Not So 'Amazing'

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

The summer movies have officially begun. This is the time for the big budget, over the top special effects films to take audiences on a journey to other worlds and/ or even other places in time. Last year’s top grossing summer film was Iron Man 3, a third installment to the Marvel superhero franchise that seen its ups and downs already. What will be this year’s top summer film? We will find out at the end of the summer, but maybe it is already in theatres…

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 picks up the plot of the first film a few months later. Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) is still trying to cope with being Spider-Man and living a normal life. Parker and Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) are dating again, however because of the guilt he carries from going back on a promise to her father, Captain Stacy, he starts to see his ghost wherever he goes. Meanwhile, Oscorp is still trying to figure out the key to saving Norman Osborne’s life by unsuccessfully recreating Richard Parker’s research.

That is but a taste of the many plot lines that run together in this film. Two new villains arise in this film, Electro (Jamie Foxx) and Green Goblin (Dane DeHaan). I would count Rhino, but he is in the film MAYBE 3 minutes. I can’t really even say that there is a villain of this film because Electro is not on screen for very long and Goblin makes an appearance in last 10 minutes.  The reasons for these “villains” emerging are laughable. Electro becomes angry with Spider-Man because he can’t remember his name right away from a previous encounter and Goblin becomes upset because Spider-Man won’t share his blood. This film tries so hard to be a love story between Peter and Gwen that everything else in the film seems almost like an afterthought. The love story part also becomes annoying after a bit because they are together in the beginning, he remembers the promise so they aren’t together, they get back together, and then Gwen gets accepted to Oxford in England so she wants to break up with him. Told you it was annoying. BEGINNING OF SPOILER: Also, the way they handle Gwen’s death is very disappointing and predictable from the beginning of the film. Parker fights with his promise to keep her safe through ¾ of the film and she seems to show up everywhere is in a battle. The one thing they got right with her death was it was at Parker’s doing. END OF SPOILER.

Garfield and Stone to another great job as Peter and Gwen, respectively.  I thought that Garfield was a better Parker/Spider-Man due to the fact that he is lanky and better with the sarcasm than Maguire was. The best part of each of these actors comes out when they are together on screen. They project a great chemistry and lightheartedness that gives the audience the feeling that they are really in love. For what little time the villains have on screen I would have to say that Foxx has the slight edge. Foxx, if given more screen time, could be a pretty nasty villain. DeHaan was decent, but then again he spent most of the movie has Harry Osborne and not the Goblin.

I have to give a little respect to Marc Webb for his courage to try to do all the plot lines at once. On the flip side of that coin, however, it fails. Webb tries to have too many plots and subplots going on at once that it made me miss Sam Raimi directing the Spider-Man films. Because Webb as so many things going on at once, the film doesn’t give the audience enough time to comprehend what they are watching before the film moves on with another plot. The respect for Webb that I mentioned earlier is in the fact that this film is much larger and bolder than the first and Webb tries valiantly to show that he is capable of handling such a popular project.

Obviously because this is a summer film the effects were amazing (no pun intended) and the fight scenes were cool. However, the effects couldn’t hide the fact that too many things were happening in this film, when they should have taken a page from Raimi’s Spider-Man book and kept it simple and used one villain. I would have chosen the villain that hasn’t been seen before, but that is just me. The film is fun to watch, just maybe not for Spider-Man fans.

Verdict: Wait for Blu-Ray