What was originally supposed to be the launching point of Sony’s own little Spider-Man cinematic universe ended up being the last live-action Spidey before Sony and Marvel made their deal. Oh Sony… you dun’ goofed!
Hey Everyone! We’re over the halfway point of the Spider-Man review marathon with the sequel that never got followed up on with The Amazing Spider-Man 2. As always, I’m gonna’ leave the IMDb link for a plot summary to get right into the action. But just like Spider-Man 3 (the *other* Spidey franchise killer), trying to make sense of this plot anyway may as well be a lost cause: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1872181/
Well, just like with the original The Amazing Spider-Man, this was the first time I’ve re-watched The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in quite a while (Holy mouthful of words Batman!). But unlike it’s predecessor, I do not think this movie lands of the fresh side of Spider-Man’s cinematic legacies, with A LOT of the same problems that plagued Spider-Man 3— making this his lowest-grossing *live-action* film of the franchise (let us take a tear in silence at how that title overall goes to Into the Spider-Verse… but don’t worry, we’ll get to you soon enough :)).
However, if you remember what I said at the end of last week’s Spidey review (pwweaaasssssssseeeeeee go back if you haven’t already seen that), the highs in this film are actually even higher than what come before. And there is nowhere there that could be more apparent than in the case of two actors: Andrew Garfield, and Emma Stone.
I mean, just look at them. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again- they are completely ADORABLE as a romantic pair and everyone on board knows it. Thus, they are given even more scenes to let their natural chemistry fly, which practically makes it even better (they somehow even made the scene where they’re both hiding in the closet cute as hell, “Oh I’m sorry I didn’t take us to the Bahamas of hiding places”). If the whole movie was *entirely* focused on their relationship and intertwining lives, then I have a hunch that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 might actually be (wait for it…), AMAZING!!!
…let’s just move onto the performances as a whole. Like before, there are still some cases of high quality acting–whether it be from the spot-on portrayal of Aunt May from Sally Field (she nails the world-weary but emotionally supportive aspects right on the head- no hammers needed!), or in the handful of scenes where Chris Cooper plays Norman Osborn (seriously, whenever he pops up in anything, I know he’s always gonna’ be great).
I have to say that the action sequences are also pretty good at incorporating the sense of movement and fluidity that you would want to see in a Spider-Man movie. With the help of some oddly underrated special-effects (honestly, the visual effects here are great and they might be tied between Far From Home as some of the best in the entire series), the action manages to give you exactly what you would want from comic book moive spectacle… for the most part (I have two words for you: electric dubstep).
Rounding out all of the fun Spidey flare in the action is the movie’s understanding of the wall-crawler himself. Once again, Andrew Garfield really does do great work with his interpretation of Spider-Man as in the moments where this movie wants to be a *Spider-Man* movie, those instances really do him justice (and same goes for the updated and MUCH better costume).
That also goes for one of the most iconic story lines in the Spider-Man as *SPOILER ALERT FOR THE TWO PEOPLE WHO HAVE A) NOT SEEN THIS MOVIE AND B) ACTUALLY HAVE ENOUGH INTEREST TO GO BACK AND WATCH THIS MOVIE IN 2020*… the death of Gwen Stacy is handled in a very poignant manner. When it happens, I couldn’t help but feel the pain and tragedy of that moment- so that was well-done!
On the surface of all these positives, it would seem like there’s enough good in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 to potentially even combat the first two Raimi movies and other Spider-Man ventures that I have not yet gotten to (Stay tuned! …I think people still say that…). But Sony did not decide to take what worked before and *focus* on that… and that is this movie’s biggest flaw: focus, or the lack thereof. The most obvious area of that issue lies within the already stated villain problem.
“His Greatest Battle Begins” is the tagline they kept promoting this movie under, yet it comes nowhere close to fulfilling that promise with how the amount of lackluster villains makes this feel pretty stale when compared to other superhero romps–especially in the case of Jamie Foxx as Electro. Everyone knows Jamie Foxx is an excellent actor (he is still an Oscar-winner), though nobody denies how he gets bogged down with a terribly written role that has lackluster motivation, silly dialogue and actions (and not good silly that the Raimi films were abundant of), and the definition of nonsensical powers.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t get much better when you realize that the narrative is um, well, EVEN SLOPPIER! It goes in way too many different way too many directions (You ever heard of “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost? Well, this movie must have hated that exquisite poem because it LOVES taking every single road imaginable), with none of them working on their own and definitely not in the context of the movie’s big picture. This really is the center of this movie’s lack of focus, since the movie never figures out how to get over it. Where Spider-Man 3 felt lost, this movie is more confused with it’s tone, the understanding of ‘make one good movie first’ (IE, don’t set up the Sinister Six when you can’t earn it), and a bizarre editing style.
Yet, you wanna’ know the weirdest part? I still didn’t hate it. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 certainly isn’t good, but it is nowhere near terrible. There’s just as much as potential as there is generic nonsense. Honestly, I’m not mad–I’m just disappointed. Yeah, there’s a reason audiences thought the Spidey franchise needed to put on time-out with Sony after this installment.
Rating: 4.5/10 and I felt pretty meh about it (Again, I will STILL take this over Spider-Man 3 or Venom any day of the week).
Welp, that was a movie… anyway, thank you so much for reading this post. I have been having a lot of fun with this Spider-Man review marathon and if you have not seen any of the prior reviews, then I could not recommend enough that you do so. We are still living in a crazy and unprecedented world, so if my reviews can help to bring a little light to your day- I could not be more humbled and honored.
For the record, this is the part in the marathon where it kinda’ gets confusing on where it goes next so let me explain real quick: I am not going to be reviewing any of the MCU movies where Spidey is part of the ensemble and am instead going to stick to the movies where there is a Spider-person in charge. That leaves us with Homecoming, Into the Spider-Verse, and Far From Home left so please, **stay** around (no sticking involved.
If you saw this movie, had some thoughts, liked the review, or just had a bad day and feel the need to vent about (completely fair), pleas feel free to let me know about it in the comments below. And as always, I think you should all know who I am at this point…
I’m Alex, Your Friendly Neighborhood Film Nerd!!! (WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!)
Spinning the Cineweb 
I love your title!
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