The Spider-Man Retrospective Series - The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

Written In May 2014

 I feel betrayed… I went on and on about how great The Amazing Spider-Man is, I defended that movie from harsh critics, I told fellow fans of the Raimi series it’s really good and you should go see it, I even said the score isn’t that good but it’s still perfectly enjoyable, and what does the team behind these movies do? They let go of Alvin Sargent, who had some uncredited additions to David Koepp’s screenplay all the way back on the original Spider-Man movie with Tobey Maguire and Willem Dafoe, and then went on to be a credited screenwriter on Spider-Man 2-The Amazing Spider-Man, and they also let go of Steve Kloves who penned all EIGHT of the Harry Potter movies! And who do they replace them with.

These two assholes. Don’t know them? Maybe you’ll know their names, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. Still don’t know them. Well maybe their credits will sound familiar. The first two of Michael Bay’s Transformers movies and both of JJ Abrams’s Star Trek movies… Yep, these two got their talentless paws on SPIDER-MAN!

Thank GOD, Abrams didn’t decided to wheel them in for Star Wars - Episode VII!

Speaking of science fiction series with the word Star in them, let me ask you something. What do Benedict Cumberbatch and Emma Stone have in common? Why they were both in recent franchises that Kurtzman and Orci wrote and produced that had “secrets” in them that were poorly hidden in advertising. Every fan left and right theorized last year that Cumberbatch was Khan, and what happened? It turns out he was Khan all along and everyone lied… Poorly! And with this movie? Every single person online was theorizing that Gwen would die in the second movie. Hell, everyone was theorizing that the minute Peter whispered to the poor girl that the promises you can’t keep are the best kind and then she smiled at what he was implying. And then the infamous set photos started coming out, and there were two things that really got people’s heads spinning.

Shailine Woodley as Mary-Jane Watson. Why did this get people chatting? Because they thought she wasn’t “hot” enough.

The other was this picture of Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy.

Why did this get people chatting, because these are the exact same clothes Gwen Stacy wore in the comics…

The night she died!

I, despite my better judgement, concluded that they wouldn’t actually kill her and it would be a fake out. But then this trailer came out and it hinted at one particular thing. They showed Gwen in that costume I just showed you on top of some kind of giant gear looking rather frightened, and then they showed Peter as Spider-Man, but without his mask on, screaming bloody murder. Gwen in the outfit she wore when she died in 1973 and Peter screaming in agony. Gee! I wonder what that could mean! And so then I came to the conclusion that they were going to kill her, but they shouldn’t. And what did they do?

DEAD!

There were so many things you could’ve done with this character, with this actress, but instead you’re going to just kill her off? What the hell man!

But since I told you that much, I might as well tell you what else happens.

Plot Summary Taken From Wikipedia:

Scientist Richard Parker records a video message to explain his disappearance. Later, he and his wife, Mary, are aboard a private jet hijacked by a man sent to assassinate Richard. With the pilot dead, the plane crashes.

In the present, Richard’s son Peter continues to fight crime as Spider-Man. He pursues and apprehends Aleksei Sytsevich, who attempted to steal a truck containing plutonium vials. During the chase, Spider-Man rescues OsCorp Industries employee Max Dillon. While speaking by phone with Gwen Stacy, Peter sees a vision of her father, police captain George Stacy, reminding him to leave Gwen out of it. Afterward, Peter meets with Gwen at their high school graduation ceremony, but insists he needs to keep his vow to her father and ends their relationship.

Peter’s childhood friend Harry Osborn returns to Manhattan to see his terminally ill father Norman, CEO of OsCorp. Norman explains his illness is hereditary, and Harry is at the age where it first develops. Norman gives Harry a small device he claims contains his life’s work. The next day, Norman dies and Harry is appointed the new OsCorp CEO. He humiliates the OsCorp board, which has been privy to Norman’s secret biogenetic projects for foreign military powers.

Thinking that they have become friends, Max idolizes Spider-Man. While tending to some maintenance in an OsCorp laboratory, he loses his balance and falls into a tank of genetically modified electric eels. They attack him, and he mutates into a living electric generator. Meanwhile, Peter attempts to maintain a friendship with Gwen, but she reveals she may move to England for school. Before they can discuss it, Max wanders into Times Square and accidentally causes a blackout. Spider-Man attempts to calm him down, but the police fire at Max, making him lose his temper and attack. Spider-Man eventually stops him, and Max is taken toRavencroft Institute.

