The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Director: Mark Webb
Cast: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Paul Giamatti, and Sally Field.
Rated PG-13 for sequence of sci-fi action/violence.
I was not too crazy about this reboot from the beginning, and The Amazing Spider-Man did not convince me that this new take on the character would be worth while. However, it was generally accepted by most critics and audience members, so I was somewhat surprised to see that this follow-up had such a lower rating on Rotten Tomatoes; we're talking lower than Spider-Man 3. Yikes. Personally, I thought it was an improvement on its predecessor. I still did not love the film; it's got its share of problems, but I found it to be a fun summer movie.
Peter Parker (Garfield) is now completely comfortable doing his spider thing and saving the city. However, he is constantly struggling with his feelings for girlfriend Gwen Stacy and the promise he made to her father that he would leave her alone to protect her. The two of them are off-again, on-again about as much as Ross and Rachel throughout ten seasons of Friends, yet this drama is crammed into a two-hour and twenty minute movie. It can be a little tiresome at times, but I digress. Peter must fight off two new enemies when an Oscorp employee has a work-related accident that turns him into a vengeful force of electricity known as Electro (Jamie Foxx). Meanwhile, Peter's old friend, Harry Osborne (Dane DeHaan) is faced with a life-threatening disease, and he is willing to do anything to stay alive which brings him in conflict with Peter's Spider-Man.
There is a lot going on this movie, maybe too much. Most of it works, but there's plenty that doesn't. Electro was a more exciting villain than the Lizard from the first movie. He provides some great special effects and action with Spidey, but as a character he is extremely under-developed and boring. He's also very cheesy, especially before he turns into Electro. Dane DeHaan is fantastic as Harry Osborn. He's a talented young actor and is one of the strongest parts of the film. The dynamic between him and Garfield's Peter Parker works on so many levels. While DeHaan turned into a menacing Green Goblin, the transformation itself felt a bit rushed. This could have worked better had he been the focal point as the antagonist of the film, instead of being a side story and sharing time with the weaker villain Electro. There is also Paul Giamatti's character who becomes the Rhino. Ugh, he was awful! And you can rarely say that about Giamatti; the guy is a quality actor. But the direction they went with the character is so over the top and not in a good way, but a very, very BAD way. I am not excited to see him in the future installments.
The action was great, and the relationships between Peter and Gwen, Aunt May, and Harry were all fantastic. I actually felt they underutilized Sally Field's Aunt May. She steals a touching scene between her and Peter. The filmmakers had a great opportunity to use her the same way Alfred was used in the Dark Knight Trilogy, but she is barely given anything to do. A waste. Sometimes, the lines are really cheesy which will make you roll your eyes. Other times, the cheesiness works a little. It is far from the great superhero movies that we all love, but it was still an enjoyable time at the movies. I have my concerns for the future movies, but I am much more excited now than I was after seeing the first one.
RATING: B
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