Synopsis:
We've always known that Spider-Man's most important battle has been within himself: the struggle between the ordinary obligations of Peter Parker and the extraordinary responsibilities of Spider-Man. But in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Peter Parker finds that a greater conflict lies ahead. It's great to be Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield). For Peter Parker, there's no feeling quite like swinging between skyscrapers, embracing being the hero, and spending time with Gwen (Emma Stone). But being Spider-Man comes at a price: only Spider-Man can protect his fellow New Yorkers from the formidable villains that threaten the city. With the emergence of Electro (Jamie Foxx), Peter must confront a foe far more powerful than he. And as his old friend, Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), returns, Peter comes to realize that all of his enemies have one thing in common: OsCorp. (c) Columbia
The film stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, and Dane Dehaan among others. The film follows how Peter Parker is balancing is his daily life as Peter Parker (as a nephew, a boyfriend and a student) and Spiderman, I loved this aspect of this film because it was able to show on how this character is struggling in keeping this balance and you can clearly see if this will make or break the character. The film also shows how Peter's parents met their demise and how involved they are with Oscorp and in addition to those, the film also introduced some new villains to face our favorite webhead.
However, having said those, those were not the main plot of the movie, as I see it, the main storyline of the film is the how whole relationship of Peter and Gwen will play thorough-out the movie. It displays the problems they are facing in a relationship and how they are coming into terms with their decisions in life. The things that I have said above though, are the recurring sub-plots of the movie. Speaking of the sub-plots of the film, in my opinion there are some very good ideas but some of it felt like filler scenes and not really felt like necessary for the film to move on, it felt like it wasn't enough to give the main storyline to have some legs and actually move on and have a much more cohesive storyline. Don't get me wrong, I loved the whole aspect of tackling the relationship Peter/Gwen in this movie it just felt short at times and felt too repetitive and kind of came out as your generic teen rom-com film but thanks for the sub-plots it actually saved it even though sometimes the sub-plots actually added to the problems of having a more concrete story.
Moving on, the role of Spider-Man was reprised by none other than Andrew Garfield, he was fantastic as Spidey because he was able to capture the playful nature of Spider-Man from the comics unlike in the recent reboot/predecessor where he comes off as a douchey superhero. From the punchline, to the action and the overall characterization of Spidey, he nails it. His Peter Parker is a different story though, while I think it was okay, it was just so overly dramatic and he basically mumbles his lines at times which is a bit bothersome because it makes it hard to understand. Now, let's have Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, if I have one word to describe this casting and her performance, the word would be perfect. There was nothing to hate from her portrayal and her chemistry with Andrew Garfield is so great it basically feels like that one cannot appear without the other and this aspect of their relationship was basically shown in the film, when they have some sort of argument, you can see Peter being really affected by it, the problem is it became repetitive. Sally Fields also returns as Aunt May and she is just as good as ever, her emotional scenes with Andrew Garfield were so powerful that even without words you can convey the emotional state these characters are going for.
Let's talk villains, Jamie Foxx, Dane Dehaan and Paul Giamatti (technically) were the antagonists for this film. Firstly, let's have Foxx and Dehaan's character, their performance was great and with the material they were given, they definitely did the best they can to make even the most ridiculous motivation for a character may actually seem believable (looking at you Electro). The problem with these characters though is the lack of development, sure it spends a bit of a time building up their villainous turn but when it happened, it just happened, the buildup (lack for a better word) wasn't worth it and it felt rushed. The big payoff to their lack of development is their final confrontation with Spidey, those scenes were just one of the best and exhilarating fights ever put in a comic book movie. As for Paul Giamatti's Rhino, while I enjoyed his hammy performance and his rhino suit, he was just BARELY in it. I think the greatest foe for the villains of this movie is the false marketing the studio has released because in the trailers they made it feel like the villains have LOTS of screen time and LOTS of development and even in the poster they made it look as though they will all fight Spidey at the same time when the EXACT OPPOSITE HAPPENED. Having said that, I am pretty sure that the introductions for the villains is a gateway for the next "Sinister Six" film to be directed by Drew Goddard.Now let's talk about the technical aspects of the film. First is the score, Hans Zimmer, the man responsible for the scores of The Dark Knight Trilogy and Man of Steel comes on board to compose the score for this movie and it was a great score. The mixture of his playful and building score was a great addition to the movie and helped the scenes have the correct tone it's going for. Second is the VFX and the action, the VFX of the film is just one of the best I've seen in a film, why? Because it's very detailed and very crisp that can make your jaw drop at the sight of it. The action, like I said, is one of the best ever put in a comic book film and while I was watching it, it's like a scene that popped out of a comic. Kudos to Webb for capturing this moment.
Speaking of Marc Webb, let's talk about his direction. I liked his direction in the first one because the slight dark tone fits with what they story are going for, in this one however is the tone is a lot lighter with lots of humor thrown in and to me it's actually a lot better than the first one's tone. What I am not of his direction though is the way he handled the pacing of the three acts of the film, the first act of the film had great pacing to it and served as a great opening for the rest of the film. The second act of the film though suffers, the pacing was boring, the characters just kept going round and round even though it introduced some plot points to be resolved by the third act. The third act saved the film in my opinion because it finally felt that something is finally happening in the movie and the pacing of it was just perfect, it slowly took it's time then suddenly ups the ante. Another thing that I disliked about his direction is he overused slow-mo and actually came off as annoying (and that's coming from someone who loves slow-mo). But that's enough for the negatives, let's talk about one more positive thing he did before finishing this up. The one thing that Marc Webb did right was his great direction of the action scenes, it displayed the abilities of these characters to their full extent and it was a great sight to see. Another thing that I liked about his direction is his inclusion of the Spider-Man theme as Spidey's cellphone ringtone, it was a nice touch by Marc Webb, so again, kudos to him.
Overall:
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a highly enjoyable film and a definite improvement from the first installment but it still have noticeable flaws. Despite having flashy visual effects, an eargasmic score, great action and performances, the film still suffers from it's lack of character development (except for it's leads) and can actually make the characters not relateable. Having said that, the goods of this Spider-Man film outweighs the bad aspects of it but like I said, it is a highly entertaining and enjoyable film.
Grade:
Favorite lines:
Gwen Stacy: You're Spider-Man, and I love that. But I love Peter Parker more.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peter Parker: You know what it is I love about being Spider-Man? Everything!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aunt May: I once told you that secrets have a cost. The truth does too.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*There is a lot of great Spider-Man lines from this movie but I can't remember it all.*
No comments:
Post a Comment