Review of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) by Nelson B — 10 Mar 2016

I really didn't care of this series reboot and was even less excited for this sequel. Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man is way too cool to play nerdy Peter Parker. Tobey McGuire was much more true to the dweeby Parker of the comic.

But putting that aside, Garfield and Emma Stone are both fine actors, even if they're ridiculously old to be pass for high schoolers (or even recently graduated high schoolers). This film was written by the usually reliable JJ Abrams writing team of Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci, but this one felt like a dud.

There are some solid character driven story elements between Peter Parker and girlfriend Gwen Stacy, but that takes a backseat to an overload of Spider-Man villains. One of the problems with Spider-Man is he has very few foes who translate well to the screen.

The comic book Electro would look ridiculous, as would Rhino, both of whom appear in this film. I'd say the same for the Green Goblin, but Sam Raimi managed to make it work alright for his Spider-Man series.

The villains here just look boring and the action feels very generic. Director Mark Webb has an uncomfortable mixture of trying to be realistic in his action and also being big an bombastic, ALA Michael Bay.

I also didn't like the heavy reliance on CGI special effects, particularly in the final, which made the film seem more like you're watching a cartoon and took you out of the suspense and any emotional investment you might have had.

Although most of what I had to say was negative, I do like Garfield as an actor, even if he was miscast (too old and too cool), and Emma Stone is very good as Gwen Stacey, even if she was also miscast (too old to play a high schooler) and they do manage to carry the film and rise above the mess that surrounds them.