“Yo, Sparkles!”
Swift shot: While this film entertained me, there were some quips I couldn’t overlook. The odd dialog between some of the characters was poorly written, awkwardly acted, and gave the tone of the whole film a bad pulse. I liked that they introduced Electro, but his character was a foppish rip-off of Jim Carrey’s Riddler from a film that I shall not name in this Marvel review.
Hope is sometimes more cruel than any weapon out there. Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) and Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) are about to graduate from high school and start their new lives. Peter is haunted by ghosts from the past reminding him that he swore to leave Gwen out of any of his adventures as Spider-Man. It was a promise he knew he couldn’t keep for long, but throughout the film, he does try.
Meanwhile, Gwen is fearless in the face of danger, and she shrugs off Peter’s gloomy worries as a crippling fear that she can’t abide. She now works for Oscorp, where the patriarch draws his last breath, but not before issuing a death sentence to his son . . . his disease is genetic. Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) is an estranged character in this series where the Parkers were entwined in international intrigue. Harry is back from boarding school and at the passing of his father, Peter tries to be there for his friend. But, when Harry asks him for his blood . . . that is the one thing he can’t share.
Jamie Foxx plays Max Dillon, a weird electrical genius who has a creepy obsession with Spider-Man. He crosses paths with all the main characters at one point or another, and when he transforms into Electro, he can teleport by bursting his energy and reforming it – and he can even create pants out of thin air. Come to think of it, after Dr. Manhattan’s blue wang, I say thanks to Director Marc Webb for that decision.
The times they decided to be playful in the film really didn’t work within the context of the story. I did like certain obvious, direct nods to the comics, like Spidey donning a firefighter’s helmet to douse a bad guy. I grimaced though at the ridiculously over-acted Dr. Kafka (Marton Csokas). He didn’t provide comedy relief; I was relieved when he was finally out of the story.
But, all those issues aside, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was a good action flick. The special effects were what you would expect from a Sony production, and I know some people didn’t care for his suit. That didn’t really bother me at all. What bothered me was all the many times I was taken out of the story by poor dialog, weak acting, or jokes that just didn’t quite connect.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 does have some heart, but it took awhile to really find it. If you love the web head as much as I do, it won’t destroy the character for you. I just wanted it to be a tad better and less hokey.
