The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Review
Posted under: Reviews
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
It's his greatest battle yet...
Superhero and Young Adult films are currently dominating the box-office and Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man 2 merges the 2 genres together to make something sweet and to gain an advantage over the current Divergent and Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
It's the only superhero franchise to have young adults heading up the film and if we throw in a bit of cheeky laughs between characters and some adorable romance between Emma Stone's Gwen Stacey and Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker then it's crawling high already and everything about the sequel is joyous and youthful and this film is exuberant in vastitude.
Reboots and sequels always get a lot of superfluous criticism and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was no exception as it came under great scrutiny but no one has faith in anything these days anyway.
The superhero genre is one that can't be faulted, as it always shines with it's top actors and mass production and Webb's web-slinging sequel is no different, as it remains rather faithful to it's title.
The story follows Peter who continues to struggle with balancing his school life and hero life, continued from what we saw back in 2012, whilst still being haunted by the unanswered questions about his parents, who had abandoned him in his childhood. He takes help from his old friend, Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), and slowly starts to uncover the truth about his past and realizes that everything he is facing, Paul Giamatti's Rhino and Jamie Foxx's Electro included, all have one thing in common: Oscorp.
Andrew Garfield seems to have settled comfortably in his spandex suit as our titular hero and his new costume follows more of an Ultimate Spider-Man look, it's a lot better than the suit we saw back in the 2012 reboot, and he brings an ace performance to the table with lots of witty banter and heartfelt acting. He brings a new buzz and love for our hero that Tobey Maguire wasn't able to do and he just fits into the role a lot more.
Emma Stone also returns as Gwen Stacey, the character we all adore. She is the character that glows for women in comic-book movies; she's smart, pretty and not shown off as a damsel in distress and not too much of a bad-ass and her chemistry with Garfield is sweet and just as good as it was 2 years ago, dishing out cute romance and what-not. Their relationship only seems to dry out when the script tries to hard for their affection to flow.
The enemies that unite are also great and strong in contrast to Webb's first film. Both DeHaan and Foxx are potent villains, that became so since the world cast them out and abandoned them so they take their anger and let it spark into something more; something evil.
DeHaan is an anguished, feisty character that means business, every move so defined. It's a compelling contrast to Garfield's energy, emotion and joke cracking.
The film is just over 2 hours in length but it feels like a lot of time is wasted.
Scripting and production was rushed and not in top shape - the fact that Shailene Woodley's role as Mary Jane was given the chop speaks for itself.
Foxx's transformation into the all powerful Electro was tedious and rash as it wasn't given too much focus and his motive for killing Spider-Man is just kind of silly and could have been given some more thought.
Maybe another re-written script could have focused more on Peter, Harry and Gwen as they weren't given as much concentration as deserved.
There are also some nice cameos from Giamatti as the formidable Rhino and Felicity Jones' Felicia Hardy.
As rushed as production was, we can still see that Sony has a masterfully composed plan for the future as this is only a build up to The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and 4 because let's not forget the other small teases to villains that Webb has given us in the past.
We also have the Sinister Six spin-off that will be directed by Drew Goddard.
It's more franchise-building than storytelling as the last 20 minutes of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 basically tell us the story and wrap everything up.
The action-sequences fly fast and nicely but we can see that Webb's main game here is comedy as the film is choc-a-clock with jokes.
It can be nice when it has it's moments but it can be a pain in the back and drive you away from all the darker material and the serious fighting.
Read my exclusive feature on the sequel here.
VERDICT:
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is bright and beautiful and though there are some plot inconsistencies and a lot of head scratching but it is a film about a boy in a spider suit fighting a scary blue man with electric powers so it is easy to forgive the film's clumsy script and fantastical approach.
There is also lots of great acting from cast and the ace trio of Garfield, DeHaan and Stone shine massively.
Webb's sequel is a tangled mess but is tough to dislike and it makes for a fun viewing - a more than worthy trip to the cinema.
It's the only superhero franchise to have young adults heading up the film and if we throw in a bit of cheeky laughs between characters and some adorable romance between Emma Stone's Gwen Stacey and Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker then it's crawling high already and everything about the sequel is joyous and youthful and this film is exuberant in vastitude.
Reboots and sequels always get a lot of superfluous criticism and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was no exception as it came under great scrutiny but no one has faith in anything these days anyway.
The superhero genre is one that can't be faulted, as it always shines with it's top actors and mass production and Webb's web-slinging sequel is no different, as it remains rather faithful to it's title.
The story follows Peter who continues to struggle with balancing his school life and hero life, continued from what we saw back in 2012, whilst still being haunted by the unanswered questions about his parents, who had abandoned him in his childhood. He takes help from his old friend, Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), and slowly starts to uncover the truth about his past and realizes that everything he is facing, Paul Giamatti's Rhino and Jamie Foxx's Electro included, all have one thing in common: Oscorp.
Andrew Garfield seems to have settled comfortably in his spandex suit as our titular hero and his new costume follows more of an Ultimate Spider-Man look, it's a lot better than the suit we saw back in the 2012 reboot, and he brings an ace performance to the table with lots of witty banter and heartfelt acting. He brings a new buzz and love for our hero that Tobey Maguire wasn't able to do and he just fits into the role a lot more.
Emma Stone also returns as Gwen Stacey, the character we all adore. She is the character that glows for women in comic-book movies; she's smart, pretty and not shown off as a damsel in distress and not too much of a bad-ass and her chemistry with Garfield is sweet and just as good as it was 2 years ago, dishing out cute romance and what-not. Their relationship only seems to dry out when the script tries to hard for their affection to flow.
The enemies that unite are also great and strong in contrast to Webb's first film. Both DeHaan and Foxx are potent villains, that became so since the world cast them out and abandoned them so they take their anger and let it spark into something more; something evil.DeHaan is an anguished, feisty character that means business, every move so defined. It's a compelling contrast to Garfield's energy, emotion and joke cracking.
The film is just over 2 hours in length but it feels like a lot of time is wasted.
Scripting and production was rushed and not in top shape - the fact that Shailene Woodley's role as Mary Jane was given the chop speaks for itself.
Foxx's transformation into the all powerful Electro was tedious and rash as it wasn't given too much focus and his motive for killing Spider-Man is just kind of silly and could have been given some more thought.
Maybe another re-written script could have focused more on Peter, Harry and Gwen as they weren't given as much concentration as deserved.
There are also some nice cameos from Giamatti as the formidable Rhino and Felicity Jones' Felicia Hardy.
As rushed as production was, we can still see that Sony has a masterfully composed plan for the future as this is only a build up to The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and 4 because let's not forget the other small teases to villains that Webb has given us in the past.
We also have the Sinister Six spin-off that will be directed by Drew Goddard.
It's more franchise-building than storytelling as the last 20 minutes of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 basically tell us the story and wrap everything up.
The action-sequences fly fast and nicely but we can see that Webb's main game here is comedy as the film is choc-a-clock with jokes.
It can be nice when it has it's moments but it can be a pain in the back and drive you away from all the darker material and the serious fighting.
Read my exclusive feature on the sequel here.
VERDICT:
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is bright and beautiful and though there are some plot inconsistencies and a lot of head scratching but it is a film about a boy in a spider suit fighting a scary blue man with electric powers so it is easy to forgive the film's clumsy script and fantastical approach.There is also lots of great acting from cast and the ace trio of Garfield, DeHaan and Stone shine massively.
Webb's sequel is a tangled mess but is tough to dislike and it makes for a fun viewing - a more than worthy trip to the cinema.
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