*Spoiler Alert*
One basic point Amazing Spider Man 2 gets right, that most comic-book movies seem to falter on, is the motivation behind why the villains are being villains. When the cast was announced and the list of the Spidey foes kept piling up, there was a wave of resentment among the fans as they did not want another Spider Man 3. Thankfully, Marc Webb strikes the right balance between establishing each villains’ story arc. This movie is visually stunning, it has the best use of 3D till date in a Superhero flick, the vertigo inducing, first person web slinging is superb and worth the price of the admission ticket alone. The spandex is bright especially the red and though it may seem cartoonish first, after the first few minutes it makes for vibrant imagery against the Manhattan skyline.
This Spiderman is more of a closer counterpart to the comics than Sam Raimi’s ever was. The movement, the nuances and the motor-mouth are straight out of the pages of the good books. I wish I could have said the same about Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker. When he swooped Gwen Stacy off her feet and planted a kiss in front of the entire school, centre-stage, it was as off character for him more than any scene that has been filmed till date. Parker is an introvert, socially awkward individual with border line inferiority complex, he won’t do something that bold. Also, Webb makes a cardinal sin of making Peter into an idiot, he’s a freakin’ wiz kid. Would he really type “What is Roosevelt” in Google? Also the lab scenes, he fails in each one before he’s asked to rub magnets on his web shooters by Gwen Stacy.
Emma Stone manages to be something that she hasn’t till date in her filmography, irritating. Garfield and Stone have the right chemistry but every scene that they are together in is groan inducing, which creates one of the major problem that plagues this movie- Pacing. The first half of the movie is fascinating, sets up the story and tone perfectly, the second half is a disaster in terms of pacing, some parts seem rushed especially the final 30 minutes, whereas some tend to go on forever, during the emotional sequences Marc Webb must have been trying to channel 500 Days of Summer but he might have confused the two movies while editing, contributing to further pacing issues.
The action sequences are masterpieces in their own right, every single one is very expertly choreographed, even though most of it is digital, it makes for fantastic visual treats, The Times Square sequence being the highlight. Jamie Foxx is the show stealer of this movie, Max Dillon is one sad individual and his fall,literally, into Electro is , electrifying (pun intended). Dane De Haan is a little disappointing as Harry Osborn, he’s one of the brightest talents in Hollywood right now, but his character is very poorly written and is disposed off quite easily (Kurtzman, Orci’s names pop up in the Screenplay credits, so I know whom to blame).
The death of Gwen Stacy was supposed to be soul crushing, all the scenes starting right from her graduation speech seemed to be pointing at her impending doom, the scenes where you’re supposed to care about her character seem forced and ultimately after she dies, the maximum I felt was, ironically, apathy. Though her wearing the same green overcoat as the one in the comics, when she dies, is a nice touch. Sally Fields gives her best as poor Aunt May, but lousy writing again, like the hospital scene which served no purpose, makes for a dreadful viewing experience. Same can be said for the colliding aeroplanes sequence.
Lastly, the worst after-credit scene in history, this only exists to confuse every one. Due to a contractual obligation for Webb by Fox Studios this scene had to be added. The cinema hall where I watched, the people had no idea what was going on, and frankly neither did I, even though I knew the premise and reason, they could have featured a teaser trailer for X-Men Days Of Future Past but what Fox did was to include a scene where Mystique rescues mutants from Vietnam which was thoroughly obnoxious and established nothing about the movie they were advertising.
Overall Rating: 3.25/5
*Spoiler Alert*
One basic point Amazing Spider Man 2 gets right, that most comic-book movies seem to falter on, is the motivation behind why the villains are being villains. When the cast was announced and the list of the Spidey foes kept piling up, there was a wave of resentment among the fans as they did not want another Spider Man 3. Thankfully, Marc Webb strikes the right balance between establishing each villains’ story arc. This movie is visually stunning, it has the best use of 3D till date in a Superhero flick, the vertigo inducing, first person web slinging is superb and worth the price of the admission ticket alone. The spandex is bright especially the red and though it may seem cartoonish first, after the first few minutes it makes for vibrant imagery against the Manhattan skyline.
This Spiderman is more of a closer counterpart to the comics than Sam Raimi’s ever was. The movement, the nuances and the motor-mouth are straight out of the pages of the good books. I wish I could have said the same about Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker. When he swooped Gwen Stacy off her feet and planted a kiss in front of the entire school, centre-stage, it was as off character for him more than any scene that has been filmed till date. Parker is an introvert, socially awkward individual with border line inferiority complex, he won’t do something that bold. Also, Webb makes a cardinal sin of making Peter into an idiot, he’s a freakin’ wiz kid. Would he really type “What is Roosevelt” in Google? Also the lab scenes, he fails in each one before he’s asked to rub magnets on his web shooters by Gwen Stacy.
Emma Stone manages to be something that she hasn’t till date in her filmography, irritating. Garfield and Stone have the right chemistry but every scene that they are together in is groan inducing, which creates one of the major problem that plagues this movie- Pacing. The first half of the movie is fascinating, sets up the story and tone perfectly, the second half is a disaster in terms of pacing, some parts seem rushed especially the final 30 minutes, whereas some tend to go on forever, during the emotional sequences Marc Webb must have been trying to channel 500 Days of Summer but he might have confused the two movies while editing, contributing to further pacing issues.
The action sequences are masterpieces in their own right, every single one is very expertly choreographed, even though most of it is digital, it makes for fantastic visual treats, The Times Square sequence being the highlight. Jamie Foxx is the show stealer of this movie, Max Dillon is one sad individual and his fall,literally, into Electro is , electrifying (pun intended). Dane De Haan is a little disappointing as Harry Osborn, he’s one of the brightest talents in Hollywood right now, but his character is very poorly written and is disposed off quite easily (Kurtzman, Orci’s names pop up in the Screenplay credits, so I know whom to blame).
The death of Gwen Stacy was supposed to be soul crushing, all the scenes starting right from her graduation speech seemed to be pointing at her impending doom, the scenes where you’re supposed to care about her character seem forced and ultimately after she dies, the maximum I felt was, ironically, apathy. Though her wearing the same green overcoat as the one in the comics, when she dies, is a nice touch. Sally Fields gives her best as poor Aunt May, but lousy writing again, like the hospital scene which served no purpose, makes for a dreadful viewing experience. Same can be said for the colliding aeroplanes sequence.
Lastly, the worst after-credit scene in history, this only exists to confuse every one. Due to a contractual obligation for Webb by Fox Studios this scene had to be added. The cinema hall where I watched, the people had no idea what was going on, and frankly neither did I, even though I knew the premise and reason, they could have featured a teaser trailer for X-Men Days Of Future Past but what Fox did was to include a scene where Mystique rescues mutants from Vietnam which was thoroughly obnoxious and established nothing about the movie they were advertising.
Overall Rating: 3.25/5