The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Review

You are about to enter spoiler country, proceed with caution.

Spider-Man might possibly be my favorite hero.  He's definitely the the most relatable for me.  I don't know what it's like being a billionaire playboy, an incredibly intelligent scientist, a man thrust into a different time period that is not his own, or an alien from a different planet.  I do however know what it's like trying to make ends meet, deal with relationship problems, and try to balance responsibilities with a social life.  That is what Spider-man/Peter Parker is all about.  I see myself in that character more than any other.  So I'm usually pretty excited when a new Spider-Man movie comes out.

The last few months leading up to the release of the new Amazing Spider-Man 2 movie has been a roller coaster ride.  It seemed like new characters where being announced as being part of the movie on a nearly daily basis.  I worried that there would be just way too much going on.  Then I would see some footage and the video would look slick and action packed.  I would get excited that this would be the best looking Spidey yet, especially with that perfectly comic book accurate costume.  But would the story suffer?  There were already a few more movies announced, I didn't want to be stuck with a Spider-Man I didn't like.

Then reviews started pouring in, some were mixed.  Many were saying the movie was good, but not amazing.  My expectations started to lower.  I really liked the first two Sam Rami directed movies and I thought the third was just okay, but I definitely didn't dislike it as much as most.  The reboot had a lot of potential, I just wish it hadn't wasted so much time retelling the origin story, especially when the changes just seem to be there simply to be different.  I was now excepting this sequel to possibly be my least favorite.  I went into the theater hoping that I would at least like something about the movie.

As luck would have it, I got the best Spider-Man ever!  No no, don't get me wrong.  I don't think it's the best Spider-Man movie ever, I think it's the best portrayal of the character we have ever gotten.  Andrew Garfield plays the perfect Peter Parker.  It just gets the right level of likable, wise-ass, quirky, responsibility driven every-man that the character should be.  The guy just knocks it out of the park.

I would love to see a movie where Peter Parker takes an internship at Stark Industries as one of Tony Stark's assistants. As long as they are played by Andrew Garfield and Robert Downey Jr.  I'm sure I would like every scene with the two them together in their civilian roles even more than their heroic identities.  Garfield now owns Spidey, like Downey owns his role as Iron Man.

As for the rest of the movie, the good out weighs the bad.  Emma Stone is Gwen Stacy the way Andrew Garfield is Peter Parker, spot on.  I completely believed the chemistry those two had.  I wish them the best of luck in their real lives (the 2 actors are currently dating), because they just seem to belong together.  Two other actors that shine in their roles are Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborn and Sally Field as Aunt May.  Their relationships felt real.  I could really believe that this was the Aunt May that had raised Peter.  Harry and Peter's friendship felt genuine…at least until things turned.

And there lies the problem with this movie, the damn villains.  The problem is not exclusive to this movie.  All the villains in the Spider-Man movie franchise suffer from not being very good. I don't really blame the actors in most cases; Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Jamie Foxx, these are people that have proven they can act.  They just get put in these roles that involve poor choices. Usually the motivations behind the villains are really weak. Electro goes from loving Spider-Man to hating him because he forgot his name.  The guy wants to murder people because a guy he met for 2 seconds forgot his friggin' name!?  If I was him I'd be amazed that Spidey remembered as much about him as he does!

Harry Osborn's motivation is nearly as bad.  He just makes this giant leap in logic that Spider-Man's blood is just some magic cure all.  His dad leaves him all kinds of resources to help prolong his live, but he just ignore all of that and believes that Spider-Man must give him his blood or die.  When he does get his "cure" he has no interest in testing it or anything, just has it jammed into his veins.  What's the worst that could happen ?  Oh yeah, you could become a lackluster "Evil Villain" that serves very little purpose in the movie other than doing one thing that he is well known for doing in the comics.

Then there are are the other "bad guys."  Alistair Smythe is just a dochie jerk, Dr. Ashley Kafka seems like he came out of a Schumacher Batman movie, and Aleksei Sytseviche (the Rhino) seems like a corny cartoon character.  To be clear, I have no problem with the Rhino mech suit, I just think Paul Giamatti hams it up way too much.  Plus, for a movie with some great special effects, Giamatti looks poorly Photoshopped into that Rhino suit.  It's pretty bad.  I do love the scene at the end with the kid though.  That's how Spidey makes the kid in me feel.  Inspired to be strong.

There are a lot of other things I could pick apart, but I'm happy with the Spider-Man I got in this movie if not the villains.  At least he did a good job of trying to protect those around him, (unlike some blue and red clad superheroes) with one notable and unfortunate exception. 

-Brunpuppies