Review of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) by Destiny L — 06 Mar 2016

LOVED the first one. Remember when I said THIS: "Marc Webb, don't fail on us NOW. We NEED A SOLID trilogy to balance things out on this franchise. The conclusion last time got quite a bit of backlash, so make this one GOOD, and do the same for the finale of YOUR version of this franchise.

"? Sure enough, he DID... and I LOVED it! MY score is fair, the critics' ISN'T. IT DESERVES TO BE FRESH. 53% is BS. COME ON, GUYS! BUT: I feel like this DOES have some problems (although I stand by my score, as I feel like this got more right than wrong).

For one, this needed a bit more of a touch-up on the writing to balance the villains' screen time, or if it couldn't work out, then maybe just pick one villain and set up the others, like there is at one point here, but with different villains than the ones in here.

Maybe set up Rhino with, for example, mentioning how he escaped from prison and was caught by Spider-Man and thrown back in, and give him a cameo at the end where he's in prison, and he has a motive: he wants to break out again and go after him, and then he's shown the suit, and there's the set-up for the next one, all while keeping in Green Goblin and Electro.

They set up Electro, and then set up Green Goblin (which led to one of the most iconic stories in Spider-Man lore being used at the end, just with a slight variation, and end it on a bleak note like I thought they should have, and it probably would have caught everyone off guard with an ending like that, and maybe more people would have liked this.

Another problem I have is how they made Electro basically Spider-Man's answer to "Stan" (and also Sony's answer to the Riddler in Batman Forever, AND to Aldrich Killian in Iron Man 3).

I feel like they should have just made him a hard-working, dedicated electrician who is given nothing to show for it, and then he has his accident here, and then he goes crazy and Spider-Man has to stop him.

Dane DeHaan, who was GREAT as Andrew in Chronicle, I was SO GLAD to hear being cast as Harry Osborn, so PERFECT casting there, as I felt he would be a good counter-balance to someone like Andrew Garfield.

However, there were some interesting scenes in the trailers that were NOT in the movie, like the scene where he meets with Peter Parker in the office, the "Surveillance Scene," as it were...

NOT in the movie. I felt that would have provided more of an interesting backstory for him on top of what he's given here. He was pretty much reduced to a hardened spoiled kid who is neglected by his father, Norman, but I give this points for mentioning that because that was in the comics as well (AND in the original movie that had James Franco as Harry Osborn, and Willem Dafoe as Norman).

Chris Cooper as Norman is given basically a cameo, as he's only in it for a few minutes (and I don't think that line "Not everyone deserves a happy ending." was in the movie, either! That would have been GREAT foreshadowing for the take on the classic story I mentioned earlier that was done here!).

Those are all the problems I can think of right now. Now for the good: Andrew Garfield is still really good as Spider-Man, and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy as well. Jamie Foxx, for what he's given, I really liked him.

Dane DeHaan was really good. Paul Giamatti was a good choice for Rhino, but he's not given much to do, because he's barely in it. Chris Cooper was good for the small time he had, and of course, Sally Field was still really good as Aunt May.

Felicity Jones was good in here, despite the fact that her character was basically a nod to who she is in the comics, and is pretty much fan service in regards to that. I also appreciated how they addressed the mystery of what happened to Peter Parker's parents here.

The effects were really good, as was the humor that Spider-Man was given here (he had some in the first one, but he had more here). I also liked how they made Gwen Stacy a strong character here because she actually helps Spider-Man out at one point here, as she did in the first one.

I was concerned about how Shailene Woodley, who was supposed to play MJ, was cut because now we'll never get to see her. Although, to be fair, she has her own franchise that started in 2014 a couple months before this came out, and she may have also ended up being another damsel-in-distress like MJ was before.

I felt she was a good choice, though. Overall, this IS a really good movie, but it does have its problems. It's NOT perfect like I initially felt it was, but I still really like this movie. (Unfortunately, that statement I made.

.. we're never going to get it.).