Foxx, Giammati, and DeHaan add zero flavor whatsoever to villainous roles, and the production design and special effects harken back to the cheesy tepidness of the Sam Raimi films.
** out of ****
