The Amazing Spider-Man 2
The obvious point to be made here is that not only is this yet another sequel, it’s also a sequel to a reboot to a film series that was barely a decade old the first time around. And so it is again, with this reboot sequel coming ten years after the best film in the original trilogy.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Director: Marc Webb
Writers: Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Jeff Pinker, James Vanderbilt
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Dane DeHaan, Jamie Foxx, Sally Field, Paul Giamatti
Runtime: 142 minutes
Certification: 12A
Rating: 3/5
The obvious point to be made here is that not only is this yet another sequel, it’s also a sequel to a reboot to a film series that was barely a decade old the first time around. And so it is again, with this reboot sequel coming ten years after the best film in the original trilogy._ The Empire Strikes Back_ of Spider-Man, if you will (you don’t have to, it’s okay).
The opening instantly goes back to the big unresolved mystery of the first film: the sudden disappearance of Peter’s parents. There’s a few repeated shots, and then a hefty dose of extra explanation (and even some action), but it’s all still very confusing. Which is kind of good. It’s an interesting mystery, but it was never the strong point of the first film and it’s not the strong point again here.
No, that honour once again goes to the chemistry between Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone as Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy (respectively, obviously). Their scenes are, if not the best in the film, certainly among the strongest performance and direction-wise, as Webb’s rom-com roots continue to shine through. The film invests a hefty chunk of its running time in their relationship, although at an already extensive 142 minutes’ worth of screen time you can’t help but feel like maybe one or two of the slower scenes could have been dropped (or at the very least, trimmed down) in favour of pushing the plot forwards.
Actually pushing the plot forwards (and threatening to steal the show into the bargain) is left mostly to the trio of villains that face off against Spidey this time around. Avoiding the trap of Spider-Man 3, which ended up juggling too many problems and collapsing under its own weight, _The Amazing Spider-Man 2 _manages to allow each villain space to breathe, giving them organic origin stories that eventually tie together nicely. Paul Giamatti seems to be having the most fun enjoying the taste of scenery as Alexsei Sytsevich, future Rhino, but the main enemies here are Jamie Foxx’s Electro and Dane DeHaan’s Green Goblin. Pre-transformation, Foxx is endearingly bumbling as the socially awkward Max Dillon (even if some of his motivations do feel a little shoe-horned in to give him a strong enough reason to fight Spider-Man, Foxx plays it just right), while DeHaan’s Harry Osborn is in stark contrast to the newly confident, swaggering Peter – a bundle of twitchy, nervous energy just waiting to explode.
And explode he does, and all in slightly useless 3D. The action scenes are bigger (and arguably) better than before, Webb seemingly feeling a little more confident this time, but with Electro’s bolts firing off left, right and centre and a lot usually going on, sometimes the screen can get a little too busy, making some of the action beats a little harder to follow. Nothing particularly major, just a minor quirk that will almost certainly get ironed out come the third (and fourth, that’s a thing too) film.
Plot-wise, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is somewhat hit-and-miss, with the mystery of the parents being resolved in a decidedly rapid and anticlimactic fashion (a consequence, no doubt, of some brutal editing to cut the run-time, or perhaps a side-effect of the alterations made in the first film that removed whole swathes of material on the same subject), although there are some events with resounding implications for the future films. It’s worth noting that Shailene Woodley’s scenes as Mary Jane were cut from the film (probably a good thing, on reflection, it was already long enough), but there’s a clear direction for the series to go from here, a clarity aided by the introduction of the Sinister Six come the film’s close. There’s still some issues with pacing, and with character development, but it’s an improvement over the first film’s issues. It’s a blast to watch, albeit one which fails to stick in the memory. The only way is up for the reboot, and if the third film can keep up the pace this series could soon exceed the originals (although Spider-Man 2 remains, I think, the best entry so far).
