In the summer of 2012, the reboot of the Spider-Man franchise, The Amazing Spider-Man, was released. It was heavily criticized for retelling an origin story that didn't need to be retold, idiotic character motivations, and constantly shifting into different plotlines instead of developing them naturally. But with the origin now out of the way, people hoped that the sequel would get right on track. Unfortunately, the movie is not so interested in continuing the story of Peter Parker as it is setting up more sequels and spin-offs. While the highlight of this new series continues to be Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone's emotionally-engaging scenes, they simply can't overcome the film's poorly developed villains, rushed and contrived storylines, cheesy dialogue, and overall lack of a working brain. While the performances, action sequences, and score all work really well, everything else is still not even close to amazing.
It's hard to say what the basic plot of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is, but here we go anyway: Set sometime after the events of the first film, Peter Parker is having an absolute blast being Spider-Man. There is no better feeling than swinging above New York City, and being beloved by its citizens. But Peter starts to doubt whether he can have a normal relationship with Gwen after promising her father to stay away from her for her own protection. Meanwhile, Peter's old friend, Harry Osborn, comes back home and try to pick up where they left off. But Harry is dying of the same disease that his father has and needs Spider-Man's blood to save himself. While that is going on, nerdy loner Max Dillon becomes a Spidey-fanatic until he is transformed into Electro. Oh, and there's some stuff that involves Peter's parents that wasn't resolved in the previous film that carries over here.
As you can tell right away, the most obvious complaint coming out of this movie is that it's just too overcrowded. There are just so many new characters and so many subplots that it is hard to become invested in what is going on. People feared that with the villain overload, we would be in for another bloated mess along the lines of Spider-Man 3. And those people would be right. With so much going on, there is simply no time to develop each individual character and plot to the point of satisfaction. For example, we find out that Peter is attending college and has begun submitting photos to the Daily Bugle. But we never actually see him attend a class or walk inside the Daily Bugle. The movie is so focused on teasing the future of the franchise, which makes all the smaller, more intimate character moments feel less important by comparison.
And that is a total shame because the interaction between characters is one of the few places where this movie truly shines, especially with Peter and Gwen. Anybody who has seen Marc Webb's feature debut, (500) Days of Summer, will tell you that the best parts were the charm and emotion that came out of the characters just talking, and that certainly translates well here. Not only do Garfield and Stone have impeccable chemistry, but the film also gets most of its charm, heart, and warmth from their interactions. But even the haphazardly written script can screw this up. There is a point in the movie where Peter reveals to Gwen that he follows her as Spider-Man multiple times a day to make sure she is safe. Most women would find this creepy, but because the script can get so out of touch with reality, Gwen finds it charming. The characters' will-they-or-won't-they shtick gets old after a while, but that can be forgiven thanks to the two leads.
The other cast members aren't as fortunate, however. While Jamie Foxx does his best as the film's main antagonist, even he can overcome how rushed his character's arc is. When he goes from being a socially-awkward nobody to being a vengeful, blood-thirsty bad guy, the transformation isn't entirely convincing because we spend so little time getting to know him. While his fight scenes as Electro are entertaining because Spidey has to rely on his intelligence to do battle with him without touching him, he starts to resemble a video game character in the film's climax. As for the Rhino, think of the ending scene of The Incredibles when the Underminer emerges and the heroes prepare for a fight. Just replace the Incredibles with Spider-Man and the Underminer with the Rhino.
Out of all the villains, it's Dane DeHann as Harry Osborn/Green Goblin that manages to be the most competent, which isn't saying much in a film of already weak villains. Whereas Harry's story-arc was planned over the course of Sam Raimi's trilogy, here it's incredibly rushed. The friendship of Peter and Harry feels so hollow because there isn't enough time for the two to interact and they haven't seen each other in almost a decade. So when the two friends are turned against each other as enemies, it doesn't have the emotional impact it normally would. Harry's villainous turn doesn't come naturally and instead feels like it was shoehorned in. Another downside is the design of the Green Goblin. He bears a striking similarity with Evil Ed from Fright Night.
Like its predecessor, the film can't decide on what kind of film it wants to be. It's stuck between down-to-earth, intimate character drama and bombastic superhero fantasy. The film even strays into camp on a few occasions, especially with the cringe-worthy dialogue of Electro. "It's my birthday. Time to light the candles!" Or how about when Electro thrashes Spider-Man off of grid towers in the tune of "Itsy-Bitsy Spider."While Sam Raimi's films had camp, it was the classic comic book camp that resembles the tone of the Stan Lee/Steve Ditko era. Everything and everyone is pulling into different directions, which makes for one sloppy and inconsistent narrative.
Outside of the subdued character exchanges and action scenes, the film also shines when it comes to its ending. Without coming right out and saying it, the ending that fans were excited but dreadful to see is executed very well here. It's heartbreaking, devastating, and even quite brutal. But all these moments so far and few between. What we get is just a collection of sloppily-written plots and scenes that don't work well with each other and never come together in the end.
The bottom line is The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is just another Spidey movie cranked out by Sony to keep the film rights from reverting back to Marvel. The passion that this franchise once had is all gone. It's a poorly-structured, hardly-developed product that is just marginally better than the first film. The real shame is that nobody working behind the scenes seemed to have learned anything from the mistakes made in the last two Spider-Man films. It's clear that Sony does not care about Peter Parker and his story and are only concerned with squeezing as much money they can from this character. Until Sony realizes there is so much more to this superhero than just profits, we may never get another great Spider-Man flick for a very long time. But why would you want to change anything when you are making so much money?
Final rating: 5 out of 10.