Amazing Spider Man 2

[The4orTy67]

I don't understand why critics are so biased towards this film. I want it to do well at the box office.

[Vworp Vworp]

I don't understand why critics are so biased towards this film. I want it to do well at the box office.

How are you defining 'bias'? Some critics watched it and liked it. Some critics watched it and didn't like it. Just the same as everyone else that saw it. There's no right or wrong when it comes to reviews, it's all down to personal opinion.

[mysterygeekboi]

I'm posting what I wrote about it on imdb here. Maybe this won't fall on deaf ears on these boards. A few spoilers but it's relatively safe:

I don't usually read reviews for highly anticipated movies. Especially sequels. I made my mind up when the Matrix sequels came out to not expect things and let movies be what they are and judge them based on that. I feel that part of creating expectations is reading reviews. You're expecting something to be awesome, then it gets a bad reviews and when you see it all you can see are the flaws. I think that's what's happening with Spider-Man 2: a few critics compared this for some reason to Batman and Robin and so people went in expecting it to be bad, so they only focused on the bad parts.

I've said this before with other movies but when I watch this and then look at audience and critical reactions, I have to wonder - did we even watch the same movie? Because the movie I saw had all the heart and attention to character the 2012 film had. And don't get me wrong, when I heard they were rebooting such a young franchise I had my doubts. I didn't even see the first one in theaters. But when I finally did see it, it thrilled me and I let myself be taken on the roller-coaster ride.

And that's really what this film is and should be. There's action - the opening scenes in 3D were incredible. There were moments when I actually felt like I was swinging along with Spidey, and were worth the price of admission alone. But more than that this is an emotional roller-coaster. To the people who said Parker got back to being Spidey at the end too quickly I ask you, how is 5 months of not enough? To those who say the climax was rushed and the Goblin's appearance and realization of Gwen and Pete too quick I turn you to the actor's performance. You could see the gears working, the discovery when he figures it out.

All the character arcs feel earned, from the emergence of The Goblin to Electro's mania. Even the side characters like Dr. Kafka don't feel like forced, stock characters. One can see that they are building a world for Spidey and characters short-lived in this film like Kafka and Rhino are sure to be developed further in future films.

Speaking of which - how about all the Easter Eggs whenever an Oscorp computer display was on-screen? It deserves multiple viewings just to catch them all.

This movie was everything a Spidey film should be: it was fun and well-paced but still had a few slower moments to let us digest the story and actually spend time with characters. We got advancement of larger plot elements but it was still a self-contained story. One could watch this without the benefit of the first film and not be lost at all. We got hints of things to come, and we have a love story where between the first and this one you can actually see how much the characters love one another. This is a rarity for these types of films. I mean, Gwynnith Paltrow's Pepper Potts is well played and the Iron Man films very well done but I never actually felt like she and Tony love each other.

In the end I think movies come down to how they make you feel. This film excited me, it made me laugh, it made me feel equal parts happy, sad and hopeful. It doesn't require you to be a fan of the comics to understand the internal logic of the film 'verse. And it ended on a cliffhanger of sorts in Merry Marvel fashion!

Fantastic movie! Excelsior!

[oldschool]

He had to walk 20 miles through the snow to get here. Uphill.

Kids today have no respect!! Now get off my lawn!!

[oldschool]

Thinking more on this...

Pros
- Andrew Garfield.
- Emma Stone.
- The spectacle of Electro. I also like the idea of Spider-Man figuring out how he has to outsmart the villain.
- The moment of Gwen's death is well done.
- The epilogue is nice. A good way to show why Peter still fights, while tying in to a few earlier stories.
- Satisfying answers to the questions about Peter's parents. The idea that the spiders would only work on Richard Parker's bloodline is a decent twist.
- Aunt May's job is excellent.
- Dane Dehaan has a similar character arc to Chronicle, but he plays another young supervillain fairly well.

