Review: The Amazing Spider Man 2

We begin with Peter Parker struggling with his obvious feelings for Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), but also the promise he made at the end of the first film to her policeman father (Denis Leary), to stay away from her for her safety. Gwen, by the way, works for OsCorp, but is considering a scholarship at Oxford. Meanwhile, a lonely nerd engineer has an accident at OsCorp, turning him into the all-powerful Electro, who demands everyone notice him. Dane DeHaan plays Harry Osborn, an old acquaintance of Peter’s who takes over the family business from rich, dead daddy (Chris Cooper). Unfortunately, not only does Harry get drunk on power, he also inherits a family illness and needs Peter to ask his good buddy Spider Man to hand over some of his blood to save him. When Spidey says ‘Nah, fuck that shit’, Harry goes a bit evil and a whole lotta green, leaving Spider Man with two villains to take down. Also causing a bit of havoc, is Russian-accented Aleksei Sytsevich (Paul Giamatti), a looney mobster thug who has an early skirmish with Spider Man, and turns up again at the end, new and improved as Rhino. Sally Field returns as Peter’s Aunt, whilst Colm Feore and Felicity Jones have small roles as OsCorp employees.

 

I thought the previous “Amazing Spider Man” movie from Marc Webb (it was only his second film as director after “(500) Days of Summer”) bordered dangerously close on being a bad film, but he has steered this 2014 sequel somewhat in the right direction. However I’m yet to see a single “Spider Man” film that I can whole-heartedly recommend. Scripted by Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci (“Star Trek”, the first two “Transformers”), and Je Pinkner, the film definitely improves on the previous film in several areas. Peter Parker is far less of a Spider Douche, for instance. Last time out the character was thoroughly unlikeable and pretty much to blame for a lot of bad stuff that happened in the film (Thankfully his status as the ‘black death’ of comic book heroes only rears its ugly head once at the end of the film). He bordered on being the villain last time if you ask me. He seems mostly over that self-absorbed douchy behaviour now, and thus Andrew Garfield is much more palatable in the film, if still nowhere near geeky enough to convince as Peter Parker. The spidey suit sure is cool-looking, though. I also kinda liked how Peter struggled with the promise he made to Gwen’s dad (Denis Leary, happy they found a way to include him in the sequel) to keep her from harm and stay away from her. It helps make him seem more mature this time out and less of a dick. Andrew Garfield’s designer ‘bed hair’ still bothers the crap out of me, however.

 

Meanwhile, Gwen Stacy may not be much of a character, but Emma Stone manages to make her far less ‘Emma Stone-ish’ this time around, which is a great thing for me because I find Emma Stone insufferably snarky and “Juno”-esque. She’s genuinely acting for a change, albeit in a thankless role. So that’s another major improvement. Meanwhile, Dane DeHaan instantaneously proves to be the best Harry Osborn/Green Goblin to date (Yes, he’s the Green Goblin, not Green Goblin II), with all due respect to James Franco (who can be brilliant on frustratingly rare occasions that don’t include “Spider Man” films). Not only does he look somewhat goblin-esque (I swear Emma Stone has a Gremlin head. Not an insult, just an opinion), but he’s excellent in his performance. Unlike the Sam Raimi films, Peter and Harry aren’t as close this time, or at least they’ve been separated for quite a while, which is an interesting change. He’s the big standout in the film for me, even if there’s more than a little of Andrew from “Chronicle” here, somewhat unavoidably. In fact, it’s probably Jamie Foxx’s character who ultimately becomes a bit like that character. As good as DeHaan is, however, I hope he never plays another comic book villain again. He’ll get typecast if he’s not careful (Then again, you only need to look to Mr. Franco to see that going the other extreme of branching out isn’t always fruitful, either. Just ‘coz you can appear on “General Hospital” and in a Jason Statham film doesn’t mean you necessarily should). Good cameo by a very green Chris Cooper as Osborn Sr., too, though it’s weird the role is so tiny. I think he gets about as much time as Stan Lee’s cameo (With even more of a wink and a nod than his other cameos).

 

When Jamie Foxx first turned up in mannered nerd genius mode here, I had seriously bad Richard Pryor in “Superman III” vibes. Thankfully they don’t go there, and whilst not as effective as DeHaan, Foxx’s Electro proves to be a pretty decent villain. He’s more Doc Ock meets Ed Nigma meets “Chronicle” than Richard Pryor, ultimately. His character is definitely a villain, but there’s also some sympathy there because he’s the result of an accident and can’t help himself. Beneath the dangerous electricity lies a dork who just wanted to be remembered by somebody. It’s a shame that Foxx’s performance is somewhat hampered by the FX, because the character itself isn’t exactly uninteresting. It’s just hard for Foxx to do anything with all the CGI. For all the Jamie Foxx allowed to come out, he might as well have been covered in latex or prosthetics or something.

 

The third villain in a film that really only ought to have had one, is Rhino, played in very, very broad fashion by Paul Giamatti with a Russian accent. Some might be turned off by Giamatti’s approach, but I found him such a hoot that I felt ripped off that he was only in the beginning and climax of the film. There’s a chance that he may get more to do in a subsequent film, but the way he is kind of treated as a bit of an ineffectual tool by Spider Man, makes me think not. In a genre where things can get all too mopey and existential, Giamatti is…fun. Remember fun, folks? Yeah, it’s not a given with the superhero genre these days. Giamatti is genuinely funny and steals his two scenes easily.

 

The film has several funny moments, actually, especially when you hear what Peter Parker’s ringtone is. But…I’m still not quite on board with this one. Yes, it makes some improvements, but not enough. As much as the film contains the best Spidey swinging footage to date, I was mostly resistant to the work of Director of Shaky-cam Dan Mindel (“Star Trek Into Darkness”) here. Early on it rears its ugly head for a fight on a plane, and no it isn’t to replicate the turbulence on the plane, it’s for the fight/struggle. And it’s dopey and unnecessary. I also think Webb indulges in way too much slow-mo, but that’s a minor complaint by comparison. The film ultimately overdoses on talk and has way too many characters. Not only do we have three villains fighting for screen time, but Colm Feore does the best with the very little he’s afforded, and poor Felicity Jones may just have the least-defined role played by a name actor of the year. She’s a real talent, and it’s a shame to see her afforded so damn little here. Her role seems over before it really gets integrated into the film. Marton Csokas, meanwhile, turns up as the Man in Black from “Halloween 5”. What? That’s all I could get from what we see of him, OK? None of the characters are boring, they just don’t all get enough room to breathe.

 

This is definitely an improvement over the previous film, but with too many characters to properly deal with and much more talk than action, it’s just watchable at best. “Spider Man” fans might appreciate it more, though, and the ending is somewhat ballsy for reasons best discovered yourself.

 

Rating: C+