Sidney Reviews The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Film Review –

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

When I saw the first trailer for the Spider-Man reboot, I was less than excited. I went in fully expecting to hate the movie…until I went in and couldn’t have been more entertained. I loved it. All the bad thoughts I envisioned for The Amazing Spider-Man had subsided…until I saw, The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

Holy damn. What a crap-fest.

I don’t quite know where to begin with that movie: the knock-off Captain America score (one of about five main themes to which the movie couldn’t commit to), the over-written screenplay, or the fact that I felt like I was watching a terrible episode of Gossip Girl for two and a half hours.

The dynamic between Gwen Stacey and Peter Parker was lost from the beginning. Each love scene was about two minutes too long and all romantic dialogue seemed to be written by George Lucas. Considering they are a real life couple, I have no idea why they couldn’t act like one.

Oh, and the villains. Let’s recap:

• Jamie Foxx plays a befuddled (though, no disrespect, I think Jamie Foxx read as mentally handicapped) Spidey super-fan that turns into calculating, flying, and electric sociopath by way of electric eels. Sure…ok.
• Mini Leonardo DiCaprio playing a sassy twink with a goblin disease.
• Then for all of two minutes Paul Giamatti was doing an impression of a bad 80’s villain.

I am told the “logic” was “We’re setting up a Sinister Six movie!” Have we learned nothing about comic book movies that do three villains?! They don’t work!

There were moments of seriousness; but the problem was that everything up to these serious moments had been either face palm levels of bad OR obnoxiously too snarky to make any moment serious.

The overall problem with this movie is that nothing seemed to matter. There was nothing consistent tonally, thematically, or emotionally for anyone to care about since things seemed to be resolved with a sassy remark.

I heard something about how this movie was primarily made for a younger audience to appreciate, which was a reason they made Batman & Robin also.  So yes, they made Batman & Robin for an entirely new generation to hate.

This film serves as a giant reminder that no studio other than Marvel Studios should make Marvel movies. We live in a post-Avengers (or Dark Knight world, if you prefer DC) that means comic book films have standards they must meet in terms of quality.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 failed to meet those standards. Hell, it failed to meet Spider-Man 3 standards.

If you must see this movie, I understand; but in no way should you pay for it.

That’s it for me on this one folks.

Keep Geek.

-Sidney