In the grand scheme of things, the revelation that Emma Stone's whipping girl (first Daddy, then being dumped, now THIS?!) would be pushed off this mortal coil by the end of Marc Webb's busy sequel wasn't exactly the biggest shock in the world, but it was at least smartly handled. Pretty much the entire world had known it was coming, thanks to the set leaks that glimpsed the same fatal outfit as in the comics, but it was still an event in itself even if other parts of the sequel were a mess. With too many villains again fighting for screen time and too much false importance lavished on to inferior story details (including the distasteful decision to basically make Uncle Ben not matter at all anymore) the derailing of Sony's confident slate was equally not a surprise. But at least when it came down to the hugely emotional moment - a hero making moment in Spider-Man's early career almost as important as his uncle's death - the sequence was loaded the right way. The effects were impressive, the emotion authentic and the gravitas suitably operatic, and as such the impact was perfectly pitched and the gasps duly earned. It's just a shame it was almost immediately followed up with the clunkiest "let's put her in a box and forget her forever with Uncle Ben" bit ever conceived.
