Rhino- If he was like this as a main character and was like how Paul Giamatti acted like during the whole movie, I would have hated it and I would have rolled my eyes, but I was happy how he utilized for the most part just a comedic side villain that Spider-Man takes down, funny but stupid describes him perfectly. It reminded me a lot of animated incarnations of Rhino(And lesser extent Stan Lee's Rhino) only with an overbearing Russian accent(I wish Paul toned it down) used by the bigger bad(first appearance it was the Russian criminals and scientist who wanted a "perfect assassin- brainless--obedient--invincible" to abduct John Jameson's for their own purposes, in Spectacular Spider-Man Norman Osborn and Big Man/Tombstone and later Doc Ock, Spider-Man TAS Kingpin and Webb movies it's Harry and Gustav Fiers/Gentlemen ) as a henchmen to throw at the city and Spider-Man for a bigger purpose(here to representation the escalation in super villains created by Oscorp and a way for Spider-Man to have fun with and rag on, while representing what Gwen and Aunt May said for Spider-Man to carry on despite the loss and try to carry it with him) I would hope they tone Paul Giamatti's Rhino down(personality wise and armor look) the but keep the rest of it (what little of it there were). Ultimately even though I knew that the armor wouldn't be in the movie for long, the Rhino armor shouldn't have been used in the promos in any form instead of trying to hint there was going to be a big fight happening, I would have enjoyed waiting until the actual movie to actually seeing him instead of seeing him before hand in posters, and clips acting like it was a teasing a bigger fight, people had a right to feel ripped off in that account(and I even then I enjoyed some of the concept art and Hot Toys version of the Rhino better than the actual version) I thought the armor was better than making him a as a change of pace and like Donald said they got rid of basically all of the cross species mutations after the Lizard incident(I always thick polymer mat suit similar to a rhinoceros hide thought the was just a simplified armor Aleksei just had bonded to him, Spectacular Spider-Man defined Rhino's bodysuit as "highly durable titanium resin armor" and Ultimate R.H.I.N.O. is a robotic/mechanical armor that he stole and I wouldn't have liked it if Rhino was a cross species and looked like the one in the Amazing Spider-Man movie game or Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon and people would have probably complained just as much if not more)
Harry Osborn - I wish we could have saw more of the Peter and Harry relationship, because I did enjoy the little we got (Especially when Peter went on Harry's hair while Harry joked about Peter's "uni-brow") but Dane Dehaan was enjoyable as Harry, although Goblin debut felt kind of rushed it doesn't feel totally out of character but I kind of can see how he pieced together how Peter was Spider-Man. It shows what probably would happen if someone else got affected by the spider venom in my opinion I wish Spidey and Gwen just tried to interact with him more, Ultimately even though I knew what ,Harry as the Green Goblin shouldn't have been used in the promos in any form, I would have enjoyed waiting until the actual movie to a or Norman would revealed to be still alive and using the whole thing as a way to test if Harry was ready or not for the Osborn legacy before he interacts and kills Gwen. I understand why Spider-Man got to keep his blood away from Harry before Harry even ask him and hearing Richard Parker confirm it himself, I would think if Harry give him longer time, Peter would have done more to find a cure for him. This explains Harry's personality in this film perfectly :
Overall - to me I thought it didn't deserve of the flack a lot that it got and it wasn't as bad as some people make it out to be. It did needed to fix some plot points and have some plot holes but overall it was an enjoyable movie. I hated Khafka and glad he died, he was just annoying and rework some of Electro's lines and pre Max Dillon's character arc. I didn't feel the plots were as tangled as some people made or there was as many maybe rework some of the scenes in order for the movie to feel more cohesive because essentially all the storylines was the same but they didn't feel but I like how they build up on some of the stories and closed the storylines the first movie started, probably if Spidey. I agree that it was really foolish of the bystanders to be standing and watching. I think most people would have or at least should have ran away. I would think only a few people would have stayed to probably record or something. And at the end of the film the boy ran unexpectedly I was surprised no one had the courage to come to get him, but that didn't hurt the character.
I did enjoy the callbacks to the Lizard and the first movie(but I agree I would have seen more connected with the Oscorp experimentation and still feel like a stand alone film) In no way did it feel like Electro was the main villain it was Oscorp, I hated that a lot of good dialogues and scenes from the trailers weren't used in the movie , in some aspects it's a better movie than the first one, in others the first movie did a lot of things better. Ultimately it's holds it's own as a Spider-Man film in my opinion. I feel like you could have switched Alistair Smythe or Felicia's character with any other character with a name from the comics like Liz Allen or Barton Hamilton or something or made them new characters it wouldn't have made much of a difference in what they did,you could have Donald Menken done all the things Alistair would have done in this film and it wouldn't have made a big change in terms of story (I honestly felt the same way about Curt Connors in Spider-Man 2 or some of the mobsters in the Dark Knight movies or some of the agents in AOS).
Here's how I felt about specific scenes and characters and what things I enjoyed but needed improvement. This movie, I supported it for the start and hope instead of dividing audience it would find the right balance that could bring them together and almost everyone can enjoy like the first 2 Raimi, maybe I came off a little harder than I intended but I do not shy away or regret defending or loving these movies. They are pretty faithful to the comics in my opinion, although some felt like an overly campy and could have been handled better the tone was pretty good to me.
And I think it will hold up very well for me. The Peter Gwen stuff is so compelling to me, and made all the more engaging because we know what's coming at the end, and THAT scene is flawless as far as I'm concerned.