Cons
- Way too busy. Plots in the film include the death of Norman Osborn, the origin of Electro, a dying Harry Osborn trying dangerous experiments, a power struggle at Oscorp, Peter trying to keep away from Gwen Stacy because he's afraid he'll endanger her, the first time Spider-Man beats Electro, shady experiments performed on Electro, a rematch between Spider-Man and Electro, a fight between Spider-Man and the unnamed Harry Goblin, Peter learning his parent's secrets, the aftermath of Gwen Stacy's death and the origin of the Rhino.
- J Jonah Jameson has become a part of Peter Parker's life off-screen. These are scenes that only work with an audience already familiar with the character, which makes for a mess of an adaptation.
- We don't get a sense of a lot of elements of Peter's private life. What's it like in college? What's it like at the Bugle? Does he hang out with anyone else?
- They skip over Amazing Spider-Man #122. We don't see the immediate aftermath of Gwen's death.
- The segue to the Sinister Six is a bit awkward, especially with Gwen dying.
- I don't really care for the pathetic take on Electro. He may just be the worst of the major villains from any of the Spider-Man movies.

I would agree with all your points except that I didn't even care for the "spectacle" of Electro; the design simply aped Dr Manhattan from The Watchmen and, while the Times Square battle had some decent moments, the threat he posed was simply too amorphous and widespread to ever feel truly personal for Spidey. With such a great rogues' gallery to choose from, I continue to scratch my head that Webb chose Lizard and now Electro as the primary villains for his first 2 films. O for 2 in my book. DeHaan's Gobin was far, far better and should have been the primary villain here. I know you agree based on your final point above but even the "spectacle" of Electro didn't work for me while the Goblin's visual and action was far more on point for me.

[oldschool]

Ehh, just got out an hour ago and it was decent. Entertaining but pretty generic and familiar.

Gwen's death cut deep tho, I'm still feeling sad after seeing that. Emma and Andrew's chemistry was by far the best element of this series and with that gone the series is gonna suffer.

Very much agreed. Marc Webb and his team have some heavy lifting ahead of them to replace not only Gwen's character but that remarkable on-screen chemistry.

[Peter Porker]

Thinking more on this...

Pros
- Andrew Garfield.
- Emma Stone.
- The spectacle of Electro. I also like the idea of Spider-Man figuring out how he has to outsmart the villain.
- The moment of Gwen's death is well done.
- The epilogue is nice. A good way to show why Peter still fights, while tying in to a few earlier stories.
- Satisfying answers to the questions about Peter's parents. The idea that the spiders would only work on Richard Parker's bloodline is a decent twist.
- Aunt May's job is excellent.
- Dane Dehaan has a similar character arc to Chronicle, but he plays another young supervillain fairly well.

Cons
- Way too busy. Plots in the film include the death of Norman Osborn, the origin of Electro, a dying Harry Osborn trying dangerous experiments, a power struggle at Oscorp, Peter trying to keep away from Gwen Stacy because he's afraid he'll endanger her, the first time Spider-Man beats Electro, shady experiments performed on Electro, a rematch between Spider-Man and Electro, a fight between Spider-Man and the unnamed Harry Goblin, Peter learning his parent's secrets, the aftermath of Gwen Stacy's death and the origin of the Rhino.
- J Jonah Jameson has become a part of Peter Parker's life off-screen. These are scenes that only work with an audience already familiar with the character, which makes for a mess of an adaptation.
- We don't get a sense of a lot of elements of Peter's private life. What's it like in college? What's it like at the Bugle? Does he hang out with anyone else?
- They skip over Amazing Spider-Man #122. We don't see the immediate aftermath of Gwen's death.
- The segue to the Sinister Six is a bit awkward, especially with Gwen dying.
- I don't really care for the pathetic take on Electro. He may just be the worst of the major villains from any of the Spider-Man movies.

