Super-Cember Day #27: The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

(Originally posted December 27th, 2017)

I still find it humorous that these movies were directed by someone called 'Mark Webb'. How about that? Anyway, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) was by no means the best movie I've seen all month, but it was actually a really good time. I was expecting to really not like this movie, but it was honestly really good. Whether that's just my low expectations getting the better of me will become clear on repeat viewings but, for now, I can certainly call this one a good time. Starring Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, Jamie Foxx as Max Dillon/Electro, Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborn/Green Goblin and Sally Field as Aunt May.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

By far, the greatest thing about this movie is the chemistry between the entire cast. That might seem like an over-simplification and, really, it is, but there's something about watching these characters interact with each other that's just so great to watch. There are so many great pairings here: Peter and Gwen, Peter and May, Peter and Harry, Harry and Max, I love watching this cast work off each other. The chemistry is just so real. I especially loved seeing Peter and Harry together; you just believed instantly that these guys were friends. It almost feels weird to say, but the characters are better than the plot itself. And, yes, I'll get to that, but I would have much rather just watched these characters sit in a restaurant and just talk to each other for 2 hours than watch them in this particular story, which is both the movie's strength and weakness.

Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy

Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are once again amazing. Nothing more I can say here that I didn't say in my review of the first movie. I do not understand how Andrew Garfield doesn't get more praise for this role; he's just excellent. However, MVP definitely goes to Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborn. When he first showed up onscreen, I remember rolling my eyes a little and saying, 'Yeah, like this guy can follow James Franco'. Guess what? He did. This is the definition of a powerhouse performance. Not only did he have amazing chemistry with Peter, but his performance as the Goblin was Willem Dafoe levels of entertaining. He out-Dafoed Dafoe. And yet it was just so believable. The performance, that is, I still have reservations about the plot, but, again, I'll get to that. I looked DeHaan up afterwards and was surprised to see just how many movies in his filmography that are on my 'must-watch-in-future' list. Chronicle, Cure for Wellness, Lincoln; this movie made me an instant fan of his, and I certainly hope I get to see more.

Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborn

Jamie Foxx kind of disappointed me. I don't know, maybe it's just the way they did his character, but I honestly found him to be one of the weaker villains I've seen, not just in a Spider-Man movie, but in a superhero movie in general. Don't get me wrong: I've definitely seen weaker villains, but this just had so many of my little pet peeves when it comes to bad villains: insanity, rushed turn to evil, lazy origin story. Strangely, his backstory reminded me a lot of Selina Kyle in Batman Returns, and she's one of the better villains I've seen this month. Was it Pfeiffer's amazing performance that sold me or Foxx's awkward lines that had me bored? I'm not sure, but I just felt like this villains was somewhat rushed. In Times Square, he's shown to be not in control of his powers and accidentally hurting people despite the fact that he deliberately rips cables out of the ground in order to get stronger. His entire character just seemed so unbalanced, and not in a crazy way. As in, it felt like 2 or 3 different writers all worked on this character but they couldn't agree on how they wanted to do him, so they chose 'all of the above'. What followed was the weakest Spider-Man villain by far, and easily one of the films biggest let-downs.

Jamie Foxx as Electro

Alright, I've mentioned this a couple of times now, and here it is: this story is just too convoluted for its own good. There are so many different threads here, and they don't always come together as seamlessly as the film intends. I don't like how the 'Green Goblin' is a physical disease, I don't like how evil OsCorp has suddenly become, I don't like anything to do with Peter's dad. I mentioned this in the previous movie, but I don't want to see anything to do with Peter's parents in a Spider-Man movie. I don't care if it was in the comics or not, it was just out of place for this story. I didn't like how rushed Harry's turn was. One of the reasons the Harry Osborn story works so well in the first trilogy was that they had the time to build it over 3 movies. Here, they try to jam it all into one movie and it just doesn't work as well. Granted, the performance saves it a little, as I said before, but it's not enough. Also, we need to talk about the set-ups. By the end of the movie, they try to set up the Sinister Six spin-off that was in the works at that point. That's why the Rhino is so shoehorned in here, that's why they rush through Harry's story. It's got the DCEU syndrome where it tried to accomplish too much in too little time. This movie could have been amazing if they'd just focused on this movie as opposed to setting up for sequels we'll never get. The proof's here: we're not getting those sequels because this movie didn't do as well because they were so preoccupied with setting up those sequels.

Paul Giamatti as the Rhino

More proof: the story they were actually telling here actually made me really emotional by the end. If you've seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about, so I won't spoil it for you if you haven't, but I'd heard about what happens in the end of this movie before I sat down to watch it tonight, and I was still shocked when it happened. It just hit me like a train, it was executed so perfectly. And, the movie devotes just enough time to that particular subplot that the way it wraps up feels justified, but the fact is that if they'd put that much effort into one or two other storylines we got in this movie and removed the rest, this could have gone down as one of the best movies ever made. There is a brilliant movie here, this ending proves that. That might be another reason why I was somewhat let down here, because this movie contained both some of the most emotional scenes I've seen all month, but also some of the most disappointing, so you can see the bind I'm in.

Sally Field as Aunt May

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) is an okay movie. Good, even, just not too good. I would want to watch it again, but there are certainly better films, and even better Spider-Man films, out there. 6.5/10.

Tomorrow: it's X-Men: Apocalypse.