Saturday, June 28, 2014

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014, PG-13)

 
My weekend of Pride and movies continues with The Amazing Spider-Man 2.  I’d been one of the people who cast dubious glances at the new Spider-Man franchise when it was initially announced.  Surely we weren’t in need of a reboot already!  But I was colored wrong when the first film came out two years ago.  Sure, the movies are rougher and a little more haphazard than the Dark Knight trilogy or the Avengers franchise, but they’re highly entertaining.
 
As with its predecessor, The Amazing Spider-Man 2’s best asset is its superb lead characters.  Andrew Garfield is a fantastic Spidey/Peter Parker, giving a performance infused with charm and likeability.  What’s more, he’s greatly helped by the writing, which maintains Peter’s nerdy knowhow and endearingly silly snark.  Whether he’s performing DIY web-shooter improvements in a garage or tossing a cocky rejoinder at a bad guy, he feels true to Spider-Man in a way that the last franchise never really achieved.  Likewise, Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy is clever and compelling.  She and Garfield have sweet chemistry peppered with witty remarks, and most importantly, she contributes to the plot in meaningful ways that amount to more than just getting captured.  (It’s sad that that’s so noteworthy, but it is.)
 
This movie also introduces Harry Osborn, Peter’s best friend and heir to the monolithic Oscorp.  Though this plot is a bit underwritten, relying mainly on the fine performance from Dane DeHaan (who I’d not seen before) and the strength of his connection with Garfield, it’s utterly watchable.  Harry is equal parts spoiled rich boy, desperate young man, and resourceful magnificent bastard, but all the parts feel cohesive and fitting for the character.  The basic Osborn/Green Goblin origin is tinkered with in unexpected ways that made it more interesting for me.  It seems that the Spider-Man movies tend to like their villains to have motivations other than basic greed, power hunger, or evilness.  It’s not always successful (see Electro below,) but it really works here.
 
The other major threads of the story are unfortunately less riveting.  Electro (Jamie Foxx) is coolly rendered and has some excellent action sequences, but his motivation is sketchy at best and leans too heavily on “unstable loner” clichés.  As fabulous as Peter and Gwen’s scenes are together, their conflicts here feel like a retread of problems dealt with at the end of the first film, and there are an awful lot of daddy issues that threaten to overwhelm the narrative.
 
So, it’s far from perfect, but it’s so enjoyable that I can’t complain too much.  It’s fast-paced and funny, with exciting action and strong character work.  I know I’ll watch as long as they keep making these movies and have a consistently great time.
 
Warnings
 
Lots of comic book violence and some scary scenes.

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