Since the nonsense that was Spider-man 3 with Tobey MaGuire, I’d lost interest in the franchise. I used to watch the Spider-man cartoons as a kid, but Peter Parker was like Captain Planet- full of bad one-liners. I’ve always found the Wall Crawler to a bit annoying. Actually, I loved him in Marvel’s Civil War and I enjoyed Ultimate Spider-man Vol. 1. Let’s just say, I go back and forth with this superhero.
When Marvel came out with the The Amazing Spider-man, I paid no attention to it- even after I heard the positive reviews. I didn’t care. Same for Spider-man 2. I didn’t even look at the trailers until I saw the preview before Captain America 2. I was blown away. Spider-man 2 looked freaking epic.
I wanted to see it. After that, I watched the first Spider-man to prepare for the second one. Turns out, it was really good.
Spider-man 2 didn’t fall victim to the curse of the sequel. The visuals were amazing. The movie was fun to look at. Don’t worry, the special effects didn’t take place of the story.
Yes, there was a story. Actually, there were several. The writer’s packed a lot into this movie. They should’ve trimmed some things down. But, the crowded story line wasn’t something I noticed while watching the movie.
I was so invested in Peter, Gwen and Electro. We learned more about Peter’s father. We got some great character development out of Peter and Gwen. I liked Max/Electro. I wished the movie had focused on those aspects. Instead, for some reason, they decided to throw in Harry Osborn becoming Green Goblin.
He was not needed.
Because of the packed story line, the movie didn’t have time to fully flesh out certain things. Peter and Gwen graduated high school at the beginning of the movie. We saw what Gwen was doing in terms of college and a career. Aunt May mentioned Peter’s college tuition, but we never saw him go to class. He never mentioned college or a career path. We knew Peter was still selling his pictures of Spider-man.
When he wasn’t being Spider-man, he was at home in his room or chasing Gwen. The movie focused more on Peter as Spider-man. Nothing wrong with that. It did bother me, though, that the movie made Peter look like a free-loader while those around him were working hard-without donning a costume to fight crime. Seriously, the kid just graduated high school and they made him look like he was doing nothing. Fighting crime is all well and good, but Peter has a life outside of being Spider-man.
The movie should’ve had only one villain. Electro. They should’ve spent more time on him. I didn’t like how they ended it with him. He wasn’t really a bad guy. He was just pissed at everyone. He had every reason to be.
After he became Electro, it was like no one cared he was also Max- this poor nerdy guy who had been bullied at work and was mutated because the people at Oscorp were a bunch of bastards. Max was the invisible man in New York City. As someone who lives in Brooklyn, I could totally identity with that. The movie should’ve dug into that more. It was funny-and a little sad- when Max went all fanboy after Spider-man saved him.
Bottom line, Jamie Foxx as Electro- bought it.
A good portion of the story focused on Peter and Gwen’s relationship. At the end of the first movie, Gwen’s father’s dying words were for Peter to stay away from his daughter. We see Peter struggling with that in the second movie. It was well done. They didn’t kick up the angst to annoying levels. The mush was also at level I, someone who doesn’t like romance movies, could tolerate. Spider-man 2 hit you right in the gut. Gwen and Peter’s roller coaster relationship took a turn I did not see coming. I feel so bad for Peter.
The kid Spider-man facing off Rhino at the end was cool. Well played Marvel.
Spider-man 2 worked the 3D. Marvel seems to be getting better at it.
Despite its problems, The Amazing Spider-man 2 was an enjoyable movie. I don’t feel like I wasted my time and money. I might buy this one and I rarely buy movies. If Marvel comes out with a third one, I’d be on that.
