The summer movie season has kicked off with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and what an interesting way to kick things off. The sequel to 2012's The Amazing Spider-Man has been hotly debated thus far with some fans saying that it's a brilliant film, some saying that it's a failure on the level of Batman and Robin and others falling somewhere in the middle. That puts The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in the same category as Man of Steel and Iron Man 3 as both of those movies were debated by fanboys everywhere. Personally, I thought that Man of Steel was a mess and I find that Iron Man 3 doesn't hold up on repeated viewings. Having seen The Amazing Spider-Man 2 now, I probably fall somewhere in the middle. It's an solid, entertaining film with some great action scenes and a fantastic opener, but it falls short in the villain department and is terribly paced. This is far from a bad movie, but it certainly has some terrible parts.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 continues the story of Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) as he becomes more and more accustomed to his life as Spider-Man. After dealing with a Russian mobster (Paul Giamatti), Peter graduates from high school with his love Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) and decides to move on with his life. However, Peter must soon deal with a new foe: Max Dillon aka Electro (Jamie Foxx). Dillon falls in to a container of electric eels and ends up becoming an all-powerful, energy-consuming monster.
However, Peter now not only has to deal with Dillon, he has to deal with his old friend Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) as well. Harry's father Norman Osborn (Chris Cooper) has now died and Harry is inheriting the company and his father's disease. Suddenly, Harry is on a quest to get the magic spider venom that could possibly save his life and only Peter stands in his way. Also, Peter must decide if he really wants to be with Gwen because she wants a steady relationship and he's still haunted by the promise he made to her father that he would stay away from her. Basically, this movie takes a bunch of plot points from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3 and throws them together into one big movie.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a movie that has split fans and casual moviegoers across the country. And it's easy to understand why. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is an entertaining film. I was interested and entertained throughout this movie. Despite that, I can honestly say that it's not a very good movie. There's way too much going on, all of the villains are disappointing in one way or another and the film just feels like a rehash, which is really disappointing.
Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man felt like something fresh in the world of superhero cinema. While The Avengers and Batman were busy destroying cities, Spider-Man felt like a character that you could relate to more. There was an interesting dynamic between Garfield and Stone and the story was engaging on a personal level. My major problem with Webb's first Spider-Man movie was the action and he certainly fixes that problem here. The action in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is stunning and feels fresh and inventive at the same time. It felt like Webb was trying to do something new with the setpieces in this movie and that was something that I truly appreciated. I felt like this movie had a nice balance of action and character building. The only problem is that it's exceedingly ignorant and ridiculous at times, which makes this film slightly disappointing.
Throughout the Spider-Man franchise, villains have consistently been a problem. Raimi's first two Spider-Man films did an excellent job of using villains that were human and real, but Spider-Man 3 took a complete turn, taking three underdeveloped villains and pushing them into one film. Sandman or New Goblin would have been enough on their own, but Venom was forced to join the mix as well. The Amazing Spider-Man had a flat-out bad villain in the Lizard that took all the momentum out of an otherwise very good film.
Webb's sequel essentially combines both of those problems and amplifies them to a whole new level. The villain situation in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is probably the worst there's ever been in a Spider-Man movie. Jamie Foxx's overcooked, hilariously goofy performance as Max Dillon/Electro is only part of the problem (although I would argue that Electro is one of the worst villains in movie history). Not only is Foxx's performance terrible, the handling of the character is stunningly awful. During any action scenes with Electro, there's this weird music in the background that to get you into the character's state of mind, but ends up just being plain dumb.
The villain problems are not even limited to Electro. Paul Giamatti does his best impression of Gru from Despicable Me during his limited screentime as the Rhino and it ends up being a total disaster. Giamatti just embarrasses himself in this movie. I believe that Dane DeHaan is one of the most promising actors of his generation. And while his performance as Harry Osborn is far from the worst in the film, DeHaan is still shortchanged. The Green Goblin is just a terribly handled villain.
In general, there's just way too much going on in this movie. Peter's trying to find out about his father, Peter's trying to save his relationship with Gwen, Harry needs Spider-Man blood, Max needs love from Spider-Man, the Rhino's running around the city, OsCorp is building an empire and more. Three of those plots would have made for a sufficient film. However, Webb and co. decided to throw everything in there and it just makes the film a mess.
Maybe if Webb knew how to pace a film, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 might not be as much of a mess. Sadly, that's not the case. This film just has a bunch of scenes that don't really fit together and subplots that add too much extra fat. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 just flips and flops between plots too frequently and it ends up amounting to a film that is all over the place.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is trying to do way too many things in the hopes of setting up more Spider-Man movies in the future. There are so many throw-away scenes and characters that serve no other purpose than to set up future characters. I was entertained throughout this movie, but if you step back a bit, you're probably going to recognize that this movie is a narrative mess that rehashes old plotlines and tries to do way too much. However, the action is very good, the relationships are strong and the visuals are pretty solid. It's just an entertaining film that just ends up being too much.
