The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Year: 2014
Director: Marc Webb
Starring: Dane DeHaan, Andrew Garfield, Jamie Foxx & Emma Stone
Runtime: 141 mins
BBFC: 12
Published: 19/04/22
Director: Marc Webb
Starring: Dane DeHaan, Andrew Garfield, Jamie Foxx & Emma Stone
Runtime: 141 mins
BBFC: 12
Published: 19/04/22
I’ve had people ask me over the time that I’ve been writing film reviews as to why I spend so much of my time reviewing old films. There’re two answers to this and the primary reason behind it is that there are only so many new films that come out and interest me enough to want to watch them, plus cinemas have dry spells where no new films will come out for a couple of weeks, and then there are times where they release so many new films that I can’t possibly see everything when it releases. The second reason, which is the most important reason to me personally, is that I love looking back on films and seeing if my opinion has changed, especially for films I haven’t watched in a very long time. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is one such film as I haven’t seen it since it was in cinemas almost a decade ago, and much like everyone else, I remember thinking the film was kind of bad. But following the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home I felt the need to revisit all the old Spider-Man films, and it was Amazing Spider-Man 2 in particular that I was most eager to return to because I remembered so little about it. So here we are, I’m sure this review is going to surprise you as much as it did me.
Two years after being bitten by a radioactive spider, Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) continues to protect New York City as the masked vigilante Spider-Man. Despite making a promise to keep her safe, Peter continues to date Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) and faces personal conflicts about placing her in danger for the sake of their love.
Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) returns to Oscorp, taking over from his recently deceased father, but faces his own mortality when he is made aware of a genetic disorder that is rapidly destroying his body. Desperate to find a cure, Harry seeks the blood of Spider-Man believing it will grant him powers that will supress his disease.
Meanwhile, Spider-Man obsessed Oscorp employee Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx) suffers a horrifying industrial accident that leaves him permanently disfigured and able to manipulate electricity. Enjoying his newfound power, he adopts the moniker Electro and plans to leave New York without power so he can grow stronger.
Two years after being bitten by a radioactive spider, Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) continues to protect New York City as the masked vigilante Spider-Man. Despite making a promise to keep her safe, Peter continues to date Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) and faces personal conflicts about placing her in danger for the sake of their love.
Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) returns to Oscorp, taking over from his recently deceased father, but faces his own mortality when he is made aware of a genetic disorder that is rapidly destroying his body. Desperate to find a cure, Harry seeks the blood of Spider-Man believing it will grant him powers that will supress his disease.
Meanwhile, Spider-Man obsessed Oscorp employee Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx) suffers a horrifying industrial accident that leaves him permanently disfigured and able to manipulate electricity. Enjoying his newfound power, he adopts the moniker Electro and plans to leave New York without power so he can grow stronger.
I know that since the release of No Way Home there has been a massive resurgence in people stating their adoration for Garfield’s Spider-Man, and even wanting to see an Amazing Spider-Man 3. But something I didn’t expect was that I actually found myself really enjoying Amazing Spider-Man 2, and I’m sure I can’t be the only one who has recently started to think this.
Now I will clarify to the angry mod currently lighting their torches and raising their pitchforks that the film isn’t without its problems, big ones too, but I’m starting to think that a lot of the hate the film received at the time was likely to do with how well the MCU was doing around that time, and how much people wanted Spidey in that franchise, and less to do with the actual quality of Amazing Spider-Man 2.
I guess I’d better start explaining myself. So, I criticised the original Amazing Spider-Man film for spending a lot of time establishing storylines that never went anywhere for the sake of building a cinematic universe. Amazing Spider-Man 2 picks up all of these threads and runs with them quite a lot which is both a strength and a fault. It’s a fault because much like the first film none of them are resolved, but it does give some very meaningful development to all of these storylines and allows them to be more intrinsically connected to the events of this film than they were in the original. The storyline about Peter’s parents for example is given a whole lot of attention here, and it plays into Harry’s storyline in interesting ways allowing his setup to become Green Goblin even better, even allowing elements from Curt Connors story to feed into it and bolster it even more.
I also continue to love what the filmmakers are doing with Peter & Gwen and how the relationship is allowed to blossom in the way it does. It handles the Spider-Man/Peter Parker balancing act so much better than Spider-Man 3 did because the dialogue is so much better between these characters, and the chemistry is much more believable than anything that Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst had. Peter also pays for his choices in much more meaningful ways, with Gwen’s eventual and shocking death being the cherry on top of it all.
The action sequences are also all fantastic, like every single one of them is brilliant. The score is also fantastic with Hans Zimmer serving as composer this time around, giving all the highs and lows such an incredible boost thanks to the brilliant score.
