The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Directed By Marc Webb
Starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Dane DeHaan, and Jamie Foxx
It always amazes me, when at the end of, or during a film, the theater audience breaks out in applause (There was a lot of applauding throughout my showing of Captain America: The Winter Soldier). It's not like they're watching a show on Broadway, and the actors are their to receive your praise, as they come out for a curtain call. It's not like the theater projectionist is getting anything from the applause (He just pushes a couple of buttons. I've seen him do it). In the end, I guess it just comes right down to the enthusiasm of moviegoers, which is great.
My question though is, and this may sound kind of dumb, what does it take for a film to get an applause? "Well obviously if it's good!" you might say. Well I've seen plenty of great films, but there have only been a handful of times when I've witnessed applause in a movie theater. More than often it's been for a comic-book film like The Avengers, and The Dark Knight series. On rare occasions it's been for an animated film like Finding Nemo, or an awards season film like Zero Dark Thirty. Then last week, there was The Amazing Spider-Man 2. That was the first time I looked around the theater and said to myself, "Really?"
I don't think The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a bad film, but it has its problems, and I don't think it deserves applause. The film obviously takes place some time after the first one. Peter and Gwen (Garfield and Stone) are together and graduating high school. Peter is still haunted by the promise Gwen's father (Denis Leary) had him make before his death. This causes a lot of strain on his relationship with Gwen, and puts a lot of uncertainty in their future together.
Meanwhile, Peter's old friend Harry Osborn (DeHaan) returns to visit his dying father Norman (Chris Cooper). Harry finds out he has the same disease as his father, and that the cure may lie in Spider-Man's blood. Also meanwhile, lonely and Spidey-obsessed Oscorp employee Max Dillon (Foxx) has a tragic accident that turns him into the super villain Electro. Also ALSO meanwhile, Peter is still trying to uncover the secret past of his long-lost father.
So yeah, there's a lot going on in this film, and it makes for an uneven script. It's unfortunate, because while one plot line can be interesting, another can be very boring. At times in the film you may be asking yourself, "Hey what happened to Electro?" or "Hey isn't Harry Osborn supposed to be doing something?" Regardless, when this film works it works. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are again the highlight of the film. Their chemistry is spot-on, but I just had to roll my eyes when I found out that we were going to go through another "Maybe we shouldn't be together" storyline…especially when we did that in the last Spider-Man trilogy! In the second film of that trilogy, too I might add! Thankfully though, Garfield and Stone's acting salvages it.
What's happening with Harry, Oscorp, and the mystery of Peter's father is definitely the most interesting
part of the film. Everything with Electro however, falls flat for me. Personally, I felt Jamie Foxx was miscast. Maybe not as Electro, but as Max Dillon. I found Dillon to be a very annoying, unlikeable character with little to no development. Sure, he's lonely, he's obsessed with Spider-Man, but why? If you cut the Electro stuff out of this, I think The Amazing Spider-Man 2 would have been a better film. I guess they're really rushing to form that Sinister Six team-up though. By the way, did I mention Paul Giammati is in this too as The Rhino? Jeez…
You can see hints in the trailers of this film (and the last one) that there were some "big picture stuff" cut out. For what reason is unclear, but maybe there are some things in this franchise that shouldn't have been left on the cutting room floor, and some things that should have.
While The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is an uneven film, that sadly only offers more of the same in the comic book-film genre, there's plenty to enjoy. Our two leads are again great, with a (mostly) strong supporting cast. Plenty of stellar action, heart twisting drama and emotion, you can still see the good in this film. Unlike the enthusiastic crowd I saw the film with, I'm probably not as eager for repeat viewings. No applause from me, but a tip of the hat there, Spidey.
