Film The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Personally I felt the movie was good.

Ah yes the two villains. Not exactly too many. The parent subplot is actually very important to the overall plot, so not sure if it could really be called a subplot...

Also, don't trust the trailers, they are lies.

Spoiler: movie spoiler enter at own risk

If anyone says "No it was three. There was Electro, Green Goblin, and the Rhino." Well the Rhino wasn't revelevant until the very end of the movie and the fight with him only began before being cut to black and the credits rolled.

And do yourself a favor, don't bother staying for the credits. The credits scene is just a sneak peek for X-Men and nothing at the end either which was disappointing.

 

Marc Webb owes Fox a movie, but he's pretty much tied up with Sony and his ASM franchise so Fox is giving him some leeway if he advertised X-Men: Days of Future Past somehow so he threw in a scene that wasn't in the trailers featuring

Spoiler

Mystique, Havoc, the new Toad, and two mutants who seem to be Ink and a new version of Quill (called Kid Omega in The Last Stand)

The scene's already online if you don't want to watch it after ASM2 (or if you're like me and really had to pee at that point).

Okay, so I finally got to see the movie. I gave it a day to digest before I came here to post my thoughts so...here they are.

Spoiler

First off, I loved the movie. It wasn't perfect, but I think it was great. The movie was really long, but it had several plots. Yeah, it was a bit...convoluted, but I think its runtime let it give ample time to (almost) everything (was the movie extra long? It felt really long to me. Not saying it's a bad thing, I barely noticed if it was "running over," but I felt like I was in the theatre for quite a bit). Most of the subplots seemed to lead up to the main one at the end or into each other in some way. Norman should have had some more screen time and I really wish they didn't cut the lines about Oscorp keeping tabs on Peter and Harry actually showing some affection for Peter while Norman brushes him off ("What about Peter?" "Not everyone gets a happy ending" Both of those scenes were cut from the film and I think it really would have helped the Peter/Harry dynamic).

The story, like I said, had a bit too much going on without...really having too much going on. Does that make sense? So much stuff was going on, but, for me at least, you really weren't thinking about the other plots while the movie was focusing on one for the most part. That may just be me. Besides that, I give the story (pre-final battle story) a B. I don't like how much the series is focused on Peter's personal past and tying that into everything; even if it's more focused on his parents (well, more-so his dad. Come on, Mary gets no love?). I know the comic books have actually played with this in the past, but one of the biggest things about Spider-Man that I love is his sense of responsibility and guilt and most of that comes from his life AFTER he becomes Spider-Man. The film series on the other hand sometimes feels like it wants to give you a bunch of cliffhangers to keep you coming. It's not really a terrible strategy, but I don't think it's a good one either.

On the actors themselves: everyone was perfect except for Norman, in my opinion. For the sake of the movie, I understand his portrayal since he was pretty much a background presence the entire time, but I really wanted someone to HATE. I guess it works out. You don't have to hate him as much as in the past because he's not really Peter's arch-nemesis.
Garfield still strikes it better than Tobey did, in my opinion. I still say he's perfect for the role. He hit the every aspect of Peter he was given perfectly and then some, not to mention the stuff he himself added to the role. I still love seeing Peter's scientific side. And maybe it's because I have daddy issues, but the scenes involving Peter talking about his parents still pulls at my heartstrings easily. His wit, both as Spider-Man and as Peter, was spot-on. He showed a subtle difference between playing Peter and playing Spider-Man, but there was still enough of both with or without the suit. His love for Aunt May? Perfect.
Emma Stone...is still flawless as Gwen. At first, I thought the scene after she slammed Electro with a car (nod to the Ultimate Death of Spider-Man, except with Gwen instead of Mary Jane and Electro instead of Goblin, maybe?) was a little off for her when she was yelling at Peter, but then it hit me that she was telling her that no one makes her decisions for her as a way of telling Peter to stop letting the memory of her dad define their relationship. At least, that's the way I see it. The first version of her speech at the beginning was too...obvious and I think the full version at the end was too convenient and not really what I expected her to say to her graduating classmates, but besides that, god, I love her in that role.
Jamie Foxx's Electro was a bit weird at times. I mean, it's obvious that he's really bright, but not right in the head, but his obsession with Spider-Man was a bit...much. And then his hate for Spider-Man? Still a bit much, but considering that he had some kind of issues in his head, was practically in love with Spidey, and then felt betrayed, I think the hate worked better than the obsession. Also, I know a lot of people were so keen on the music playing that pretty much gave away Electro's thoughts, but I enjoyed it. I mean, it gave an easy transition from Spidey-love to Spidey-hate. Without hearing those voices, the sudden about-face would have seemed off. Also, who's to say that the voices weren't in his head and the music just played at the same time? Naming himself "Electro" seemed weird at first until I remembered how obsessed he was with Spider-Man. He only ever wanted to be a hero (and Gwen's replacement, probably) so why not give himself a theatric name like Spider-Man' did?
Paul Giamatti was a bit...much as Rhino, but considering that he wanted to play it as over-the-top as possible, I think he succeeded. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?) he didn't have enough screen time for me to decide whether or not I liked him. Kudos to having Rhino print underwear, though lol
BJ Novak's Alistair Smythe was definitely someone I enjoyed disliking. AND THE FACT THAT HE'S OBVIOUSLY BEING USED AS PRECURSOR TO SPIDER-SLAYER? HELL YES. I'm wondering if he'll be the bad guy for ASM3? I mean with the Sinister Six becoming a spin-off, he'd be a good way of keeping the antagonists connected to Oscorp for the main series. There's a chance he won't really become Spider-Slayer or invent them (in place of his dad), but I feel like they would have created an original character for that small role (like the Lizard's boss in the first one) instead of using an existing one. Or maybe, if Electro really did die, he'll be taking the spot we assumed Electro would have in the Sinister Six?
Felicity Jones as Felicia: is she Felicia Hardy? Was it ever confirmed? Is she going to become Black Cat or not? I think so. The personality seemed like it was leading to that; she always seemed like she was plotting ahead or thinking "how is this situation going to be useful to me?" Plus, Felicity is really cute.
Stan Lee as that guy who's in every movie: I think it's funny that he says "I think I know that guy!" but I didn't like the actual situation he was. One of the worse cameos, I think.

