The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - Review

I have never had an opinion change as much as this one. This movie still holds the record for the most times I have seen a movie in the theatre. After the first viewing on opening weekend, I remember walking out of the theatre and saying, "5/5 for sure! Amazing!" Then I decided to see it two more times at a cheap theatre near my house to show both my family and some of my other friends. I was starting to see more of the flaws after those three viewings, but that didn't stop me from seeing it again just because a girl I was into at the time wanted to go see it. It's been four years and I have recently re-watched the original trilogy. Now, I can safely say that I hate this movie. I can't believe I am saying that because I loved it when I saw it in the theatre. That was when I was young and childish and let my fanboy mind take the best of me. Does that mean that there is nothing in it to enjoy? No, but there is very little. Hans Zimmer gives a wonderful and powerful score and I think it would work absolutely perfectly if edited over one of the original Spider-Man films (maybe not 3). The final battle with Electro in the power plant and the final fight with the Green Goblin in the clock tower are fairly enjoyable to watch, but it would have been even more impactful if we cared about these characters and it wasn't just one big CGI mess. Peter Parker and Gwen Stacey have better chemistry than Peter Parker did with Mary Jane, but all I see is Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone flirting, I don't actually see the characters. Maybe I'm just being cynical because it is nice to see them on screen together. It was just good casting at the right timing for the romance aspect of this movie. There is one scene where Peter Parker saves some kid who was being bullied which I really liked because that captures the essence of Spider-Man. A kid who doesn't really fit in and is kind of dorky meets a hero like Spider-Man and he gets inspired. That is what Spider-Man should be, a hero and an inspiration. However, not enough of an inspiration to run in front of some giant mech-suit firing rockets in the middle of the street with a dorky Spider-Man outfit. That's about all I liked about this movie. Everything else I find so dumb, I really can't fathom how I was able to walk out of this movie and love it. From the moment this movie started watching it all these years later, I realized something was very wrong. The first Spider-Man films open with that classic opening credit sequence with Danny Elfman's score. It set the tone that the movie that was about to follow is going to be an uplifting epic tale about a superhero. Here, it feels like some uninteresting spy-thriller about government tracking documents about scientific research that contains blah blah blah who cares. What am I watching? Then the fun Spider-Man stuff happens and I notice that Spider-Man makes tons and tons of quips during this scene but it didn't feel authentic whatsoever. It felt like the filmmakers heard that the fanboys wanted more quips from Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man and said, "We have to overcompensate for lost ground in terms of quips." While Spider-Man is making jokes, I couldn't help but notice that the pedestrian death count must have been up to at least 6 at that point. Taxis are flying everywhere and quite a ton of stuff are being broken. So right off the bat you have clashing tones, and an overcompensation from the filmmakers in an attempt to appeal to hardcore Spidey fans. On top of that, Spider-Man sees Gwen Stacy's dad in his mind as he promised him in the last film that he would leave Gwen Stacey out of the picture to keep her safe. This leads to problem number three, too many plot lines. Didn't we learn from Spider-Man 3? Electro is basically the Riddler with new makeup with one of the most rushed super villains origins ever. Seriously, he loves Spider-Man and then the next day he wants to terrorize the city? Whatever, can't focus on that too much because we need room for Harry Osbourne who is played by Dane DeHaan who, I'm just being honest here, is awful. He acts like someone who hasn't acted before and is trying to be badass. He has a couple good moments at the end, but sorry man, damage is done. I can't take you seriously with that tone of voice and that delivery of dialogue. From there, it's just a jumbled mess. There is no story, it's a connect the dots of scenes for the trailer. I wanted to turn this movie off. Even in Spider-Man 3 I wanted to keep watching. I couldn't handle 45 minutes of this junk. A fight with Electro followed by Peter sulking for 30 seconds and then deciding to figure out the mystery of his missing father. I really think when I saw this film for the first time, I was simply lying to myself and got caught up in the hype and justified it being good based on the emotional ending that actually made me shed a tear, the amazing musical score and one or two cool shots. However, I now realize that that is not enough to hold up a movie. I don't think I will watch this movie ever again, even if I decide to do another Spider-Man marathon. Just forget about this one guys.

Video Review Here: https://youtu.be/hymcVmrRNGQ