Now I will clarify to the angry mod currently lighting their torches and raising their pitchforks that the film isn’t without its problems, big ones too, but I’m starting to think that a lot of the hate the film received at the time was likely to do with how well the MCU was doing around that time, and how much people wanted Spidey in that franchise, and less to do with the actual quality of Amazing Spider-Man 2.
I guess I’d better start explaining myself. So, I criticised the original Amazing Spider-Man film for spending a lot of time establishing storylines that never went anywhere for the sake of building a cinematic universe. Amazing Spider-Man 2 picks up all of these threads and runs with them quite a lot which is both a strength and a fault. It’s a fault because much like the first film none of them are resolved, but it does give some very meaningful development to all of these storylines and allows them to be more intrinsically connected to the events of this film than they were in the original. The storyline about Peter’s parents for example is given a whole lot of attention here, and it plays into Harry’s storyline in interesting ways allowing his setup to become Green Goblin even better, even allowing elements from Curt Connors story to feed into it and bolster it even more.
I also continue to love what the filmmakers are doing with Peter & Gwen and how the relationship is allowed to blossom in the way it does. It handles the Spider-Man/Peter Parker balancing act so much better than Spider-Man 3 did because the dialogue is so much better between these characters, and the chemistry is much more believable than anything that Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst had. Peter also pays for his choices in much more meaningful ways, with Gwen’s eventual and shocking death being the cherry on top of it all.
The action sequences are also all fantastic, like every single one of them is brilliant. The score is also fantastic with Hans Zimmer serving as composer this time around, giving all the highs and lows such an incredible boost thanks to the brilliant score.
But what doesn’t work? Well as I previously mentioned the film does spend a lot of time on these sub-plots that go nowhere and despite handling them better than the first film did there’s more of them now. Ultimately it feels like around half an hour, maybe more of the film could have been cut out, and whilst it would have affected Harry’s story in particular, I don’t think it’s anything a sequel wouldn’t have been able to handle.
I’m also not keen on the performances given by Foxx or DeHaan. Fox never feels like he’s comfortable in the role, or particularly interested in it (which has later been confirmed to be creative differences, but he’s like really not good in this film), and DeHaan is just such an awful miscasting because the performance he delivers is so weird that it just doesn’t fit with Harry Osborn as a character. I’m sure he’d make a cool Goblin, but not a particularly good Harry Osborn and you need to be able to do both.
I also feel like the very final scene could have been cut entirely, the one that introduces Rhino (Paul Giamatti). I mean he’s not important to the story, and whilst I definitely love the interaction Spidey has with the child that stands up against Rhino, it’s really not needed in this film (also Giamatti’s acting in this scene and the opening action sequence he also appears in is awful, really should have opted for someone else).
I did not expect to be writing the words, I enjoyed The Amazing Spider-Man 2 a lot…but there we go. Despite the heavy handedness Sony had with the universe building, I appreciate where they were trying to go with it as the ending for the film does leave it in an interesting place for both an Amazing Spider-Man 3 and a Sinister Six film. It is a shame that the franchise was cancelled following the negative reception this film got on release, but then again that led to Tom Holland’s introduction as the character in the MCU so it’s tough to know what the better choice would have been.
I hope that with the positive reaction given to Garfield’s performance in No Way Home that Marvel and Sony can agree to continue the Amazing Spider-Man franchise as a separate entity from the MCU. It would be a shame to truly see this franchise dead and buried forever.
I’m also not keen on the performances given by Foxx or DeHaan. Fox never feels like he’s comfortable in the role, or particularly interested in it (which has later been confirmed to be creative differences, but he’s like really not good in this film), and DeHaan is just such an awful miscasting because the performance he delivers is so weird that it just doesn’t fit with Harry Osborn as a character. I’m sure he’d make a cool Goblin, but not a particularly good Harry Osborn and you need to be able to do both.
I also feel like the very final scene could have been cut entirely, the one that introduces Rhino (Paul Giamatti). I mean he’s not important to the story, and whilst I definitely love the interaction Spidey has with the child that stands up against Rhino, it’s really not needed in this film (also Giamatti’s acting in this scene and the opening action sequence he also appears in is awful, really should have opted for someone else).
I did not expect to be writing the words, I enjoyed The Amazing Spider-Man 2 a lot…but there we go. Despite the heavy handedness Sony had with the universe building, I appreciate where they were trying to go with it as the ending for the film does leave it in an interesting place for both an Amazing Spider-Man 3 and a Sinister Six film. It is a shame that the franchise was cancelled following the negative reception this film got on release, but then again that led to Tom Holland’s introduction as the character in the MCU so it’s tough to know what the better choice would have been.
I hope that with the positive reaction given to Garfield’s performance in No Way Home that Marvel and Sony can agree to continue the Amazing Spider-Man franchise as a separate entity from the MCU. It would be a shame to truly see this franchise dead and buried forever.