The one I really wanted to talk about: Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborn! First off, isn't it funny that the friend-turned-bad guy from Chronicle is the friend-turned bad guy in Spider-Man and the guy he killed in Chronicle is going to be Human Torch? I think so. Anyway, I feel like Harry and Peter happened to be too good of friends for two guys who haven't seen other since they were like 12. Besides that, I really think Dane his role perfectly in the way that Andrew did. I mean, he's definitely not the Harry I know from the comics nor even the previous movies, but he definitely the movie's character perfectly. I felt for him, I hoped for him, I cheered for him, Hell, I sympathized for him. But at the end? I hated him. He did the unthinkable act. And through it all, I understood him. I empathized with him at everything he did. The laugh he did when he first showed up as the Goblin was spectacular and gave me chills. I like the mutation look, but I don't understand why the ParkerDNA/SpiderVenom serum made him look like that? Besides that, I never put two and two together that if the Goblin kills Gwen in this movie and if Harry is the Goblin, then that meant that Harry would be killing her if it happened. It hit me right when he first showed up and noticed that Gwen was there (and you could actually see him rationalize Spider-Man's identity even if he didn't recognize Peter's voice somehow. That suspense kept me at the edge of my seat throughout the whole fight. I swear, my heart would race during faster points and time would slow down during the more suspenseful moments. I almost shat myself each time Peter caught Gwen or dove after her. And when the web jerked, I hoped for one split second that Marc Webb was going to surprise me andEmmawouldliveforatleastonemoremov-THUD. My heart stopped and I realized I was biting my hands the whole time. I think her death was handled very well (although a clocktower isn't a timeless image like a bridge is). However, a) Harry getting knocked unconscious seemed too easy and b)I still think it would have had more of an impact if they did in the third movie and gave us a little more time with Gwen, but...I don't think I could have handled more impact than that lol
Maybe it's just me and with what Spider-Man means to me as a person, and knowing this part of his history, seeing her death hit me hard.

The ending was on a much lighter note and I think handled Peter's grief well (Though I still think her speech was too convenient too be plausible, but I didn't really care because I could hear Gwen again and I don't think the movie would have let the audience get rid off a character they probably weren't ready to lose. Still, I do hope that we see him mourn her still in the third movie and not just moving on right away. Her chemistry with Garfield was just...really perfect. I think showing Peter completely broken at her death was a lot better in the movie than in the comic where he swore to kill the Goblin. My biggest gripe with Gwen's death, though, Harry and Peter didn't really seem like the type of arch-nemeses that would actually kill yet.

Seeing the Gentleman in the Hat again was a good scene in the movie, revealing that it wasn't Norman (who I thought it would be). Not sure how he knows Harry, though. For those who want to know who he is:

Spoiler

Gustav Fiers was a really wealthy enemy of Spider-Man who used his unlimited money to put the Sinister Six together. He hated Spider-man because Richard and Mary Parker were enemies of his father (he knows Peter is Spider-Man).

