The Amazing Spiderman 2 review: The Electric Boogaloo

Jamie Foxx and Spiderman in The Amazing Spiderman 2

Photo Credit: Sony Pictures

The Amazing Spiderman 2

C

A Review by Frederick Cholowski

Can we just make Spiderman the indie film already? When I heard the idea from film critic Christie Lemire a few days before I was able to see the Amazing Spiderman 2 I chuckled at the idea and thought it was a pretty good joke/snarky idea; the more and more I got through the Amazing Spiderman 2 though the more and more I desperately wanted that film and saw how perfect that thought actually was. Instead though we (for now and probably forever sadly) get another big budget attempt to keep the franchise within Sony’s walls with the Amazing Spiderman 2, the return to the generic, messy comic book films of old despite some small flourishes of goodness sprinkled in.

In the overly bloated script we find that Spiderman/Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) going along his marry way, saving people in the vast landscape of New York City and dealing with the off and on nature with his relationship with Gwen Stacey (Emma Stone). Meanwhile at Oscorp devious things begin to happen as a tortured and forgotten about employee Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx) falls into a vat of previously tested upon eels; this sparks his transformation into Electro (or as I call him Dubstep Man) a mutated man who can absorb and project electricity that somehow sounds often like Dubstep music. Meanwhile, also at Oscorp, Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) finds out from his father that he is dying of slowly of the same disease that Norman was and decides to try and get Spiderman to give up some blood to save his life and thus tries to reconnect with his old pal Peter. Oh and there’s also another subplot about Peter’s parents disappearance that seems to be the focus of the film for a while and then seems utterly forgotten.

It’s sad that the script is way overbooked because the relationship that’s at the core of the Amazing Spiderman is interesting and unique. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone have some great chemistry and Marc Webb, who before this franchise directed the really good romantic comedy 500 Days of summer, knows exactly how to time and shoot each individual sequence. The emotional portion of the film actually connects really well, and the idea of Peter dealing with his complicated life juggling all of his relationships is fascinating and easily the best part of the film, especially as we reach the climax of the film.

The tragedy of this though is that the core relationship is buried under a truckload of crap. The first and most notable of these terrible things is the origin story of Dubstep man Electro. Every element in it is just truly awful, from the total miscasting of Jamie Foxx, to the terrible blue CGI that makes him look like an utter cartoon (think a mix of terrible CGI Dr Manhattan and Dubstep). At this point in superhero films we really don’t need a villain origin story that lasts half the film, especially if every element of it feels rushed (yes despite it taking up so much time it still feels rushed and sudden) and completely uninteresting. None of it works at all and by their big final fight there was no care left in me regarding this villain or his terrible arc.

Harry Osborne’s arc might be even worse. If the Electro arc felt rushed then the Harry Osborne arc feels like it’s on speed. The whole transformation arc for Harry takes only about twenty minutes to develop, when it should have really been a whole films worth of character growth. It feels very much like the film needed to get to point B and set up the next film as quickly as possible. It’s one too many plot points at this point and ends up feeling like the worst version of forced.

The one redeeming factor of a big budget superhero can be its cool action sequence, but sadly The Amazing Spider Man 2 misses that boat as well. The more we move into the film the less the action sequences look like they’re from a live action film and more like I’m watching a CGI animated film. Most of the scenes (especially when Spiderman is fighting Electro) look so much from another world that it pulled me out of the experience. If I had cared about the action sequences then maybe I wouldn’t have cared about how they look, but I couldn’t care less at some points and so it became extra destructing. It’s not all bad though, the descending shots of Spiderman swinging through the city and spotting danger are really cool, and whenever Spiderman manages to not get a CGI abomination for an opponent (which isn’t too often) the sequences look good enough.

It’s sad to say all of these negative things because there is true potential here especially with the two leads. Andrew Garfield is still the ideal version of Spiderman, cool and cocky while in the suit, and smart, slick, but confused and damaged as Parker. Emma Stone is really good here also playing a perfect love interest for Peter and his confused emotions. I’m sad that the Harry Osborn arc was so rushed as Dane DeHaan feels so perfectly cast and does good work with what he’s given. As mentioned earlier Jamie Foxx is miscast, as none of his cool charisma is used here at all and then he ends up getting dwarfed by CGI crap.

The Amazing Spiderman 2 is a mess, plain and simple. It’s got a great relationship at its core but ultimately fills it with an outside that is terrible enough to bring it down many notches. For me the only way this franchise can really be salvaged is through Marvel Studios acquiring the rights to the character or Spiderman the indie film where Spiderman deals with the impact he has on the loved ones around him and deals with power and responsibility. Sadly it seems that neither of this things are going to happening anytime soon and thus we are going to be stuck with more films in the vein of The Amazing Spiderman 2.