A handful of days ago I saw The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in IMAX 3D and I wanted to take a few days to think about the film critically before I put out a review. The film is getting such a bad rap (55% on Rotten Tomatoes) I wanted to think about what I said and if I could address the problems brought up in those reviews before I wrote my own. So here we go.
I really, really enjoyed The Amazing Spider-Man 2. I thought it was not only a superior superhero movie, but also the best representation of Spider-Man we have gotten on film so far. That is not something I say lightly. Sam Raimi's Spider-Man was my introduction to superhero movies and it's sequel Spider-Man 2 is at the top of my list for favorite superhero movies of all time. The third film I enjoy on a base level but I acknowledge and readily see that it is not a good film. While Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films had their problems throughout, you could tell the guy loved the characters, and that love was something I could latch onto as a kid. When I saw The Amazing Spider-Man two years ago on it's midnight premiere, I liked it, but I could see a million things wrong with it and those things really bugged me. I loved 500 Days of Summer, but didn't know if that director could go from personal indie Rom-Com to big budget Superhero franchise. Sure enough, when the movie hit I could tell Marc Webb had directed the movie. The dialogue sequences anyway. Any time two characters were by themselves interacting it was shot beautifully and the chemistry was great, especially between Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, but the action sequences were competent at best. The first Amazing Spider-Man feels like the hands of Sony executives are all over it, trying to do their best to distance themselves from the last franchise while still trying to cash in on the burgeoning popularity of superheros.
The first Amazing Spider-Man has clunky dialogue, plot lines that go nowhere or feel forced and competent but lacking action sequences. The dialogue sequences between characters however was spectacular and was what made me enjoy the movie despite it's obvious flaws.
So here we are at the sequel, which was preceded by the news that there are already 2 more direct sequels planned, with Marc Webb attached for the first one but not the second, as well as plans for a spin-off movie with Venom and Carnage. Amazing Spider-Man 2 therefore had a lot to live up to. Before it even opened it had to guarantee it would be good enough to warrant a whole franchise around it, which is saying something considering the first film was only rated as decent and not good or great.
I think that for the most part, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 succeeds. It is by and large better than the first film by miles. It is certainly not without fault, but it is on a wholly other level of film than the first Amazing Spider-Man is. The action is better, the dialogue (while still at times ham-fisted) is better, the characters are more fleshed out, the score is amazing and the plot, while a bit messy, is more solid than the first.
The main story of the film is a combination of exploring Gwen and Peter's relationship past highschool and into the future and Peter dealing with the return of an old friend who suddenly is the most powerful man arguably in the world and dealing with Electro, a villain whose powers challenge Peter's ability to take him down.
I'll start with what I like most, and it should come as no surprise as to what it is; the relationship between Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy. After seeing and falling in love with Marc Webb's 500 Days of Summer, I had full confidence he could make me believe in the love story between Peter and Gwen, and he fully succeeds. It's also helped along by the fact that in real life Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone fell in love during the filming of the previous movie and have been dating ever since. Their relationship is the best part of that first film, and it certainly is exceptional here. Their real life chemistry gives the characters the necessary believability we need for these characters, especially when trying to separate themselves from the previous trilogy. As much as I like Sam Raimi's Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, Peter and Maryjane in those films don't really have that much chemistry. Maryjane seems Peter as nothing more than a friend until she finds out he's been going out of his way to save both her and New York, and until he pulls off these feats of bravery he can't talk to her. She is put on this pedestal of being the perfect girl for him when she's not really that spectacular. Maryjane is Peter's dream girl who he only gets into a relationship with once he becomes more than what he normally was.
On the other hand, in The Amazing Spider-Man, Gwen is naturally drawn to Peter before she knows his secret. In that first film, my friends and I noticed that she's putting it out there that she wants Peter real bad before she knows of his dual life. While Peter is still shown as shy and isn't great at talking to her at first, she knows and is interested in him and his interests and they have conversations as equals and not as someone who is afraid of talking to the girl he worships like in the Raimi films. Besides this change in their interpersonal relationship, Gwen is also seen as someone of similar or superior intellect to Peter. She is just as smart and able as he is, which allows her to while still being in danger, have an effect on the plot line of the film instead of just being a damsel in distress. In The Amazing Spider-Man it is Gwen who saves New York. It was Spider-Man who saved the town from The Lizard, but it's Gwen who retrieves the antidote for the gas The Lizard released that will turn the people of New York into lizard people. That is one thing I really like and respect about this series, Gwen Stacy is integral to Spider-Man saving the day, in both the first film and this one.