The first symptoms of Harry’s illness show, and he uses the device Norman gave him to deduce that Spider-Man’s blood could help save him. He asks Peter, who has been selling photos of Spider-Man to the Daily Bugle, for help finding Spider-Man. Peter refuses, unsure of what effects the transfusion would have. The OsCorp board-members frame Harry for covering up Max’s accident, and remove him as CEO. Harry’s assistant, Felicia, informs him of equipment that could help him, so he makes a deal with Max (now calling himself Electro) to get him back inside the OsCorp building. There he finds a suit of armor and other equipment made by Norman, as well as venom from the now-destroyed genetically altered spiders. Instead of curing him, they transform him into a hideous, goblin-like creature.

Peter uses information left by his father to locate the video message in an abandoned subway station’s hidden lab. Richard explains he had to leave because he refused to cooperate with Norman Osborn’s biogenetic weaponization plans. Peter then hears a voicemail from Gwen, telling him she was offered the scholarship in England and is heading to the airport earlier than expected. He manages to catch her and professes his love for her, and they agree to go to England together. Electro causes another blackout, and Peter heads off to fight him. Gwen follows, and together they restore power and overload Electro’s body, killing him. Afterward, the transformed Harry arrives equipped with Norman’s armor and weaponry; upon seeing Gwen, Harry deduces Spider-Man’s true identity and, swearing revenge for being refused the blood transfusion, kidnaps her. He fights Spider-Man at the top of a clock tower. Spider-Man subdues Harry, but Gwen falls to her death, despite Spider-Man’s attempt to save her.

Five months later, Peter has given up being Spider-Man and often visits Gwen’s grave. Harry is healing from his transformations, and his associate Gustav Fiers (the “man in the shadows” from the first film) breaks Sytsevich out of prison and equips him with an electromechanical suit of armor. Calling himself the Rhino, he rampages through the streets. But a recording of Gwen’s graduation speech inspires Peter to return as Spider-Man and fight him.

Okay, let me preface this. I did enjoy this movie, but I have to say, it’s been my least enjoyable film of the franchise. I’ve seen worse superhero movies, and in fact, I’ve seen worse movies based on Marvel characters, but this is pretty fucking weak. Not just for Gwen’s stupid demise. BUT! There is still plenty to enjoy about this movie, this is not a movie so awful that it’ll have a longer list of cons than pros and that I feel the need to address the cons first. It’s still a pretty entertaining movie, but you may want turn your brain off on this one… And prepare yourself for anger when you realize Orci is writing a planned Venom movie with Kurtzman to direct…

But on the brighter side, it’s being cowritten by the writer of Men In Black and the Bill & Ted movies, with Drew Goddard, who did cowrote and directed Cabin In The Woods, set to writer and MAYBE direct The Sinister Six. So we may be in luck…

Keep in mind I said maybe though.

PROS:

• Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, and Sally Field are still great in their returning roles! Although between the three of them, Emma gets the least showy improvement. If you complained about Andrew’s Spidey still not getting enough jokes out, you’re needs will be more than satiated here. As for Sally? Well as Martin from Double Toasted put it at one point it seems like Sally forgot she was making a Spider-Man movie and gives a genuinely moving performance. Great job Mrs. Field!
• Paul Giamatti makes a delightfully (and intentionally) hammy performance as Aleksei Sytsevich AKA The Rhino. You know how a lot of actors play their Russian accents like this really low toned murmur but it sounds like their threatening you, Giamatti opts for the classic over the top angry and mocking kind of accent where he’s always going on and on about he’s going to crush you. When he gets into the actual rhino suit, it’s a delight to see Paul just trash the streets of New York! I know some folks are pissed they went with the robot suit, but I think it works. It’s also a little bit refreshing to see a bad guy in this franchise, who doesn’t become a bad guy because he goes crazy or because he hates spider-man, he was already a bad guy when he met spidey and was still a bad guy after he met him.
• Jamie Foxx’s Electro, in my opinion, doesn’t suffer from a poor motivation or characterization that turns on a dime, because it’s pretty clear this guy was already a bit off before his accident, so it makes sense that this accident would only emphasize that. It makes sense to me that the guy would feel betrayed by Spider-Man, in that, it doesn’t actually make any sense. By which I mean I, a presumably rational person, do not understand why someone would feel betrayed by their idol for simply not remembering my name after one encounter, so much so that they would want to kill them violently. BUT on the other hand, this guy is clearly already mentally ill, I can understand that this guy is making his own rationalizations for his own eschewed worldview. And that aside, while I personally didn’t care for the angle they took with him later, Foxx’s initial scene as Max Dillon is actually kind of heartwarming. The idea of this guy, who feels trampled upon daily, actually being made to feel important is kind of nice. And when he becomes Electro, good fuckity hell is he intimidating! I don’t think he’s the best villain of this franchise, but I think I rank him between Church’s Sandman and Giamatti’s Rhino, with Venom and the two Harrys in 7th, 8th and 9th place. The physical look of Electro is extremely well done as well, four for the guys on SFX team, you guys earned it!
• He’s only in the movie for five minutes, but Chris Cooper makes for a pretty good turn as Norman Osborn. He’s sufficiently creepy and he has the right mix of a critical attitude toward his son while also coming off like he genuinely cares for him.
• Dane DeHaan’s a better Harry than James Franco ever was, he has some great moments here, but he doesn’t get enough time to really properly show what he’s got. Undoubtedly though are his scenes from about the moment where he’s let go from the company to about the moment he teams up with Electro.
• Colm Feore doesn’t do a ton in the movie, but he’s a welcome presence and very enjoyable to watch,
• We finally figure out more of what that damn mystery they teased to us in Amazing Spider-Man 1 was! Thank you!
• Hans Zimmer does some of his best work here in collaboration with the Magnificent Six, who include the musicians, Pharrell Williams, Johnny Marr of the Smiths, Mike Einziger of Incubus, electronic artist, Junkie XL (who previously did music for this year’s 300: Rise of an Empire and Divergent), and up and coming composers, Steve Mazzaro (who previously did music for last year’s Bullet To The Head, starring Sylvester Stallone, Jason Momoa, and Sung Kang) and Andrew Kawczynzki. This arguably the best score ever made for a Spider-Man movie, it sounds so awesome! Give this theme a listen, it’s shorter than Elfman and Horner’s but it’s go such a great sound to it! But the real fun tune is Electro’s theme, they already showed a bit of it in the trailers with having Pharrell constantly going “Paranoia paranoia paranoia paranoia paranoia” whenever you see Electro on screen.
• They didn’t do it well, but I like the idea of Peter always seeing Captain Stacy whenever he’s with Gwen. You can tell it’s still on his mind that the Captain made him promise to leave Gwen out of his affairs and he’s breaking that promise.

CONS:

