#140RVW
Now that’s more like it. Truly lives up to title; amazing. Still too long & not particularly original, but few missteps; very well executed.
What’s more:
From all of the previews and trailers, this looked awesome. But then I started hearing negative buzz on it and got nervous and downgraded my expectations. (I partially blame this on the curious decision to release the film several weeks early in England. No reflection on England, of course, I just still don’t get why they did this. I’m a big believer in same day release worldwide.) Anyway, this may have worked to my advantage, as I was pleasantly surprised by just how good this movie was. I don’t care what reviews you’ve read – The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a great movie.
I’m frankly a bit stunned by the poor response the movie has gotten. I’m beginning to see a trend in opinions on recent genre movies of the past five years, though. It seems to come down to whether you liked the Star Trek reboots or not. I have found myself on the opposite side of opinions with people who disliked the new Trek movies. It seems as though you’re either in the Zack Snyder camp or the J.J. Abrams camp. I don’t know what this means, but I’m going to have to give it some more thought. I loved Star Trek Into Darkness and hated Man of Steel, and I’m finding a lot of people splitting on those two films. Just an observation.
Back to the movie. If you read my review of The Amazing Spider-Man, you’ll know that I found it mostly enjoyable but mostly an unmemorable and unnecessary reboot. Fast forward two years and I found this one worlds better, even though a lot of the same criticisms are probably valid. It’s far too long, it isn’t hugely original, it does suffer a bit from superhero fatigue, the CGI is excessive and the endless action scenes lack any physical or emotional weight as a result. These criticisms could and probably should be leveled at virtually every action picture of the past 10 years.
So what else is wrong? Let’s get all the bad stuff out of the way first:
- Paul Giamatti is completely wasted in this. It feels like he’s in the picture for about four seconds. Strictly sequel-bait. It would have been better to have him be an uncredited cameo. (Of course, the only reason Rhino isn’t counted among the stupidest Marvel villains is that they have decades of bigger mistakes, so less Rhino isn’t problematic for me.)
- Makes the same “too many characters” mistake that all of these movies make, going back to at least Batman Returns, possibly longer.
- If you didn’t like the leads in the first movie they aren’t going to win you over now.
- There is an excessive amount of time spent on the whole “I don’t have a dad” angst. This would have been the best place to edit.
- The product placement is so excessive it that my ticket should have been subsidized.
- There is a character named Dr. Ashley Kafka that is so unbelievably over the top as a morally-deficient German scientist that it brought to mind nothing so much as John Glover’s role in Batman & Robin.
- By the way, Ashley Kafka in the comics is a woman, but they gave the part to a man for the film. This should give you some sense of how much representation females receive here.
- Faceless corporate bad guys; the next filmmaker who populates their movie with cold, mean-looking white guys in bespoke suits who talk about the effects on investors and stock prices should be made to do community service until they promise never to do it again.
- There are a few other things but this is a spoiler-free review.
Quite a damning list, no? So what was good about The Amazing Spider-Man 2? Well…
- The humor. This is the Spidey we’ve been waiting for. Finally the right balance of jokey irreverence and sarcasm, not just the occasional smart-ass remark. Good physical comedy and prop gags. Garfield is a good Peter Parker, but he’s a great Spider-Man.
- The suit. I didn’t dislike any of the suits that have been done before, but this is the closest to the comic yet. The big white eyes is absolutely the final piece to help enhance the Spidey personality and remind us all that this is supposed to be fun, not just a bunch of actiony-angst.
- The look of the film. ASM2 was shot on film instead of the Red digital cameras of the first film. I don’t know if this was the big difference or the change in DPs was, but it looks much better. And while the 3D is still gimmicky, I thought it was better.
- The moral dilemma of involving Gwen. Peter’s promise to Captain Stacy to stay away from his daughter seemed to have no weight in the first picture. Bringing back visions of the character to show Peter’s guilt and misgivings works well. That being said, the on again off again thing drags on.
- While the movie was too long, the pacing was just about right. Sure, it could have used a haircut, what movie couldn’t? But it moved along at a good clip – for the most part.
- I may be in the minority here, but I really liked Jamie Foxx’s Electro. Sure, the dialogue wasn’t very good – this isn’t Ibsen. But he provided an intensity that was expected and a vulnerability that was not. His coming out scene in Times Square is great because you really feel his hurt and that things could have gone another way.
- The Electro effects are surprisingly good. I thought the character design was questionable from the early stills and previews, but it works well in the film.
- Dane DeHaan is a good choice as privileged yet neglected Harry Osbourne. His descent is more believable than most villains.
- Sally Field takes it up a notch as May and she and Garfield have some nice scenes and create a relationship that is much more believable than in the first film.
- I preferred the Hans Zimmer score to that of James Horner’s score for ASM1.
- J. Jonah Jameson does not appear on film, but he and the Daily Bugle are a presence. Yes. I hope they bring back J.K. Simmons…
- Plenty of Easter eggs and teasers for future films.
- There are a few other things but this is a spoiler-free review.
Oddities:
- Big changes in the final cut; I may be wrong, but it seemed as if more than 50% of the spoken lines in the various trailers were missing from the final film. I wonder how much rearranging went on in the editing booth.
- Mid-credits scene. There isn’t one. Instead there is a confusingly scattered scene from the new X-Men movie. It’s really jarring. You’re watching the credits and wondering what cool little stinger you’re going to get and then BAM – you’re dropped right into the middle of a scene in the Vietnam War with no preamble, just instant action – and then it’s over just as fast. It’s not a trailer, it’s not a sneak peek. It’s like the projectionist just accidentally loaded the movie playing in the theater next to you halfway through and then noticed their mistake. It’s bizarre and confusing. It makes you think they’re hinting at a Spidey/X-Men crossover, which they’re not. So why is it there? I found out later that it was a concession Sony made to rival studio Fox to advertise the picture for free in exchange for letting director Marc Webb do ASM2 before fulfilling his previous contract with Fox. Are you kidding me? I’m calling shenanigans…
Could it have been better? Yeah, probably. These things generally could be. But this is a very good movie. It isn’t going to crack the top 5 comic-book movie list or anything, but I really enjoyed ASM2 and I think you will too, if you let yourself.
Poster:
Trailer:
Bechdel Test:
Pass
The Representation Test Score: C (6 pts)
(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)
| Main Cast | Andrew Garfield Spider-Man/Peter Parker, Emma Stone Gwen Stacy, Jamie Foxx Electro/Max Dillon, Paul Giamatti Aleksei Sytsevich |
| Rating | PG-13 |
| Release Date | Fri 02 May 2014 UTC |
| Director | Marc Webb |
| Genres | Action, Adventure, Fantasy |
| Plot | Peter Parker runs the gauntlet as the mysterious company Oscorp sends up a slew of supervillains against him, impacting on his life. |
| Poster |  |
| Runtime | 142 |
| Tagline | No more secrets. |
| Writers | Alex Kurtzman (screenplay) &, Roberto Orci (screenplay) … |
| Year | 2014 |
