This movie is as bad as it is good...

Rating: 4/10 (8 May 2014)

This movie had the potential to be "amazing," but it wasn't. Before the movie even came out, there have been mixed reviews about it and I can see why. It's not like "Man of Steel" where people are split between completely loving it and completely hating it. Instead, we get people saying it's not as good as the Sam Raimi's original "Spider-man 2." I think we can all agree that The Amazing Spider-man 2 COULD HAVE BEEN better, especially after "Captain America 2" raised the bar so high for what a superhero movie COULD be.
The best thing about the movie is the all-star cast in all of its glory. Andrew Garfield is a wonderful rendition of Spider-man and you can tell he loves embodying the web slinger from start to finish. His emotional range as Peter Parker is shown and there is something that Garfield brings to the table that makes his portrayal of Spider-man more filling than Tobey Maguire. Sally Fields as Aunt May is the embodiment of humanity in itself. The scene where Aunt May is sitting on Peter's bed, telling Peter that he is HER son was heartbreaking and emotional. (Admit it, you got teary-eyed watching that scene.) Emma Stone as Gwen Stacey is what saves this movie and she steals every scene that she is in. Dane DeHaan could have been a brilliant Harry Osborn, but the film was such a mess that it made DeHaan's character debatably "alright." Same with Jamie Foxx; Electro could have been an amazing villain, but instead the writers basically stole The Riddler's origin story from "Batman Forever" and made him a joke. I didn't buy Paul Giamatti as Rhino at all. I thought he was a miscast and I felt his character was too comical but we'll get into that later. Actually, let's get into it now.
The tone of the movie is essentially what divides the audience into loving the movie or hating it. One guy told me that he really liked the movie because it had the "80's morning cartoon Spider-man" feel to it. He liked the comical, goofy side of Spider-man and the villains, I mean after all it is a comic book movie, right? I'm on the other side of the coin where I didn't like the tone of the movie at all. In fact, I hated it. It went from light and comical, to dark and heartbreaking, back to light and comical, and so on and so on. The movie had an identity crisis and it tried so hard to please both the kids and the adults and it ended up being a big confusing mess. Poor Jamie Foxx. His character was in the cross-fire and Electro could have been way cooler but instead we get a guy that is so fascinated by his own reflection on television that as soon as Spider-man steals the spotlight, he snaps and becomes a serial killer. Although it was fantastic to see Electro in action, his character came off cheesy and laughable. And Paul Giamatti as the Rhino was the cheesiest of all. They made the Rhino a joke when he's supposed to be dangerous and a threat.
A great movie has an underscore that heightens emotions without you consciously knowing it. (If you have ever watched a Steven Spielberg movie, you know how powerful music can be.) That being said, right when the movie opens up with Spider-man falling out of the sky, I was instantly taken out of the film. (Sound the trumpets! The hero has arrived!) It didn't feel right, it wasn't subtle. I can't help but compare the score of the movie with Sam Raimi's "Spiderman 2", but at least that movie knew what it was doing. Half the time the music for "Amazing Spider-man 2" worked, and the other times it didn't. Honestly, did you really like Electro's dubstep theme song in its entirety? I expected more from you, Hans Zimmer!
Now let's get to the best part of the movie, the relationship between Peter and Gwen. Some would argue that they felt the love story was too much and that it distracted from the rest of the film. But I would argue that the love story is THE POINT of this movie. What happens to Gwen is crucial to why Peter Parker is the way that he is; it molded him into how he is today.Throughout this movie we see how much Peter loves Gwen and he proves it by making a choice to stay with her. If the movie gave the couple less screen time, the loss of Gwen wouldn't have been much of an impact at all. If anything her death wasn't rushed, it was the introduction of the Sinister Six that was rushed. Sony was just so hell-bent on starting a franchise that they forced Marc Webb to include things in his movie that was unnecessary. They told the director and the editor exactly what they wanted in the movie, and the crew had to abide by that.
It's such a shame too because Spider-man deserves so much more than that. I'm scared for the franchise. The relationship between Peter and Gwen Stacy is what saved the film, but now that Gwen is gone, what is the future of the franchise going to be like? Gwen was such a likable character and the chemistry between her and Peter was electrifying. Both the actress of Mary Jane and the writers have to prove to us how Peter can emotionally get over Gwen without it being disrespectful and distasteful. And hopefully we'll get more character development from the villains because if it's anything like "The Amazing Spider-man 2", I'm not looking forward to the Sinister Six movie at all.
Oh, and can we please stop it with the slo-mo? Not every fighting scene has to be slowed down for us to understand what's going on