I've read quotes saying that the Amazing Spiderman 2 is the "Batman & Robin" of the franchise, and also read quotes saying that it's the "Dark Knight of the franchise".
Is it the Batman and Robin of the franchise? No. Is it the Dark Knight of the franchise? Not quite. Will we stop comparing the Batman franchise to the Spiderman franchise? Hopefully soon, hopefully very soon.
Review
What do these videos have to do with the review? There Spiderman videos. What do these have to do with the actual movie? Nothing...but there Spiderman videos so just deal with it.
The Acting
The acting in this movie is really good. Nobody will own the role of Spider-Man quite like Andrew Garfield does. He was great in the last Amazing Spiderman movie, and he hasn't lost his momentum.
The chemistry between him and Emma Stone is really good. I am more sold on Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy as a couple than I ever was with Peter Parker and Mary Jane in the Sam Raimi trilogy.
Dane Dehaan as Harry Osborn is a breakout performence for me in this movie. He also plays a briefly intimidating Green Groblin, which I would usually feel the need to put such things under the spoiler category, but seeing how they reveal this in TV spots, trailers, and posters, I think everyone knows this by now.
Dehaan is a pretty menacing dude and kind of a sympathetic villain in the story. I was sort of interested in Osborn's backstory, and what made him the way that he is.
The dissapointing performance came from Jamie Foxx as Electro. I didn't walk out of this thinking that Foxx had owned the role, and it kind of felt like they had him in the role just to have a big name in the movie to advertise. In the end they could've found a better fit for the role of Max Dillion.
The Humor
Now humor is a bit of a tricky subject, because in a world of differing opinions, I think humor is the one thing that seperates everyone.
For example: I showed my friend the movie "Hot Rod" which I thought was funny, but my friend thought I put him through misery. So in silent retribution, my friend showed me a movie called "Superstar" starring Will Ferrell, which is probably one of the worst movies that I have ever seen.
But it taught me that most people just find different things funny.
On Topic: I found the humor in The Amazing Spiderman 2 to be hilarious. Now whether you'll find it funny or not is a complete mystery, but I had a good time with it.
I never felt that the humor took too much out of the movie. I never felt at a point like the movie was pushing it too much.
As a matter of fact, the movie felt very...SpiderMan-like in terms of humor... In my opinion.
The Plot
At first I didn't think the plot was too bad, and I still don't. But the more I think about the plot, the more I realize how all over the place it was.
There are so many things they adress in the movie, and looking back, it does seem a bit overcrowded in that respect.
BUT everything they adress is relevant, whether to the movie, the overall story, or just the character of Spider-Man.
If you walked out of this movie feeling like it was a bit too much, then I can understand the complaint.
The Action
The action in this movie is really good, and it's well balanced as well. The CGI wasn't perfect, but it wasn't terrible and none of the CGI really bothered me.
The movie isn't overflowing with action, but there is enough to keep you entertained. If your an action-junkie, you'll probably end up liking (not loving) this movie.
The...Little things?
I do have some rather small complaints. For one: I didn't feel like we got enough Chris Cooper as Norman Osborn. I was hoping that he'd be one of the centerpiece characters lurking in the background, but in the end...he isn't
And Paul Giamatti was good as Rhino...in the brief time that you see him.
The advertising department REALLY screwed the pooch on this one. Rhino shouldn't have been on the poster of this movie, and Dane Dehaan shouldn't have been revealed as the Green Goblin.
I can only imagine how much people would've geeked out if they had kept the Goblin thing a secret until the movie hit the theaters. But instead we already knew about it months ago.
Also, the whole on and off thing with Peter and Gwen annoyed me a bit. I understand why they had to go there, but in the end it felt like a love story reboot.
The Verdict
The movie isn't perfect, but in the end it was very entertaining. The tone kind of shifts to fun and then dark, but it didn't feel too messy in my opinion. The plot may have been everywhere, but I thought the tone shifts worked.
I went into this movie kind of worried about how it would turn out, but I walked out smiling. The last 20-15 minutes of this movie is something that I won't forget for a long time.
I give the Amazing Spiderman a
4/5.