The Amazing Spiderman 2

The Amazing Spiderman 2 continues on the previous entries habit of getting Spiderman absolutely right. Though grounded in reality, the world is a little over-the-top, the one liners are occasionally too much and make Peter Parker seem like an arrogant young kid (which he is), but the action is fantastic and the villains have a way of having some pathos that they don’t always do in other superhero universes. Emma Stone deserves special mention as making her Gwen Stacy the model on which all “girlfriend in a superhero movie” roles should be, as she’s smarter than Peter (Andrew Garfield, fantastic again) and bails him out at least as many times as he saves her. A damsel in distress she is not. Ultimately, The Amazing Spiderman 2 has too many villains, too many throwaway moments (or moments that should’ve been thrown away), and is a little too long. Still, it was a blast and worthy of standing alongside Spiderman 2, the only great entry in the Tobey Maguire/Sam Raimi movies.

With, by the end of the movie, having 3 villains, it becomes too much. But Paul Giamatti is hamming it up with a ridiculous Russian accent that made me smile in his 5 minutes or so of screen time as Rhino. Dane DeHaan does some nice work as Harry Osborn, spoiled little rich kid who finds out he’s dying from a genetic disease and has to go about finding out how to stop the disease. Eventually he becomes the Green Goblin, one of Spiderman’s most iconic foes. It’s too bad that he’s ridiculous to look at and listen to once the villainous transformation takes place, but he does get a game changer of a villainous deed that is handled as well as anything has any moment in any comic book movie yet. The main villain of the piece, the one I wish had had more screen time, is Jamie Foxx’s terrific obsessive fan turned dangerous enemy, Electro. I liked the consequences shown for when a villain is able to have the almost God-like ability to control electricity. Imagine New York City completely blacking out because of this uncontainable and uncontrollable lust for electricity that Electro has. This movie imagines those type of consequences.

Andrew Garfield, who I first noticed in his extraordinary work in Terry Gilliam’s extraordinary movie The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, is simply a perfect fit for this role. Even at 30, he still is passable as a high school senior and college freshman. He plays Peter wrestling the demons of what it means to be Spiderman and whether he’s actually ultimately doing good or bad for the city. He shows the physical toll being a superhero would take on your body and mind. But he also plays the humor and the light heartedness of Spiderman as well. And the chemistry that he and real life love Emma Stone have is what really carries the movie’s core along. I can’t wait to see where director Marc Webb goes with the series from here.