The Amazing Spider-Man 2 finally hit stateside with the advance showings. I, as the lifelong Spider-Man fan I am, picked up my tickets as early as I could at my theater but knew htat I would have to keep expectations low. What with the 56% on Rotten Tomatoes and with some users referring to it as the Batman and Robin of the Spider-Man franchise, I was surprised by how much I liked the movie. Not just liked, loved. But, let's start out with the negatives.
Negatives
The movie gets started with the obvious air plane crash scene. As a scene, on its own, it was great. However, it feels like it should've been the last part of
The Amazing Spider-Man or, perhaps, just placed somewhere in there. It really feels like an add-on to what, initially, starts out as crowded, sub-plot filled movie. It really did feel like it belonged in
The Amazing Spider-Man but it isn't exactly the only scene apologizing for the lack of depth
The Amazing Spider-Man provided.
The beginning of the movie seems to be an entire apology note for the first one, asking fans to come back. However, this is the only issue with that: the reason it was done, not how it was handled. Aside from some very real, very initial pacing issues the movie masters the pacing and comes into its own in the second act where the plot lines truly begin to intertwine and it really doesn't seem contrived at all: it feels solid.
Electro, on the other hand, just isn't given the time for anyone to really feel sorry for him. You really get the feeling his pre-Electro scenes landed on the cutting room floor which gave the character more depth. However, the fact that Spider-Man presents himself in the way he presents himself, it is clear that Max would latch onto that.
Not to even mention Dr. Kafka. I tried to get past his supremely annoying German accent but I just couldn't get past how hammy it was like I could with Giamatti's Systevich. It just didn't work for me.
Positives
From the opening web swing, it is clear that
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has created the quintessential Spider-Man. Spider-Man "yippees" and "yee-haws" as he swings across the sky. Immediately upon encountering Aleksei Systevich, he is cracking jokes at the villains expense. While the fact that Spider-Man doesn't even seem to attempt to put a stop to this guys rampage immediately may be off-putting, it gave the Spider-Man persona time to shine.
As much fun as it is to watch Spider-Man in the costume (and it does look really brilliant), the movie's focus is on Peter Parker. That's what is fun, is that it actually is
The Dark Knight in terms of the services it does to the character and providing the best movie-going
Spider-Man experience but the villains draw the short straw in order to focus on Peter Parker. Which is the way it should be with the villains getting their own movie to dwelve into their characters more. With a Spider-Man movie, you want the focus to be on Spider-Man and his alter ego, which this movie does so fantastically.
The plots seem to start out as multiple separate strands but they intertwine in the second act beautifully, perfectly setting up the high point of the film: the third act.
Electro, stylistically, is a great villain to look at. He has some pretty hammy dialogue but it makes sense considering where the character came from and where he clearly got some of his ideas of "how to be a supervillain". Plus, particularly in the third act, Electro really becomes a menace to behold.
Green Goblin, on the other hand, is hardly in the movie but his transformation occurs much in the same way as the original Raimi film. Except, given everything that has happened, Green Goblin has way more reason to hate Spider-Man and become the Green Goblin than Dafoe's Osborn in
Spider-Man. Harry's motivations are very clear while Electro's are best explained in the song that plays during the Times Square sequence. Which isn't entirely a tragedy, it just shows that Electro seems to be the biggest victim of the cuts for the film.
Rhino is the best rendition I could've imagined. Rhino is a pretty hammy, over-the-top arrogant character that is truly brought to the big screen with cinematic justice. He is in it probably the least out of all the film's villains but he truly is a great force to be reckoned with.
The movie really does have emotional impact and really does deliver on the parents arc which brilliantly ties back into the backbone of the movie: OsCorp. As I've said before, all the stories are connected in a stroke of genius so that it doesn't really feel bloated from the second act on and makes you look at the rest of the movie very differently.
Unlike
The Amazing Spider-Man, they are very careful to make sure Peter Parker is characterized closer to the classic version. With
The Amazing Spider-Man, it was very clear they were trying to dwelve into the character as he was before the spider bite. With very little to go off of, Peter came across, in my opinion, as he should've but, to a lot of other people, as a self-absorbed dick. Which is basically how he was portrayed by Stan Lee in the one line he said before he became Spider-Man but to some people, it was understandably misinterpreted.
Peter Parker feels guilty for the promise he has made and broken which is made far more difficult by the fact that Gwen says that it is her and Peter's choice. It is understandable and totally in character for Peter to go back and forth. Any other criticism that can be levied against the movie: it can't be said that Peter isn't characterized correctly.
The third act is truly the best act. It avoids, for the most part, the standard superhero film affair to blow everything up which actually went in the untraditional place of the end of the first act which gives it an air of freshness that is usually non-existant in these films. Not only does it become somber but it brings the film back up to a level of hope at the end of the film. And that is what makes it a really good ending: the fact that Spider-Man is able to get back to his roots because of the fact he HAS learned a lesson.
This whole movie is a fantastic learning curve for him.
Verdict
The film is a great sense of fun. It has flaws sure but so did
Captain America: The Winter Soldier that many refuse to awknowledge. I really liked that film, don't get me wrong. All I'm saying is that every film has problems and you have to judge it based on its own merits.It stumbles a little with characterization of smaller characters and a little with initial pacing but when it hits its stride: it really picks up steam and doesn't ever stop. The film is the best
Spider-Man film to date and is on par with
Marvel's best efforts placed in
The Avengers. Since I gave
Captain America: The Winter Soldier a
9.8/10, I'll give this movie a solid
9.5/10.