Apparently, he was actually supposed to be Electro initially, but that was changed.

Though the movie was long enough, I'm still a bit put off about not having Mary Jane in the movie. I mean, I wasn't happy with her casting, but I think it would be a bit more of a vital plotpoint that she and Gwen knew each other before Gwen died. Still, I don't think the movie could have handled one more subplot.


tl;dr: I liked it. Now to wait for ASM3, Sinister Six, and Venom. Plus, I really liked the soundtrack.

/Bueno'sHighReviewoftheDay

Also, funny story. The scene right where Electro showed up, right after he absorbed the car's electricity, the power in our theatre turned off for a minute. It finally came back on and the manager told us that they had a power surge and it should be back up in about ten minutes, right where the movie left off. Eventually, the sound came back, but not the video. After twenty minutes of that, people started leaving. A different manager promised us it would be fixed in five minutes and we told her that we were told that earlier. She seemed surprised and personally gave everyone a free pass to a movie since ours was the only room to not have been working still. The movie started again right after that, though about fifteen minutes behind. Jesus, I went to the 10:50 show and I got home at 2:30. But hey, free pass.

 

So I still have this to watch, which I'm hearing people are saying bad things about, and I'm skipping over the last few posts about the movie because I'd rather not spoil myself too much, but I really want to watch it. I just have to save my money till my next paycheck :(. Not too mention Brick Mansion and Captain America. Good Lord I'm never going to see this film am I? I want to see how they continue with that parent plot, because I'm curious to see how it goes, especially since it's something different than most spider-man stuff (at least as far as I know)

 

It's a LOT better than The Amazing Spider-Man, to the point that I'd even put it slightly above Spider-Man 3, but of course still below Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2. I have mixed opinions on the new film:

+Spider-Man himself was fantastic. The amount of snark and fun he had really was great. His animation was just a joy to watch, but I cannot fault the older films for that part. They worked with what CGI they had. Still, I love that they went back to the classic suit. I honestly really disliked the suit in ASM1. It looked so awkward with the small, orange goggles, the lack of a belt, and those stupid shoes.
-Peter Parker himself...still don't care for. Andrew Garfield just does not convince me that he's an awkward but sympathetic nerdy guy, sorry. His comedic moments are great, but his serious, dramatic moments usually fall flat (though that's also given the context of a story about his parents that I don't care about.)
+Gwen Stacey was my second favorite character in the film. Emma Stone just makes her so much fun to watch, and I cared about what happened to her. I didn't like that she almost randomly worked for Oscorp in the first film, but it felt a little more natural here. A little.
-But....that scene. Anyone who knows the universe or saw the film knows which scene. That scene was so overdone, to the point of almost coming off as farcical to me. I was sad about what happened, but the over-reliance on the effects ruined it.
+Electro is one of the greatest villains in any Spider-Man film to date, following Doctor Octopus in SM2 and Green Goblin in SM1. His powers were incredible to see and hear, and the fact that he forced Spider-Man to rethink his strategy was really appreciated.
-Max however...his personality wore out its welcome after the first scene with Spidey. I get that they wanted to make him seem all dependent on other people's attention, but...jeez, there's a point that it just turns annoying and uninteresting.
-Harry Osborne was bad. Just...bad. I liked Dane DeHaan a lot in Chronicle, but his character here is just the typical one-dimensional ******bag with nothing interesting to say or do. James Franco was far superior as Harry.
+/-The Green Goblin looked good...up until the face. And I am still confused about his "birth" scene. Like, what exactly did that green stuff do again? And his motivation felt really weak to me, especially when put up against the motivation he had in the original film trilogy. His fight against Spider-Man was pretty good.
-Felicia Hardy working for Oscorp is stupid stupid stupid. Felicity Jones is perfectly cast for her, but the character makes no sense for being in this film. She felt crammed in just to prepare for the sequels (like most things in the film.)
-Rhino was horrible. The behavior, the action scenes, the outfit, the dialogue, the accent, all of it was just so uninteresting or bad. Sad that they wasted Paul Giamatti so badly.
-I feel like The Sinister Six and Venom are going to suck. WHY DOES EVERYONE HAVE TO BE OSCORP? For example, the fact that Doc Ock now is a volunteer who gets his arms rather than making them himself adversely affects him as a character because he's supposed to be really smart yet complex beyond just being evil. Alfred Molina's performance was perfect to convey that in Spider-Man 2.
-The planes almost crashing into each other...why include that in the film? Like...why?
+Harry making fun of how stupid the villain's plot of Amazing Spider-Man was (EVERYONE MUST BE LIZARDS) was pretty good.