• Gwen Stacy’s death is the most telegraphed demise I’ve ever fucking seen in a cinema in my entire life. On graduation day she makes her valedictorian she makes a speech about how you live your life, then when Peter’s angsting about his failed relationship he listens to “Gone, Gone, Gone” by Philip Philips. Don’t know it? Well the chorus of the tune is “And I would do it for you, for you. Baby, I’m not moving on I love you long after you’re gone. For you, for you. You will never sleep alone. I love you long after you’re gone And long after you’re gone, gone, gone.“ Although, that’s not even what really pissed me off about that scene though. Raimi used popular music in his movies too, but you know what music he used? He used music that had already stood the test of time. These were songs people already kind of knew even if they were kind of old. Like the sequence in Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 where Peter just tries to go about his day as an ordinary schlub, after having given up being Spider-Man, they played "Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” by BJ Thomas. I’m not gonna criticize Philip Philips or his song, I’m just saying, if you had to have that useless scene did you have to be playing a Billboard Top 40 hit? Couldn’t you have played something less recent or actually fit the scene?
• You might recall that earlier in the week, I made an early jab at this movie for basically aping the same origin story as Jim Carrey’s Riddler in Batman Forever, you know, nerd worships hero, nerd feels betrayed by hero, nerd becomes a bad guy because they now hate the hero. Only this time, it doesn’t seem like they’re doing that for a reason. The Incredibles, like a lot of Pixar films, had dozens upon dozens of references to other members of it’s genre. One of which, was the origin of the riddler. They were spoofing it. in Iron Man 3, the entire movie was in part an homage to 90’s action comedies, mostly because the director and cowriter of the movie is Shane Black, who wrote Lethal Weapon and The Last Action Hero. Here though, I don’t get it. It seems like they’re playing it sincerely, like you’re actually supposed to feel bad for this stalker guy when he becomes a super villain. It wasn’t even sincere when they first did in Batman Forever! They were playing it as a joke because it was Jim Carrey, and the fact both of Joel Schumacher’s Batman movies were supposed to be goofy comedies in the vein of basically Adam West’s Batman but 30 years later! Did you really think people were going to take this seriously? Because I certainly don’t!
• You know how I said Peter was basically seeing Captain Stacy all the time and that they didn’t do it well? Here’s why. The entire fucking time he’s just standing there staring at Peter in disapproval. Why? The visions of Uncle Ben worked in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man sequels is because A. They did something different each time. And B. It was Uncle Ben actually telling Peter something or Peter visualizing something that might’ve happened. In Spider-Man 2 when Peter tells Uncle Ben that he is Spider-Man No More, it’s effective because it was Ben saying Peter needs to just power through and keep fighting the good fight, but Peter won’t listen because he’s tired of his life being shit. It’s like the moment in Batman: Mask of the Phantasm where Bruce is in front of his mother and father’s grave and he’s telling them that he can’t be Batman after all, because it’s different now, he’s happy with his life and he never foresaw that. Here, it’s not dramatic, it’s just stupid.
• Here’s another ding against Electro. During the incident at Time Square, we see Max transition into Electro, the change to villainy is pretty believable in my opinion at least. I can also buy that after being tortured and held captive for so long Max’s personality would become more sinister, but what I don’t buy is how suddenly Electro’s manner of speaking becomes totally different. He tells the scientists who torture him that they’d “better make damn sure” that they kill him this time or else he’ll be the one killing them, then later he tells Spider-Man during their final fight that he’ll be like a god to the people of New York. Where did these delusions of grandeur come from? I mean I guess they’re not delusions seeing as how, he has the ability to do that, but why does he suddenly have the desire to become like a god? I don’t get it.
• What was the point of shoehorning Green Goblin? Was it just to kill Gwen? Was it to set up for Sinister Six? Couldn’t you have done that in Part 3? He doesn’t really do anything and Harry’s back to normal at the end of the movie, and while he was here, he wasn’t all that scary.
• It feels too soon to kill Gwen. They should’ve waited for the third movie to pull that trigger. I feel like that way we would’ve known Gwen well enough to just be sad instead of feeling kind of cheated because we barely knew her at this rate.
• You know what Peter did after Gwen died? He sat in front of his girlfriend’s grave for five months… He didn’t throw himself into his heroics to honor her, he just sat down and waited until the combination of a peptalk from Aunt May, a posthumous message from Gwen, and when rhino showing up and started wrecking shit. Some hero you turned out to be Parker.
• I really hate how it’s most blatantly obvious that Aunt May knows Peter is Spidey and yet Peter is blissfully unaware of that fact and won’t just come out and tell her.
• The little kid at the end. I get what they were going for here, and I’m aware that this was actually Andrew’s idea, so I’ll not to be too harsh here, but I’m sorry dude, this just doesn’t work. The little kid just standing there while this homicidal gangster in a robot suit does nothing but mock him? No, in real life that could would be fucking dead. I’m sorry. I’m not saying the kid should’ve died, that’s not at all what I think should’ve happened. Here’s my idea, the little kid walks up to the Rhino, the Rhino fires in his direction to scare him, then it looks like Rhino’s actually gonna shoot him this time and Spidey sweeps in at the last second. No bantering, just getting to business because there are lives at stake.

All in all, this one was a disappointment. There are worse movies out right now that you could see. And there are going to be much worse movies out later this year, am I right Michael?

Yeah, that’s gonna suck a lot worse than anything this movie has to offer. So look, if you still want to see it, don’t let me discourage you. Go see it. See it in 3D or IMAX if you want! It deserves that treatment! But for, this was a big letdown. What folks thought of Man of Steel last year is what I think of this movie now. I’m gonna give The Amazing Spider-Man 2 a 6.2 out of 10.

I’ll be back on some other day to review some other thing. For now though I’m just gonna call it a day.