THE FINAL GRADE: B- (6.8/10)
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 continues the story of Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) as he becomes more and more accustomed to his life as Spider-Man. After dealing with a Russian mobster (Paul Giamatti), Peter graduates from high school with his love Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) and decides to move on with his life. However, Peter must soon deal with a new foe: Max Dillon aka Electro (Jamie Foxx). Dillon falls in to a container of electric eels and ends up becoming an all-powerful, energy-consuming monster.
However, Peter now not only has to deal with Dillon, he has to deal with his old friend Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) as well. Harry's father Norman Osborn (Chris Cooper) has now died and Harry is inheriting the company and his father's disease. Suddenly, Harry is on a quest to get the magic spider venom that could possibly save his life and only Peter stands in his way. Also, Peter must decide if he really wants to be with Gwen because she wants a steady relationship and he's still haunted by the promise he made to her father that he would stay away from her. Basically, this movie takes a bunch of plot points from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3 and throws them together into one big movie.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a movie that has split fans and casual moviegoers across the country. And it's easy to understand why. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is an entertaining film. I was interested and entertained throughout this movie. Despite that, I can honestly say that it's not a very good movie. There's way too much going on, all of the villains are disappointing in one way or another and the film just feels like a rehash, which is really disappointing.
Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man felt like something fresh in the world of superhero cinema. While The Avengers and Batman were busy destroying cities, Spider-Man felt like a character that you could relate to more. There was an interesting dynamic between Garfield and Stone and the story was engaging on a personal level. My major problem with Webb's first Spider-Man movie was the action and he certainly fixes that problem here. The action in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is stunning and feels fresh and inventive at the same time. It felt like Webb was trying to do something new with the setpieces in this movie and that was something that I truly appreciated. I felt like this movie had a nice balance of action and character building. The only problem is that it's exceedingly ignorant and ridiculous at times, which makes this film slightly disappointing.
Throughout the Spider-Man franchise, villains have consistently been a problem. Raimi's first two Spider-Man films did an excellent job of using villains that were human and real, but Spider-Man 3 took a complete turn, taking three underdeveloped villains and pushing them into one film. Sandman or New Goblin would have been enough on their own, but Venom was forced to join the mix as well. The Amazing Spider-Man had a flat-out bad villain in the Lizard that took all the momentum out of an otherwise very good film.
Webb's sequel essentially combines both of those problems and amplifies them to a whole new level. The villain situation in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is probably the worst there's ever been in a Spider-Man movie. Jamie Foxx's overcooked, hilariously goofy performance as Max Dillon/Electro is only part of the problem (although I would argue that Electro is one of the worst villains in movie history). Not only is Foxx's performance terrible, the handling of the character is stunningly awful. During any action scenes with Electro, there's this weird music in the background that to get you into the character's state of mind, but ends up just being plain dumb.
The villain problems are not even limited to Electro. Paul Giamatti does his best impression of Gru from Despicable Me during his limited screentime as the Rhino and it ends up being a total disaster. Giamatti just embarrasses himself in this movie. I believe that Dane DeHaan is one of the most promising actors of his generation. And while his performance as Harry Osborn is far from the worst in the film, DeHaan is still shortchanged. The Green Goblin is just a terribly handled villain.
In general, there's just way too much going on in this movie. Peter's trying to find out about his father, Peter's trying to save his relationship with Gwen, Harry needs Spider-Man blood, Max needs love from Spider-Man, the Rhino's running around the city, OsCorp is building an empire and more. Three of those plots would have made for a sufficient film. However, Webb and co. decided to throw everything in there and it just makes the film a mess.
Maybe if Webb knew how to pace a film, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 might not be as much of a mess. Sadly, that's not the case. This film just has a bunch of scenes that don't really fit together and subplots that add too much extra fat. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 just flips and flops between plots too frequently and it ends up amounting to a film that is all over the place.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is trying to do way too many things in the hopes of setting up more Spider-Man movies in the future. There are so many throw-away scenes and characters that serve no other purpose than to set up future characters. I was entertained throughout this movie, but if you step back a bit, you're probably going to recognize that this movie is a narrative mess that rehashes old plotlines and tries to do way too much. However, the action is very good, the relationships are strong and the visuals are pretty solid. It's just an entertaining film that just ends up being too much.
THE FINAL GRADE: B- (6.8/10)
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