Ultimately, I can't help but feel like this is as good as the new series will be getting. Almost good enough, and that's something I really really don't want to be saying. The writers and director just don't seem to know how to focus on actually giving Peter Parker/Spider-Man a focused story. Everything feels like it's ultimately just preparing for the next film, and the next film, to the point that I wonder if SPIDER-MAN will even play a pivotal role in the Sinister Six film. Ugh.

 

You know, after I've given some time after seeing the movie and I started thinking of it more and more... the movie really is that good. Rather bad actually.

 

So this is obviously a pretty polarizing movie, but I think we can all agree that this is one of the best looking superhero films out there,... right? And I don't mean quality of cg, though it is pretty darn good, I mean just overall aesthetic. The costume is easily the best of all the ones on film. Easily. And while I didn't hate the one before this, this one is perfect. And most importantly, the color palette. I know a lot of people had problems with the first one being too dark, though with it being a fairly bleak story, I don't think muted colors are out of place. And let's be honest, it's not that dark. But 2 got it perfectly. Those colors, man. I can't get enough.

This movie looks stunning. Spider-Man has never looked better on screen, and I dare say no superhero has looked better either.

 

I can agree with you there. The visuals were really well-done, from cinematography to costume design/makeup...except for the Green Goblin and Rhino. And even though I liked Electro, his outfit, aside from the meter thing on his head, was pretty forgettable. Still, I loved the suit for Spidey, even if the change in suits wasn't given an explanation (as far as I remember.)

 

Hey, I would rather have a forgettable suit than that yellow/green abomination. And since this franchise is taking a lot of cues from Ultimate, the costume is somewhat source-accurate so I'm not complaining too much. And the guys blue and made of electricity doing Dr. Manhattan-style stunts lol. He doesn't need a good costume to be remembered imo. I liked the lightning bolts on it. What won me over was the scene where he and Harry enter the office and you can see the full costume, it looked nice. Okay. Just looking at Green Goblin's costume, I don't hate it. I do hate it for still being some dumb suit like in Raimi's (though it looks infinitely better), and since they already had him becoming goblin-like I have to wonder why they couldn't have just done something with that. But I do think overall he looks kinda cool. I never got a good look at the glider though. And that laugh. I got so excited in the theater when I heard it. I really don't like Rhino at the end. It's like they were trying to do Rhino without doing Rhino. First of all, how dumb is it that a GIANT RHINO SUIT has guns. Come on. But at the same time, we got a Rhino suit and that's pretty cool.

I think the change in his costume without explanation is a simple matter of "you know what, this looks better in every way so let's just pretend it was always like this." I don't really need an explanation as long as they just go with it. I'm more than willing to look the other way and not ask questions given how beautiful it is. finally eyes that are white and the perfect shape. i cant get over those eyes.

 

I honestly hated how the Green Goblin's looked in this film, at least neck up. His face looked ugly, yet uninteresting. At least Raimi tried to do the mask thing, and I really wish they stuck with that even if it would have "scared the younger audiences." I will agree that the suit he wore was better though, there isn't much comparison. And DeHaan's laugh...really unimpressive, sorry. Seriously, when I heard it, I said out loud "...really?" Again, loved him in Chronicle, but NOTHING he did worked for me in this film. And I don't really feel strongly either way for the Raimi Goblin. The coloring was perfect, but the details were...average.

Electro's suit wasn't really bad to me, just, again, forgettable. I've yet to hear anyone really talk about it. But I'm glad to see a collective dislike for how Rhino looked. I was going to be ok with the mech-like decision, but they botched the hell out of it with the T-rex hands, machine guns, and overall awkward look.

Yeah, the explanation for a new suit isn't necessary but I still personally wanted one :|

 

Yeah I've seen the mask and really wish it had stayed. I'm still pulling for a classic Goblin at some point, even if it is the Ultimate look which I love and thought we were going to get in some capacity in this one given the transformation sequence.

Well, agree to disagree I guess. I liked him as Harry and GG, though not so much what he was given to do.

And I was really excited for mech Rhino (before I saw any pictures) because I thought we were going to get something like Ultimate Rhino (awesome) but instead we got Michael Bay Transformer Rhino. talk about disappointment.
and I didn't even notice what the hands looked like. I was too distracted that he had GUNS. ugh. and as soon as he got down on all 4s my thought was "nope. you've totally ruined it."

Costumes are still a thing superhero films are trying to get right and this absolutely blows my mind considering we have a guy in a red and blue suit swinging around on webs.