I think Gwens death wasn't handled very good and it doesn't work at all: First of all, it isn't so sudden like it is in the comics. In the comics it's a real shock and changes everything. And as you said, the aftermath is missing and that is such a big flaw, because where are the direct consequences of her death that make him learn? That make him grow as a character and feel guilty?
I mean, if you're going to kill off a female character to alter the storyline of a male character, then at least do it right. The way they did it was weak imo.
All in all, where is his guilt-trip in this franchise? It's like he has no responsibility for the deaths of anybody and therefore doesn't even have to feel guilty, but that's what makes him him!
Also: This Parker Bloodline stuff is really not good. You need to see this video, really. It sums up what Hollywood is currently doing to old franchises that worked without the whole destiny crap that Hollywood is now trying to force on everything.
Also, why is there more focus on Richard than on May? I love May, I want to see more May. I want to see how important May is and that she is his mother-figure.
The epilogue is just.... what did they do to Rhino? Seriously?
And it still bugs me that everyone loves Peter and that J.J.J. doesn't have a big role apparently.
Despite that, I agree mostly with you.

[mysterygeekboi]

I've seen this point come up before - that we don't see the aftermath or guilt that comes due to Gwen's death. But seriously, he had a 5 month period of mourning, sitting by her grave all the time. How is that not enough grief and/or guilt for Parker?

[Mister Mets]

I've seen this point come up before - that we don't see the aftermath or guilt that comes due to Gwen's death. But seriously, he had a 5 month period of mourning, sitting by her grave all the time. How is that not enough grief and/or guilt for Parker?

That part's okay. But they skip over possibly the most interesting issue of the Spider-Man comics, when Gwen Stacy is dead and Peter Parker is grappling with that, looking to make sure that Norman Osborn is going to join her.

That's the biggest thing that's missing. I can understand why (it might not work as well with Harry, The audience might not be able to accept a big chunk of the film being set after Gwen's death) but it was something that could have been interesting.

[Keeper of the Crows]

That part's okay. But they skip over possibly the most interesting issue of the Spider-Man comics, when Gwen Stacy is dead and Peter Parker is grappling with that, looking to make sure that Norman Osborn is going to join her.

That's the biggest thing that's missing. I can understand why (it might not work as well with Harry, The audience might not be able to accept a big chunk of the film being set after Gwen's death) but it was something that could have been interesting.

Even though I enjoyed the movie, I agree with this a lot. For me 121 and 122 have three really powerful moments. The first is Gwen's death, but the second is when Peter brutally engages Norman and comes within inches of beating him to death, only to pull himself back from the brink and realize he's not a murderer. The third is when Norman is impaled on his own glider.

Granted, they couldn't do the glider scene again after the first trilogy, but even with Harry instead of Norman, it would have been nice to see Peter react to Harry after Gwen's death. Instead, the next time we see Harry, he is in Ravencroft. Did Peter drop him off there? Did he swing away and wait for the cops to show up and cart him away? Was Harry at all regretful over Gwen's death? We don't know, but I think an opportunity was missed.

[Diggy]

Very much agreed. Marc Webb and his team have some heavy lifting ahead of them to replace not only Gwen's character but that remarkable on-screen chemistry.

Man I wouldn't even be mad if they just had Emma Stone dye her hair red and made her play MJ too haha.

[Chris S.]

That part's okay. But they skip over possibly the most interesting issue of the Spider-Man comics, when Gwen Stacy is dead and Peter Parker is grappling with that, looking to make sure that Norman Osborn is going to join her.

That's the biggest thing that's missing. I can understand why (it might not work as well with Harry, The audience might not be able to accept a big chunk of the film being set after Gwen's death) but it was something that could have been interesting.

So did you not like the film then Mets? It would be so ironic if you disliked the film and I really enjoyed it. Sure it had it's problems, but it was still a good enough flick.

Emma Stone and Garfield alone made up for a lot of the shortcomings.

[Chris S.]

Cons
- We don't get a sense of a lot of elements of Peter's private life. What's it like in college? What's it like at the Bugle? Does he hang out with anyone else?
- They skip over Amazing Spider-Man #122. We don't see the immediate aftermath of Gwen's death.

I was amazed they skipped over college life too. Only issue is the film was already a bit long. I felt like they should have found a place to cut 20-30 minutes.

[SpiderNerd]

I've seen the film twice thus far, and I loved it. My only negative was the five month time skip. We barely see Peter mourn Gwen's death at all. That was a problem. Other than that, this film kicked butt. Easily an A+

[tabo61]

Went to a 9:30 a.m. showing today. I thought Harry Osborn was a little whiner.