FIlm Review: The Amazing Spider-Man 2/www.nightfilmreviews.com

Rating: 6/10 (9 May 2014)

If the new Spider-Man could represent one thing, it would be hope; hope that Sony can deliver as Disney and Paramount Pictures have with its Marvel mammoth The Avengers cannon; hope that their reboot is a successful and advancing platform towards a very large and lucratively sinister franchise future; and hope that will restore faith in the amazing-ness in its highly popular comic book wall-crawling character after a trilogy not too long ago.
Spider-Man is undoubtedly a symbol of hope; a beacon of goodness; an ideal for morality. Growing up, Spider-Man was and continues to be one of my favourite comic book characters. Riding on emotion and sentiment, the web head is a fictional comic book character written as imperfectly as you and me.
Making his fifth entry on the big screen in just twelve years in Marc Webb's second instalment of the Amazing Spider-Man series, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is less amazing and more routine. At times, the film shines as a gemstone indie love story similar to Webb's breakout hit, then, just seconds later, becomes a highly explosive and corny PG suitable Transformers imitation. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is as confused a film as its lead human character Peter Parker, taking too many liberties with his story yet trying to stay true to the comic book character Stan Lee and Steve Ditko created over fifty years ago. Thankfully, actor Andrew Garfield suits up again and holds the emotional scenes of the film together as the wise-cracking identity confused teenager, nailing every subtle and bold Peter Parker nuance while facing off against many obstacles and three very teed off villains in what has been marketed as 'his greatest battle yet'. With the exception of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3, the last of Raimi's trilogy with the character and a total train wreck, the films seem to be making a slow but steady decline in narrative, quality filmmaking and heart–and the same could be said with The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Rebooting the series in 2012 for the sole purpose of making great use of movie theatres current obsession of 3D and applying it to Spidey's first person metropolitan web-swinging, the point- of-view filming approach makes up for mere minutes of the film, usually focusing on the tormented personality of Peter Parker and the difficult choices he needs to make, as both a man and a hero, which was already visited in the first trilogy. Not that we are expecting a film to be made in the same way as the disastrous POV bomb Doom, but if the studio did decide to revisit a highly successful series only years after the first one was complete, at least make it worth while for the audience to drop the $20 for admission.
In the first Amazing Spider-Man film, Webb's narrative felt like a familiar story of Peter Parker with a new villain. Thankfully, the series was able to pick up massive talent with a director who flourishes in his ability to flesh out the fine chemistry between his actors as seen with 500 Days of Summer and is able to create highly emotional, gut-wrenching bonds between lovers, friends, allies and enemies. With the talented Mr.Webb behind the lens, the Amazing franchise brought Peter Parker more vividly to life with the passionate and caring Andrew Garfield, who proved on many occasions how humbled and dedicated he was highlighting a side of Peter Parker in a way that Tobey Maguire never could. His interactions with his aunt and love interests Gwen are the best scenes in the film, hands down. Kudos to Ms. Emma Stone, who brings Peter Parker's first love Gwen Stacy to life with pizazz and spunk for a second time and finally rids herself of all the Emma Stone nuances that made her performance distracting in the first film.
Picking up exactly where the last film left off in terms of secrets and mysteries, the film opens up to a flashback of Peter Parker's parent's disappearance. Richard and Mary Parker (Campbell Scott and Embeth Davidtz) leave New York and their son behind after double-crossing Oscorp. Flash forward nearly two decades and their son is saving the big apple in his blue and red spandex suit, one fallen fruit at a time.
One of the most interesting mythos behind Spider-Man is his bond with humanity and his internal struggle. Spider-Man is cocky and comical throughout the film, usually minimizing the severity of the action and violence going on around him. Meanwhile, Peter Parker is a highly emotional and tragic character whose curse lays in his inability to distance himself from the people he loves the most. Spider-Man narratives have always been about making choices, choosing paths and learning from one's mistakes. Almost all the comic book characters getting the big screen treatment have been adapting what I like to call The Dark Knight formula; a formula that allows its characters to somewhat be rooted in reality, adding a drizzle of grittiness. Spider-Man seems to be one of the few, if not only, comic book character on the silver screen today who maintains his childish, goofy and often times overly-comical approach, adding colourful hints of appropriate teenage-ness. Sadly, unlike many other famous comic book characters, Spidey's world is one that is conquered constantly by the death of others, a theme that is in no way easy to swallow for children or teenagers–making the film a topsy-turvy tonal mess.
One of the biggest question marks in this film was whether Gwen would make it out alive or not. Webb's film franchise introduced Gwen and allows Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) to be the sole love interest in Peter Parker's life.
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