Anthony Stark Reviews THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 3D
Marc Webb's second film in The Amazing Spider-Man franchise just hit theaters today, and I grabbed a ride to the premiere last night. The film has had mixed reviews so far, and so I wasn't quite sure what to expect from it. Check out my spoiler-free review after the jump!
On my latest adventure to the local theater, I went to see Marc Webb's most recent film, The Amazing Spider-Man 2. I've heard and seen many reviews, either saying that it was as the title implies, Amazing, or that they weren't happy with the outcome. So I was very curious to see what was so great and what was so wrong about the movie. Read on after the jump!
So I'll start off with the basic plot of the film. Peter Parker is living the good life as Spider-Man, stopping random thugs such as Paul Giamatti's Aleksei Sytsevich, saving kids from bullies at school, and rescuing civilians from danger such as Jamie Foxx's Max Dillon. But as new villains emerge, our friendly neighborhood wall-crawler must face his hardest challenges yet, as he must take on Electro as well as the Green Goblin, meanwhile still searching for clues about his parents. While this plot may seem somewhat cliche, I think that Webb did an overall great job of pulling it off, and some may argue that the film is too jam-packed.
Now onto the characters. The personal lives of both the heroes and the villains play a major part in the movie, and not just having 2 hours and 20 minutes of web-slinging around New York. I think that they gave a bit too much of the spotlight to Max Dillon before his transformation into Electro. But the relationship of Peter and Gwen was one of the best parts of the movie, as both Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone pulled off their roles even greater than in the first film. Dane Dehann's Harry Osborn was great, and even though the trailers made him sound like your everyday villain from a 90's film, he wasn't, giving a unique twist on the character that I greatly enjoyed.
Now, I'll move on to the villains.
The movie featured villains Electro (Jamie Foxx), Green Goblin (Dane Dehaan), with a few minutes from Rhino (Paul Giamatti). Electro was spectacular, adding somewhat of a feel from the inFamous games to the film, as he was able to see the sources of electricity from around the city and as we know, able to take energy from cars, Time Square, and more. Green Goblin's role was rushed, as Harry Osborn only is the 'Green Meanie' in the last 20 minutes of the film. Many people couldn't get past Goblin's look, as they were hoping for less than the scaly, slimy creature that we got. I was one of those people. I wasn't looking for that, but in the final outcome it wasn't bad. Dehaan may not have looked like the character, but he studied up on his comics, as he acted and sounded just like something you'd see from a comic book. Paul Giamatti played the Rhino, and while I greatly enjoyed his look in the mechanical suit, I couldn't enjoy him as the Russian thug, Aleksei Sytsevich. It seemed as if he was having too much fun with the role, and mainly just yelled out random babble during his role. He'll probably return in future films, and I hope he improves his character in that time.
Let's move onto the jokes and wit now, shall we? Many people did not like the jokes in this film, thinking that it was as bad as Joel Shumacher's Batman and Robin. I honestly don't know why that is. Peter and other characters have always been full of wit and jokes in the comics, and this new series seems quite like the classic comics.
I'll top it off with the final category; the Special Effects. I saw The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in RealD 3D, and as I know that I usually recommend it, this is THE ultimate film to see it in. The graphics were mind-blowing, especially Electro fights, and many people weren't huge fans of how much slow-motion they used in the trailers, but they really used it as from Spidey's perspective, and the 3D added on to it all.
So in my opinion, this is a great film, and we haven't had a Spider-Man film this great since 10 years ago with Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2. While I don't agree that this film is better than that, it certainly comes close, and I rate The Amazing Spider-Man 2 4 stars. It had it's flaws, but it knew when to make you laugh, as well as when to cry.
In The Amazing Spider-Man™ 2, for Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield), life is busy – between taking out the bad guys as Spider-Man and spending time with the person he loves, Gwen (Emma Stone), high school graduation can’t come quickly enough. Peter hasn't forgotten about the promise he made to Gwen’s father to protect her by staying away – but that’s a promise he just can’t keep. Things will change for Peter when a new villain, Electro (Jamie Foxx), emerges, an old friend, Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), returns, and Peter uncovers new clues about his past.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was directed by Marc Webb from a script written by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Jeff Pinkner and James Vanderbilt. The film will star Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, Sally Field as Aunt May, Paul Giamatti as Rhino, Jamie Foxx is Electro and Chris Cooper as Norman Osborn. The film is set to land in theaters May 2, 2014.
About The Author:
I'm a total nerd. While I haven't seen all comic book films, I still know and love the characters that we see on screen today!
Favorite Actor: Liam Neeson
Favorite Superheroes: Captain America, Spider-Man, Batman, Flash, etc...