Friday, May 2, 2014

The Amazing Spider-man 2 (2014): Review

Tonight for Friday night movie night I went and saw the newest Marvel movie The Amazing Spider-man 2, the second installment of the reboot of Spider-man staring Andrew Garfield as the Peter Parker A.K.A Spider-man. I am happy to say that it was a solid movie and a good all around family film.  It had comedy, drama, and action in spades.  I was hoping to enjoy it as I think Andrew Garfield is adorable as Peter and liked The Amazing Spider-man (2012) but as Spider-man is not my favorite all the super heroes I wasn't sure. After watching it, I will have to go back and watch The Amazing Spider-man (2012) because I don't really remember what happened in it and with my crazy work week this week I was unable to watch it before.  Although I didn't really remember what happened in the first movie of this reboot it seemed like just knowing the basic Spider-man stuff from that movie was enough.  That Peter Parker became Spider-man when he was bitten by a Oscorp spider. Oscorp is the evil company of the Spider-man cannon.  He lives with his Aunt May who raided him along with his Uncle Ben, who was killed in the last movie.  He is dating Gwen Stacey who's father was a police officer who died in the previous movie and wanted Peter to stay away from Gwen for her safety.

In The Amazing Spider-man 2, we start with a little more back story about Peter's parents and how they were killed but not before they managed to upload information to "Roosevelt."  We jump to present day where Spider-man is saving the day from bad guys but is called out by his girlfriend Gwen Stacey, played by Emma Stone, because it is their graduation.  Throughout the movie there are ups and downs in their relationship but the undercurrent is that they both love and have strong feelings for each other.  Spider-man saves a man, Max, played by Jamie Foxx, who works for Oscorp and only wants others to notice him.  Max fixates on Spider-man but then gets caught in his own disaster and turns into Elextro, Feeling betrayed by Spider-man he goes on a rage to bring down the city which never appreciated him. The question is can Spider-man prevent this from happening and what will it cost him.  The movie also includes Sally Field as Aunt May and Dane Dehaan as Harry Osborn.

This movie had all that I like for a big budget family action movie, it had action sequences, comedy, heart, and drama while still keeping it on a level that is appropriate for most older children.  There are some scary parts that would be too much for the younger kids but the older boys will definitely love it.  The humor is woven in to the movie, but was focused in the beginning and I found myself laughing out loud at some parts.  Sally Field as Aunt May really brought in the heart and drama of the movie and Sally showed what a great actress she is and I fell in love with Aunt May and believed her struggle with the whole situation she is in.   She helped ground the movie and through caring about her, I cared about Peter. I like Andrew Garfield as Peter mainly because he is just adorable in that I guess I will let you get away with being allusive way and could by why Gwen kept coming back to him.  I through Jamie Foxx was okay as Elextro, but I had trouble with him as this villain.  I thought that the fact that he was the villain was built up in the promotions for the movie, but I had difficulty really having any contempt for him, even after he started killing people and really falling into the baddie role.  Because of all the things he went through, I felt for him as a forgotten troubled man and never had a chance to build up the belief in him as the main villain.  I went through that process more with the Green Goblin then with Elextro.
Overall I liked the story and where it took Peter, but there was something toward the end of the film that I didn't really like.  Apparently it was inline with the Spider-man cannon but I still didn't like it, I know it helps with the emotional arc and troubledness of the story but I still didn't like it.

I did go see this movie in 3D and some of the swing through the city was cool but I kinda forgot about the 3Dness, I think this means that it wouldn't have mattered if I had seen it in 2D.  The main thing that bugged me was during the beginning action sequences it looked more like a video game and that took me out of the movie a little.  I like characters being introduced as the actors and not a CGI sequences of them.

Like I said, I was a solid family action film and I think I will try and go back and watch The Amazing Spider-man (2012) this weekend to refresh myself on that story.

My rating: 3-

3 comments:

  1. Can't wait to see it. I loved the previous film, Marc Webb did such an amazing job with Spider-Man.

    By the way, I've been reading most of your recent posts, and I really enjoyed your comments on Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

    I just wrote a short review about it; in case you're interested you can check it out here:

    http://artbyarion.blogspot.com/

    Cheers!

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    1. Thanks for the support I always appreciate any feedback.

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  2. I can't just just to see The Amazing Spider-Man 2. I watch the previous movie and it is awesome.

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