The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Review

Good day to you people of the internet, time to review a new film and today’s the one I have been cautiously looking forward to, The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Now check it, I wasn’t too keen on the first Amazing Spider-Man, I re-watched it recently and liked it a bit more than I remember, but I’m still not over the moon about it. So with this new film I had hoped that it would be the one to win me over, ever since the first trailer I’ve been hyped and since I loved Captain America: The Winter Soldier this film had a lot to live up to. So has Marc Webb and his team succeed with this film? Well read on and find out!

So what’s going on with the story? Well firstly Peter Parker is still Spider-Man but he’s definitely become a well-known figure in New York, he saves lives, the people know and love him (for the most part) and as a superhero he has become a lot more confident. Outside of the suit Parker is also continuing his relationships with Gwen Stacy and trying to find out what happened with his parents and how it ties to Oscorp. Oscorp also plays a big role in this film as it leads to the return of Harry Osborn and the creation of the villain Electro, a villain ready to wreck things up for not only Spider-Man, but the rest of New York.

What we get in this story is a better look at the life of Peter Parker, seeing how he balances his life between being a superhero and then trying to hide his secret to Aunt May and continue his relationship with Gwen although he is haunted by the promise he made to her father in the last film. The film is at top form when it focuses on the relationship between Peter and Gwen, it is the core element of this film and that got right. The rest of the plot has its moments but none of it comes off as effectively. Besides the backstory involving Peter’s parent’s ties to Oscorp which finally gets some clarity in the way I’d hoped in the last film, this film just feels a bit bloated  with there being there’s a lot of things going and with some of these other plot points don’t get the screen time they deserve to feel as relevant. I do like how this film draws from its comic book source material and it does have some moments of greatness, however it doesn’t feel like a cohesive film and at times because of the heavy focus on Peter and Gwen’s relationship I felt like I was watching a romantic drama with comic book elements sprinkled in which made this film less like a superhero film to me.

As for the characters there are pretty good for the most part. Let’s start with Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Garfield does a great job with the role here as he’s definitely become more comfortable with this role and has been able to take it to new places emotionally. Peter in this film has a lot of issues to deal with from his relationship to with to hiding his superhero identity from his aunt to reconnecting with Harry and on top of that be Spider-Man and I feel like Garfield acts well. Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy is amazing, besides the fact that I love this woman because she is beautiful, she definitely is really good in this role. Gwen in this film is still smart, sassy, funny and has a lot of relevance in this film and I loved what the writers did with her character in the film. As for Jamie Foxx as Max Dillon/Electro this where things get a bit iffy. As Dillon, the electrical engineer who works for Oscorp as someone who no one notices he’s good, he has odd personality traits and weird. After Dillon becomes Electro I like what they did with his powers and I liked him more than the Lizard, that being said this villain wasn’t nearly as compelling or had the gravitas of other good superhero villains like the Joker, Loki or a better example would be Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock.

Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborn was cool, this version of Harry is a lot more distant, suave, sophisticated and emotionally complex and I loved what DeHaan did with the character and his chemistry with Peter was pretty intriguing although I think it needed more time to develop. However as the new version of the Green Goblin DeHaan was a bit hard to watch because of the over-the-top nature of the acting. And lastly Sally Field as Aunt May was lovely, I feel like she continued to be a good support for Peter and she definitely steps up and does a wonderful job where the emotional moments matter.

When it comes to the presentation it is really good for the most part. Visually the film looks gorgeous, the GCI is very sharp, vivid and beautiful. The cinematography is also very nice with some incredible first person shots, wide shots that showcase the incredible New York landscape and tracking shots that look really awesome too. The fight Spider-Man’s fight scenes and web-slinging look as good as ever and are way more advanced and intricate than before. And the soundtrack by Hans Zimmer is a bit of mixed bag. Normally Zimmer can do no wrong and for the most part this score has a better presence and heroic sound to it than the previous film, that being said, this film also has some questionable music tracks inserted that really take me out of the film and feel like they were added to try and make the film feel modern which was really unnecessary.

In conclusion The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is good, but wasn’t the Spider-Man that I wanted. The central storyline involving Peter and Gwen is where this film succeeds, that and the great action sequences, but beyond that not much else works. In Captain America: The Winter Soldier I knew I was in love with that film almost immediately, but now with Amazing Spider-Man 2 I’m still indifferent to it. There’s stuff I liked and stuff I didn’t but as an overall piece of work I can’t figure out how I feel about it. This is gonna be one of those films that splits the audience down the middle again and your enjoyment will really depend of your thoughts on the last film, what kind of comic fan you are or whether you prefer these new films to the Sam Raimi ones. As it stands this film was not a train wreck, but it wasn’t amazing as the title implies, watch the film for yourself to form your own opinion yo. I’m out. :S

Rating: 7.5/10 (A film that has its moments, but just isn’t consistent)

So what do you think of The Amazing Spider-Man 2? Did you love it or hate it or are you indifferent to the film like I am? Whatever your thoughts are be sure to leave them in the comments below and I’ll see ya on the next film review, laters! 😀