The Amazing Spiderman 2: Rise of Electro (***)
Directed
by: Marc Webb
Starring:
Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Colm Feore, Felicity
Jones, Paul Giamatti, Sally Field, Campbell Scott, Embeth Davidtz, Marton
Csokas, Dennis Leary, Chris Cooper
Seen:
April 25th 2014
***
Out of ****
I was
a big fan of the first 2 Tobey Maguire Spiderman movies, but I hated the third
one; a convoluted mess with a superhero who couldn’t stop crying like a little
girl. This new series is, in my opinion, a sight better than that one, apart
from some of the scenes Sam Raimi built around Doctor Octopus, which to this
day remains my favourite part of all five the Spiderman movies. The Amazing
Spiderman series started off on a good note, and while it still wasn’t that
fantastic, it certainly raised the bar after the failure that was Spiderman 3.
This movie is a little better than its predecessor, even though it is perhaps a
bit too long at 142 minutes. It feels more structured, and less rushed to the
silver screen.
The
movie kicks off with the last few hours of Peter’s parents years earlier, and
with Peter’s exploits both personally and as Spiderman. Peter (Garfield) is
being haunted by visions of George Stacy (Leary), whom he made a promise to
that he is breaking by still being very happily involved with his daughter Gwen
(Stone). Peter captures a mad criminal, Aleksei Sytsevich (Giamatti) after a
heist at OsCorp, and in the process saves the life of an OsCorp employee, the
socially invisible and desperate electricity expert Max Dillon (Foxx). Dillon
is in wonder when Spiderman tells him that he needs him, that he is his eyes
and ears in the city. Dillon continues to work, where he is marginalised and
treated terribly. He is forced to work late alone on his birthday in a
hazardous environment, and he falls into a vat of electric eels. He is attacked
and believed dead, but awakes in the morgue a different being, one who is now basically
an insanely powerful battery. In his confusion he wanders into Times Square,
where he wreaks some havoc, and Spiderman is quickly on the scene. Spiderman doesn’t
remember him from earlier though, and the desperate Max, now switching to his
alter-ego Electro, erupts in fury and destroys a large part of Times Square
before being subdued and captured.
In
the meantime Peter’s old friend Harry Osborn (DeHaan) returns to Manhattan when
his father, Norman (Cooper) is on his deathbed. The affliction is genetic, and
when Harry starts exhibiting signs of the mutative disease, he wants to obtain
Spiderman’s blood in hopes that it could cure him. Peter tries to dissuade him,
but Harry is adamant, and when he finally gets his hands on the research DNA he
injects himself, and is quickly disfigured, with only an advanced battle suit with
medical technology saving him. Electro and The Green Goblin team up, and it’s
down to Spiderman to save the day yet again.
Andrew
Garfield is a great Spiderman/Peter Parker, and adds both levity and gravitas
to the character. He must however be careful to not become too much of a
tortured soul and just become another cry-baby Spiderman. Emma Stone is sweet
and her Gwen Stacey is a perfect companion for Garfield’s Peter. Jamie Foxx, Dane
DeHaan, and Paul Giamatti all go way over-the-top (in a good but cheesy way)
with their respective villains, and in this the movie takes some of the
credibility that superhero movies of the last 10 years have built up and chucks
it in favour of big set-pieces with cool explosions and crazy bad guys.
Because of director Marc Webb having a deal with
both Sony (Spiderman) and Fox (X-Men), the movie has a short scene from X-Men:
Days of Future Past after the credits, and even though I really enjoyed The
Amazing Spiderman 2 despite some flaws, this short sting had me more excited
than the entire Spiderman movie. Visually and in the moment the movie is great
fun though, and even though Spiderman’s novelty has fallen by the wayside a
bit, this movie will still be enjoyable to just about everyone.
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