Comic Books have become one of the main resources of source material that Hollywood uses for films, and the former occupants of the funny pages are now among the biggest draws in modern movie making. Over the last 15 years there has been a new movie about what was once deemed as 'kids stuff' dominating the Summer blockbusters. Now more than ever, comic book heroes have become even more interwoven into the hearts of the world.
This second chapter of the epic retelling of Marvel Comics most popular character stars Andrew Garfield (The Amazing Spider-Man), Emma Stone (Gangster Squad), Jamie Foxx (White House Down), Dane DeHaan (Chronicle), Chris Cooper (The Town), Sally Field (Lincoln), Paul Giamatti (Romeo and Juliet), Colm Feore (Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit), and Felicity Jones (Like Crazy).
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was highly anticipated, it's arrival at the cinema kicked off the Summer blockbuster season. It was also the first disappointment of 2014. It’s not a bad film by any means, however, it fails to meet the lofty standard and expectations that the success of the first film established. AM2 is a victim of the same problem that murdered the last film to feature the character before the current reboot of the franchise - it succumbs to the pressure of trying to include too much of Spider-Man's universe into one film, so the movie is just too convoluted. In attempting to set up even further sequels, Sony has rushed to include too much of the Comic Book's rich history and forgets to tell just this story in the process. In almost every way that 2012s The Amazing Spider-Man succeeded, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 fails.
Andrew Garfield continues to make the character of Spider-Man his own, he clearly embraces wearing the costume. There are number of scenes that felt like they were literally ripped from the pages of the comic and placed on screen, largely thanks to Garfield portrayal. He was better as Spider-Man in his second outing but worse in the continued updating of the Peter Parker aspect of the character. Since the debut of The Amazing Spider-Man, there has been an ongoing debate as to who is the better “Spider-Man” between the former Peter Parker (Toby Maguire) and the current, Andrew Garfield. AM2 does help to settle that debate. Maguire still has the better take on Parker while Garfield clearly is the better Spider-Man.
The film is saved by the great chemistry between Garfield and Emma Stone, in fact one of the best aspects of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is the Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy romance. This doomed love story is played out perfect and eloquently in this sequel, building on the foundation laid by the first film and continuing to dazzle audiences with quite possibly the best love story featured in a superhero film. The new additions to the franchise, Jamie Foxx and Dane Dehaan, both are at complete opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of performance. While the veteran Jamie Foxx seemed uncomfortable and unsure of how to approach his performance as a villain, Dehaan clearly embraces his role and was one of the better surprises of The Amazing Spider-Man2. Foxx’s pre-Electro performance of Max Dillion is nearly a copycat of Jim Carrey’s performance of pre-Riddler (Edward Nigma in Batman Forever) - but unfortunately nowhere near as entertaining. Thankfully, just like in his other superhero movie, Chronicle, Dehaan saves the day and delivers a masterful performance in extremely limited minutes.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is as big of a disappointment as there has been in recent years. It feels unoriginal and forced. While I loved Dane Dehaan as Harry Osbourne, he is the only aspect of the film that makes this worth watching. The sequel misses a lot of key connections to the original, it never shows how the Gwen/Peter relationship resumed, why the change in costume, and doesn’t contain enough aerial acrobatics. Where the first movie was fresh and original, this one just feels redundant.
Da’Mon is a writer and artist, a graduate of Coppin State University and an avid, life-long lover of film. Da'Mon has been actively writing movie reviews since 2011. Check out more of his work at Examiner.com, where he has published over 400 reviews. Visit his Blog and follow him on Twitter.
