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The Amazing Spider-Man 2
| Released |
16 April 2014 |
| Director |
Marc Webb |
Starring
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Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Campbell Scott, Embeth Davidtz, Colm Feore, Paul Giamatti, Saly Field, Chris Zylka, Denis Leary |
Writer(s)
|
Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Jeff Pinkner |
| Producer(s) |
Avi Arad, Matthew Tolmach |
| Origin |
United States |
| Running Time |
141 minutes |
| Genre |
Action, adventure, fantasy |
| Rating |
12A |
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Hero worship.
In director Marc Webb’s second visit to the Marvel universe we rejoin Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) and Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) on the day of their high-school graduation. Life is good for Peter but although he is deeply in love with Gwen, he is continually haunted by the death of Gwen’s father and the promise he made to stay away from his daughter. Meanwhile, an old friend reappears - Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), the estranged son of Norman Osborn and new CEO of Oscorp. As Peter grapples with his relationship with Gwen and his troubled friend Harry, a new enemy named Electro rises and begins to cause havoc in New York City.
One of the most frequent complaints surrounding the first film in the rebooted franchise was the lacklustre villain in the form of Dr. Curt Connors, a scientist who transforms into a giant lizard. Ok, so in his transformed state, he did look kind of silly but that didn’t bother me since Rhys Ifans was given enough time to develop his character into a living, breathing member of the Spidey universe. Jamie Foxx sadly gets much shorter shrift. We only meet Max Dillon briefly before he turns into Electro and the meek mannered soul doesn’t make much of an impact. Furthermore, the reason for his vendetta against Spider-Man is flimsy at best. The design of the character is similarly problematic - a being of pure energy who by the final showdowns can dissolve completely from his physical form, he has a weightlessness that doesn’t work during the CGI fight scenes.
Harry Osborn on the other hand feels like a flesh and blood villain that we can really get to grips with. His connection with Peter Parker and subsequent hatred of Spider-Man has proper dramatic heft and DeHaan has the perfect mix of fragility and menace to convince in the role. It’s just a shame this storyline was muddied by the unnecessary inclusion of Electro.
With other superhero films this duff villainy may be disastrous but not so with The Amazing Spider-Man. Just as in the first installment, the most interesting parts happen away from battle thanks to the wonderful on screen relationship between the two young leads. Garfield maintains his boyish enthusiasm and goofy one-liners, while Stone continues to make Gwen much more than a disposable love interest. Ultimately, underneath the crash bang and wallop, this is a love story and a charming one at that. It is for this reason that despite its problems, I came away from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 with an emotional reaction that is all too rare in the Marvel universe.
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Linda O’Brien |
