Movie Review: The Amazing Spider-Man 2

For those who don’t know, Spider-Man is my favorite superhero period. Well, a little more specifically, my favorite Marvel hero, with Batman being my favorite DC hero. Back on topic, obviously the reason why I love Spider-Man so much is because of the original Spider-Man trilogy, directed by Sam Raimi. Granted, looking back on them they’re goofy comic book movies, but I still really loved them when I was younger. So, when I learned about the new and more serious reboot in 2012, you could imagine how excited I was. And, what do you know; even though the story of the movie wasn’t the greatest, The Amazing Spider-Man was really good. I really enjoyed it, and thought that the main characters were much better than the main characters of the original Spider-Man (I’m looking at you, Mary Jane). Then, in 2013(ish), they announced a sequel. I was pretty ecstatic towards this movie too. So, how did this movie hold up? Sit back, relax, and read on as I review The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

Gotta love Firefighting Spider-Man :)

The Setup:

The story of this movie takes place sometime after the first movie (duh), following Peter Parker (aka Spider-Man) being…well…Spider-Man. He’s doing his daily duties, which happens to be saving the city from a raving Rhinoceros (hehe puns) driving an Oscorp truck carrying plutonium. During the chaos, he saves a man named Max Dillion, an engineer nobody who begins to look up to Spider-Man. Then, his girlfriend Gwen Stacy calls him and reminds him that he needs to arrive for his high school graduation. After Spidey saves the city, he makes it just in time to receive his diploma. Holy Haruhi, that sounds incredibly stupid.

The movie opens on a car chase

The Characters:

The characters are the best part of the movie hands-down…or at least, the main characters are. Unlike a lot of people, I think Andrew Garfield is a much better and more relatable version of Peter Parker than Tobey Maguire ever was, because Garfield’s version just feels a lot more human to me. There was always something off about Maguire’s performance that made him seem a lot more like a stereotype than an actual person, and the fact that his character never truly develops always bugged me. Garfield’s version, however, does develop, and the movie really takes the time to let the consequences of the super-hero life sink in and affect his character. He’s stressed out, yet always finds some way to overcome it so he can protect the innocent. He tries to negotiate with the villains rather than fight them first. He’s smart, but it’s never to the point where his intelligence is unbelievable. He follows his mind and his heart, making his own decisions that may not always turn out to be the best choices. On top of that, Garfield is hilarious! I know that technically Peter Parker becomes the character that Garfield is portraying later on in the comics, but I prefer seeing this version of Spider-Man compared to the incredibly nerdy type. When Maguire tried to be comedic…let’s just say that he had one too many dance scenes. Next, we have Gwen Stacy. I think that the main aspect that most people can agree on with the new movies is that Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy is a million times better than Kristen Dunst’s Mary Jane could ever hope to achieve. Oh, and there’s also Gwen Stacy in the third Spider-Man film, but to be perfectly honest she barely counted as a character. As for Gwen Stacy in the newer movies, she’s smart, supportive, actually contributes to the story besides being the person Peter has to save 24/7, is an interesting character, and above all, has fantastic chemistry with Garfield. I’ve heard that the two are dating in real life, and it shows. The two seem to genuinely love each other, and it shines through in their performances. Next we have the villains. I’m just going to come right out and say it; Rhino was a completely wasted character. I may not be a big fan of the Spider-Man comics, but come on! You have a furious guy fighting Spider-Man in a giant robot Rhino! Who wouldn’t want to see that? Well, it’s not like the Spider-Man movies haven’t wasted awesome villains before (I’m looking at you, Venom), but at least Venom had more than 5 minutes of screen time. As for Electro, I actually thought he was a pretty darn good villain. He had decent characterization, and his 180-flips in character actually makes sense due to his characterization. He’s portrayed as being truly unstable, as no one seems to care about him. When Spider-Man saves his life, he becomes obsessed with Spider-Man because he’s the only one who showed that he cared about him. So, when later on Spider-Man’s face is shown all over when Electro finally became the center of attention, it makes sense that he would become angry at Spider-Man because his unstable mind believes that Spider-Man is actually selfish and doesn’t care about Electro behind a façade of being a great person. I don’t know exactly why people though his character motivations were forced, because the movie made it very clear that his mind went way off into the deep end. Maybe it’s just me. Finally, Harry Osborne. He’s hot- er, a fantastic actor. Yeah, totally not attractive in the slightest. Really, though, David Dehann portrays an emotionally destroyed Harry Osborne, and honestly was the best actor in the entire movie by far…which is saying a lot. I can’t go into his character, however, because then I would spoil so many plot points that the movie would be completely ruined for you. I’ve heard a lot of people complain about the onslaught of villains and having too many characters, and…yeah, I can see why cough Rhino cough cough but other than that, it doesn’t compare to the amount of useless characters in the original trilogy. At least these characters had development. Finally, the side characters are likable, but there aren’t very many of them.

Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) and Harry Osborne (David Dehann)

The Story:

This is where The Amazing Spider-Man 2 runs into some roadblocks. Honestly, I have to give this movie credit; it did manage to balance out its action and character moments really well. The pacing was also solid, and there was never a moment where I was bored or disinterested. The problems lie in the fact that there is too much going on at once, and the narrative is kind of shot because of it. I get the feeling that this is because the movie is setting itself up for future sequels, and I hate that. A movie should always be able to stand up on its own (or, for that matter, any piece of entertainment) without having to rely on future or too much past projects to back it up. I also don’t like the attitude that this aspect gives off; like the movie can get away with anything because they already have sequels planned. Yeah, there’s going to be an Amazing Spider-Man 3 and 4; they’re already been set in stone. As much as I like these new Spider-Man movies, that arrogance is going to get you nowhere. Well, maybe not money-wise; but the fact that this movie is just another big setup is its massive flaw. If the story just stood on its own and didn’t count on any upcoming sequels, we would have gotten a much better flick.

The story relies on its upcoming sequels and tries to get way too much done at once

The Presentation:

I couldn’t have asked for more when it comes to visuals in this movie. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has some of the best Spider-Man action and moments ever. Yes, even more mind-blowing than the train scene in Spider-Man 2. I have to give props to whoever did the CGI for Electro, whoever directed the slow-motion, and whoever came up with and created the scene near the end where Spider-Man and Electro duke it out; it’s some of the best action that I’ve ever seen period. As for the music, it was…eh. I don’t remember it at all. I suppose it fit the mood of the movie, so I suppose it worked.

The action is amazing; enough said

Final Judgment:

So overall, I really enjoyed this movie for its action and characters. However, it’s the movie’s shackle to upcoming sequels that really holds it back from becoming one of my favorite comic book movies, which is a real shame in my opinion. Not to say that the movie is bad, but it could have been so much more. I give The Amazing Spider-Man 2 a 3.25 out of 5, and a recommendation to check it out when you’ve got some free time. But, like always, it’s up to you to decide your own opinion.
ScoreCard: 

Further Recommendations:

The Original Spider-Man Trilogy

What could be better than Spider-Man than more Spider-Man? While I like the newer version better, I still hold these movies dear to me (yes, including the third; for the most part). If you haven’t checked them out, you probably should.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

You should probably watch the first of this movie series beforehand, but I highly recommend the second Captain America movie, as it one of my all-time favorites (right up there with The Dark Knight). Go ahead and watch it.