I thought the action sequences of the film were waaaaay better than the first one. Spider-Man flows naturally, and what's more, has spider-like movements and actions. In the Raimi films he primarily uses his powers to shoot web, crawl up walls and jump really far, but in the last film and especially this one, they make it a point to show that the spider-bite affected his mind. When he fights, he fights with every limb being another tool, in the opening sequence he has to catch a bunch of little bottles of plutonium and does so using both his arms and his feet, and then uses his web in various ways to store them. They've made it a point in both films too that since being bitten he likes hanging out either upside down or from various heights or angles that a regular person could not do. All of this was taken into consideration when doing his action and stunt choreography, it not only feels like the same person in and out of suit, but it also feels like this is someone who has traits of a spider inside of him.
The cinematography and score were absolutely fantastic. The first film had no real memorable score or theme and real questionable song placement choices. While we still have one incredibly odd song placement choice, the original score done by Hans Zimmer and the Magnificent Six (which include Pharrell Williams and The Smith's Johnny Marr) is superb. Each of the main characters has a definable theme and the music has the necessary weight to it to make scenes have the most impact.
If you made it this far into my review, I want you to know I really enjoyed this film and think it deserves your attention if you like Spider-Man as a character. Even if you didn't really like the 2012 film, check this one out. Below I will talk about what I didn't like about the film, but since I can't do that without spoiling the film, you've been warned. If you haven't seen the film read no further and go see it before reading the rest. As a Spider-Man fan for the majority of my life, I heavily enjoyed it and think it's worth seeing.
Spoilers Below
Okay, so for what I didn't like about the film. The storyline with Peter's parents feels haphazard and messy at best, and a time waster at worst. In the first film we got over half of this storyline about Peter's parents and what they were working on, which was in fact essentially, Spider-Man. However, about halfway through the film that storyline just disappears and is forgotten about. Cut to this film and it's not only what we open the movie with, but the whole storyline is told over again and then elaborated on. When Aunt May talks about how government officials said Peter's parents had betrayed the government and Peter just believes her and thinks his parents were traitors is my low point for the story-arc. We spent a portion of the last movie learning not only that Richard Parker was working on some secret, revolutionary work from someone who worked with him, but we also learn that Oscorp is up to some crazy things. In this film before this sequence, we are both shown and told that Oscorp is running a cover-up on Max Dillon. So why does Peter automatically believe his parents were government traitors and bad people? The hidden train station lab Roosevelt is really cool and I like the scene and what it reveals about the Spider deny. Not only is the Spider DNA that Richard Parker was working on include his own DNA so only someone with his blood could enjoy it's effects, explaining why Peter got his powers, but it also answers Peter's question of whether or not he could give his blood to Harry Osborn and have it work. However, it felt like a ten minutes too long in an already long movie segment that didn't need all that build up to get to.
I also did not fully enjoy Harry Osborn's character arc. It's a story of extremes. Harry comes in hating his dad, finding out he has a genetic disease that will kill him and hating everything Oscorp stood for. He meets up with Peter and their friendship is nice and covers a lot of ground in a short amount of time and feels like a real friendship between two estranged people who used to be close. Once Harry finds out however that the Spider DNA has everything he thinks he needs to be cured, he has a one track mind that drops all character sense out of the way for plot progression. You know Harry is desperate for a cure, but we hadn't seen him as a killer. When Spider-Man denies him his blood, it made more sense to me that the next step would be for Harry to set up a trap for Spidey and then forcibly take his blood. Harry shows no ill-will towards Spidey earlier, mostly just curiosity and bewilderment. Instead, when Spidey says "No you can't have my blood." Harry automatically switches to "Well, guess we have to kill Spider-Man now since he wouldn't help me." That doesn't make sense. That's a matter of plot fast-forwarding Harry's desperation to find a cure so that he would inject the spider venom himself and turn crazy, inspiring our third act results of both the death of Gwen Stacy and the incarceration of Harry into Ravencroft so he can be approached by Gustav Fiers and start assembling the Sinister Six for the next movie.
Harry's character arc was sacrificed for the necessity of the franchise. Harry needed to be sent to Ravencroft so he could encounter Fiers, and set in place the Sinister Six for the next set of films. He needed to be desperate enough to inject the spider venom himself instead of Peter's blood. When Norman is dying he is seen to be at least in his 50's, and Harry is 20. It is assumed that that will be what becomes of Harry if he doesn't find a cure for the disease, but Norman's parting gift to Harry is all of his research and intelligence of what lies within Oscorp so that he can find the cure for himself. As Norman is seen doing pretty well in archival footage with Richard Parker, you can assume Harry would have at least 20 years before his conditions from the disease got really bad. Norman's message is to use everything he had done in his lifetime to find himself a cure. Harry starts with this option, then very quickly goes from "Well, Spider-Man has everything I need, guess I need his blood" to "Kill Spider-Man, I'll steal the pure spider venom instead." It's a rushed arc in order to get Harry to do things for the plot to set up the rest of the franchise.
All this being said, the film still works for me, but I can also recognize where the film falls short and what it could have done better.
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