By Brett Blake THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 has no business being as good as it is. It’s got a fairly messy, muddled screenplay, and it’s longer than it should be, but when it’s clicking, it’s first class blockbuster entertainment. It never becomes the ultra-satisfying total package that, say, 2004’s SPIDER-MAN 2 (golly, has it really been ten years since that came out?!) was (and still is), but it easily surpasses its immediate predecessor in this new line of Spider-Man adventures. The story this time out finds Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield) in a groove as a crime fighter, while also dealing with his on again/off again/on again relationship with Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone). Into this picture arrives Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx), a semi-dweeby, down-on-his-luck electrical engineer who begins to develop a fixation on Spidey. Also along for the ride is Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), who is Peter’s childhood friend and son of the reclusive industrialist Norman Osborn (Chris Cooper, very creepy in a cameo appearance), the founder of the vaguely-sinister science and technology firm known as Oscorp. These strands weave in and around each other as Dillon finds himself transformed into a superpowered, electricity-manipulating villain - Electro - by forces at Oscorp, while Peter begins to uncover a conspiracy involving the Osborns, Oscorp, and his long-missing parents. Then throw in Sally Field returning as Peter’s Aunt May (who gets a truly superb and emotional scene about halfway through) and Paul Giamatti showing up for a cameo as a very angry Russian mobster, and you’ve got one stacked deck, which ends up being just a little bit of a problem (more on that below). Let’s talk first about what’s good, and thankfully there’s a lot. Chiefly, the character of Peter Parker/Spider-Man is very well-served by this story. Andrew Garfield continues to blaze his own trail as Peter Parker, and he’s terrific; the script allows Spidey to be even more of a wiseacre when fighting crime this time, and Garfield’s more than up to that task, but when called upon to display affability and just all-around good guy-ness, he carries that off with ease. There’s a wonderful little throwaway moment during a montage that involves Spider-Man saving a young boy from some bullies and then subsequently walking that boy home that sums up everything I think Spider-Man should be. Also great - the strongest element of the movie, in fact - is the central relationship between Peter and Gwen. I’m sure it helps enormously that Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield are a real life item, but their chemistry jumps right through the screen, and the writing for the moments between these two is surprisingly delicate, naturalistic, and affecting. I want to touch on something else involving this relationship, but to do so will involve delving into spoilers. If you’ve seen the film (or don’t care about having major, gigantic plot developments spoiled), read on for further comments. Otherwise, skip down past this section. SPOILERS SECTION I I I I I I Okay, so one of the most hallowed parts of Spider-Man comics lore is the storyline dealing with the death of Gwen Stacy. Since the first AMAZING SPIDER-MAN film, fans of the comics have been assuming that - at some point - this movie franchise would tackle that pivotal moment, and it indeed does arrive in THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2. Whether the choice to kill Gwen Stacy works as an organic part of the story or not, I would defy anybody who’s followed this movie’s marketing campaign to claim that her death is a surprise. Countless trailers and television spots have been built entirely around the sequence in which she dies, and have focused on her character in extreme jeopardy. It got to the point where the studio seemed to be pushing the idea so hard - so incessantly - that I began to think it was a fake-out. I bring this up simply to say this: even though I knew (mostly) that she was not going to make it out of the movie alive, the sequence in which Gwen dies is VERY effective; Garfield sells the hell out of his reaction to it, and it’s a testament to him, Stone, and director Marc Webb that the scene has a power and weight that transcends the lack of a surprise factor. Anyway, we now return to our regularly-scheduled programming. I I I I I I END SPOILERS SECTION As one of the movie’s principal antagonists (that’s in the trailers, so it’s not a spoiler), Dane DeHaan tears into the role of Harry Osborn with visible pleasure, and while the character is written in a more broad way than I might have liked, DeHaan makes it work. He brings a sense of resentment and anger towards his father and his company that nicely parallels the angst and uncertainty Peter feels regarding his own parents. When the character reveals his true colors, it’s appropriately unsettling and unhinged. Now, we finally must arrive at the movie’s biggest flaw - the screenplay is juggling too many ideas, subplots, and characters. Principally, the character of Electro is poorly handled, and seems like he’s off in his own, far goofier film for much of the running time. His storyline and the Harry Osborn storyline never feel like they’re related, either thematically or plot-wise. Sure, they do eventually collide, but it’s a forced marriage. The heavy hand of the studio is felt here, as if they surely mandated Electro’s inclusion to start paving the way for the already-announced SINISTER SIX villains spin-off film that’s coming down the road in a couple years. Additionally, Electro’s motivations are - frequently - inexplicable and arbitrary. Max Dillon goes bad because… well, because the movie needs a primary villain. His motivation for turning evil is - no kidding - the exact same rationale that 1995’s BATMAN FOREVER employed with Jim Carrey’s Riddler. The movie would have been much stronger and more streamlined without Max Dillon/Electro, even if the action involving the character is legitimately great. Oh, right, the action! The depiction of Spidey in all his webslinging glory is often a flat-out spectacular amount of fun, displaying a beautifully oversaturated color palette and a vibrancy that recalls the marvelous “splash” pages one finds in the source comic books. Some of the CGI is a bit dodgy at times, but the energy and dynamic staging more than make up for that. I know I singled out Electro’s inclusion as a flaw of the story (and I stand by that), but the sequence in which he makes his first big superpowered appearance is a highlight of the film, starting small and then building up into a grandiose setpiece that’s packed with great moments. The movie’s tech credentials are what you would expect them to be; the film looks and sounds very slick, but the most surprising element just might be Hans Zimmer’s score, which is refreshingly unlike any of his recent work. There’s a bright, almost shimmering quality that suggests the science-y, tech-y undercurrents, and his buzzing, humming, whispering material for Electro - while probably a harsh listen on its own - fits perfectly. His theme for Spider-Man himself, though simplistic, is big, bold, and hummable, which is just how I like my superhero themes to be. I don’t want to undersell how disjointed and overstuffed I think this movie’s screenplay is, but I need to be honest, here: the movie gets far more right than it does wrong. The strength of the acting, the central Peter/Gwen relationship, and the action are more than enough to push this over the top into legitimately “good” territory. THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 - flaws and all - is not a guilty pleasure. It’s simply a pleasure, period.
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