The Amazing Spider-Man 2
I haven't found many people who shared my love for the first of the Amazing Spider-Man films. I actually said at the time that I preferred it to "Avengers Assemble" and I continue to hold that opinion. I think part of the appeal is that I was a fan of the Spider-Man comics in my teens and it was great to finally see the character properly realised on the big screen. (I've never really thought that the character played by Tobey Maguire in Sam Raimi's films had much resemblance to Peter Parker.) The first Amazing Spider-Man film was laugh-out-loud funny, well choreographed, emotionally touching and a major selling point was the fantastic chemistry between Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacey. It was an absolute delight for me.
So with that in mind, it should come as little surprise that I didn't think this second Spider-Man movie was as good. While the studios have clear plans for the series to go on forever, the director Marc Webb has a trilogy of movies in mind before he passes the reins to a new director and this feels very much like an awkward middle-child of a trilogy.
But I should make clear right now that all the elements within the movie are brilliant. While comedy isn't the main focus and I didn't think this was quite as funny as the first film, there were points where I laughed out loud. The chemistry between Garfield and Stone is still smoking hot and now that Peter Parker is less awkward in the relationship, he's able to be extremely charming. Some of the funniest moments actually involve their realistic interactions as a couple. A major strength of this superhero franchise over any other is definitely that it is the only one where the love interest is a highlight rather than an obligatory extra.
There were complaints from the first film that Peter Parker was a bit of a tosser and while the filmmakers haven't decided to make him suddenly flawless, we can already see a much greater sense of responsibility in light of the events in the previous instalment.
All the performances in this sequel are brilliant. Emma Stone is as incredible as ever and she is very much the pro-active character rather than the damsel in distress. In fact I think it is vitally important to the way that this movie unfolds that the character of Gwen Stacey here is one that refuses to be helpless. Another rather cool element is that their shared understanding of science actively contributes to the storyline (though those who are more science-savvy will have to judge how well that actually worked).
Jamie Foxx is fantastic as the Oscorp maintenance worker with ultra-low self-esteem who becomes convinced that Spider-Man is his only friend. Paul Giamatti, however, has a smaller and basically a comic relief character. I mean, put it this way: We pretty much start the film with Giamatti's character speaking broken English in a Russian accent, while Spider-Man tries to stop him stealing a bunch of Plutonium. Cliched but entertaining and you can tell Giamatti is relishing every ridiculous moment of it.
Dane DeHaan is brilliant as the rich inheritor of the Oscorp estate and Peter's old friend from childhood. Admittedly the scene between him and Chris Cooper (playing his dying father) feels very As-You-Know-Joe to fill us in on their troubled relationship, but I guess after the complaints of the last movie, they don't want to leave anything unexplained.
Up and coming British actress Felicity Jones is sadly rather under-used here as Felicia Hardy, but I think she's being set up for a more important role in the next film (which is not much of an excuse, but is an okay consolation).
Not being familiar with the early comics, I hadn't realised that Felicia Hardy, one of Peter's many potential love interests in the cartoon, was actually the same character I had seen working with Peter against the villain 'Carnage' in the persona of 'Black Cat'.
The effects are gorgeous and we get to see some far more inventive useage of Spider-Man's powers than we have ever seen before. His super-strength powers are more evident than ever. And having got over the 'dark past' side of Spider-Man in the last movie, there's a wonderful sense of fun here. There are some very inventive and visually impressive moments and some very clever shots. One example would be an electricity-based villain standing in the middle of a road surrounded on both sides by cars with their lights flashing and their alarms going off - and at the end of the road? The bright lights of Times Square. It's one of many cool visual moments in the film. Another cool visual which some people might actually recognise from the trailer is Spider-Man being chased through electric pylons. I actually think I am going to enjoy this film even more when I rewatch it in 2D, since I find the 3D often detracts from my enjoyment of action scenes - partly because it reminds me that I'm watching a movie and partly because it darkens the image. (Though I'll admit that there wasn't the blurring and awkward focus that I've normally encountered in 3D films.)
"Amazing Spider-Man 2" wastes no time in filling us in on the "untold story" promised last time. The sequence at the beginning of the last movie is completely explained and Spider-Man's backstory is building up nicely. The problem is that overall, while this movie might have a great sense of fun and some wonderful character moments, its own plot is fairly simple, predictable and a little fragmented in its pacing and consistency. In the end, this is a film a little overly focussed on setting up a longer storyline. Still, while the overall plot might be a little lacking, the individual elements are fantastic.
I personally reckon that "Amazing Spider-Man 2" is still a better than average superhero movie and light years ahead of Raimi's three attempts, but I don't think it's on a par with Marvel Studio's post-Avengers efforts. Though goodness knows how anyone else would rank this. There seem to be people out there who think that Marvel Studios movies are getting worse and there are tons of people out there who hated the first Amazing Spider-Man movie and, of course, who loved Sam Raimi's movies. Perhaps the important point to make then is simply that "Amazing Spider-Man 2" is great fun. I think it would be fairly uncontroversial to argue that this is the least mopey Peter Parker has ever been in a Spider-Man film.
B+