REVIEW #85 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

The Amazing Spider-Man 2, directed by Marc Webb picks up from where we left off in the first instalment. Spider-Man is more familiar with his powers and is well known across New York City but Peter is having a hard time dealing with the promise he made to Gwen’s father. However he soon finds himself having to battle more villains genetically modified by Oscorp. 

CAST & THE ACTING 

Andrew Garfield returns as Peter Parker and delivers another strong performance as the web slinger. There are many elements in this film where Peter is struggling and Garfield really portrays those emotions well on screen. His chemistry with Emma Stone is great and that presents a really authentic relationship between Peter and Gwen. Another partnership that is elevated in this sequel is Andrew Garfield and Sally Field as Peter and Aunt May. There is a sweet, emotional moment between the pair that really hit me and that’s a credit to the two actors, reeling in the audience like that to portray the special bond between the characters. Jamie Foxx plays the iconic villain Electro and it’s not my favourite performance but I think he does well enough to sell the character to the audience, certainly well enough to get him called back up to the Far From Home film that’s out later this year. Dane DeHaan was cast as Harry Osborne and I think he done pretty well, they changed the character quite a bit from previous films which I didn’t necessarily like but his acting certainly pulled it off. Overall there isn’t any bad performances that stand out, there are certainly some average ones but there are a couple like Garfield and Field that elevated their performances since the first instalment. 

PLOT & THE STORYLINE 

I really liked The Amazing Spider-Man 2’s approach to Peters parents and their death, it makes them more significant compared to the original trilogy where they didn’t even get a mention. They also introduced Harry Osborne as an old friend of Peters who has returned from being sent to boarding school. I definitely think that was needed because the first film lacked that normal friendship for Peter and that’s why I think he should have appeared first of all in the first film and then show him progress into the green goblin in the second. It was an interesting twist having the Osborn’s suffer from a genetic illness which leads up to the Green Goblin moment but I think I preferred the approach to the villain in Toby Maguire’s film. I do understand why they wanted to change things up though, to bring a freshness to the film. I liked how there was a lot of focus on the issues Peter was having in his personal life, this highlighted Garfields acting ability but also maintaining a sense of vulnerability in Spider-Man. The ending was bold, which I liked a lot and I would have like to have seen more on how Peter dealt with it in the third film but unfortunately that never got made which was disappointing. Even more so because there are lots of Easter eggs to other villains too, hinting at a possible Sinister Six plot for the next film.

CINEMATOGRAPHY & SPECIAL EFFECTS 

Marc Webb and his team definitely upgraded the cinematography and effects even more for this second instalment. There were some really great scenes, especially the battles between Spider-Man and Electro, set at night to utilise the effects and highlight the powers of electro. One of my favourite scenes was the ending when Spider-Man was going down the clock tower, the slow motion, the music and the effects were all outstanding to create a really special and significant scene. I would probably go as far as saying in terms of cinematography and special effect this film probably tops all the other Spider-Man films, so credit to Dan Mindel who was in charge of that. The pacing was a little slow at times but I think it was necessary just because we needed more focus on conversations between characters to build up their relationship further. For example the scenes between Harry and Peter, not very exciting but needed to explain their history. So the film did really well in this category.

OVERALL (8/10)

I really enjoyed The Amazing Spider-Man 2, I think it really highlighted the acting ability that Andrew Garfield has because he really excelled. His chemistry with not only Emma Stone but Sally Field, come across so well on screen, creating some really emotional scenes. There is some things I would change about the plot, I would have introduced Harry in the first film because there was so much more to that character then we get to see in this film. I am glad we got to see a live action Electro even if he did miss the mark a little bit but I’m even more excited to see his MCU version in a couple of months time. The cinematography and special effects were outstanding, the best of any Spider-Man film in my opinion. So I would definitely recommend this film, I’m sure most of you have seen it already but for those who haven’t give The Amazing Spider-Man films a go!

Thanks for reading. 

Callan