Disclaimer: I do not follow the actual Spider-man comics, so this is review is coming from an unbiased movie enthusiast. You will not find comparisons between this motion picture and the graphic novel from which it was spawned, nor will I be bashing the discrepancies. This is not the droid you're looking for.
That said: The Amazing Spider-man 2 was indeed amazing, a full blown action packed assault on my eyeballs. It opened hard and fast, dropping momentum only long enough to tug at your heart strings with its love story. (The chemistry between Peter and Gwen was truly palpable. After today, I'm officially team Gwen Stacy. Yes, I'm aware it's a losing team.)
There's a good chance Peter Parker might just be my favorite Marvel hero. There's always been something overwhelmingly accessible about him. Andrew Garfield does a fantastic job of translating his big heart to the big screen. The way he makes the little people feel like they are HIS personal heros... it gave me the feels, man.
The one flaw I managed to find was the feeling of being completely overstuffed. Thinking back on the film to write this, I find myself wondering if the secondary opening sequence really had anything to do with the rest of the story. Scenario: Spider-man is doing his spidey crime fighting thing, swiftly swinging from building to building to a pulse thumping soundtrack. Some bad guy and his groupies have stolen a truck containing plutonium vials. I was under the impression that one of these vials were going to break during this energetic chase, leading to a classic comic book mutation, but no. This scene DOES connect him with the socially outcast Max Dillon, who later becomes the villain, but I still sat there waiting for some plutonium to secretly drip into the water supply or something. Nope.
Speaking of Max Dillon... can i just start by saying I am NOT a fan of Jamie Fox? I really wanted to dislike his character, but I can't. I wanted to hug the poor, lonesome soul. Fox made it very easy to understand how someone so abandoned by society could join the dark side once they finally have the ability to turn the tides. His mutated alter-ego, Electro, was simply beautiful on screen. New fave Spidey bad-guy? You bet! As someone who has often felt "invisible", his character was highly relatable.
I was surprised to find myself enjoying the creepy looking Dane Dehaan's performance as Harry Osborn. The brief partnership between he and Electro was surprisingly engaging. I so badly yearned for them to see the errors in their ways, and use their powers for good!
One of the biggest viewer complaints I discovered about TAS2 was the "overabundance" of CGI. I watched this in Imax 3d today and found it visually stunning and incredible, and I kinda wanna go buy the soundtrack.
If you've been following my reviews, you may have noticed I've neglected to outline the arrangement of events in this one. I truly want every one to literally stop what they are doing and go watch this. If you're an avid Spider reader, maybe try to let it go for just two hours, eh? Take it at face value: a comic book flick, a summer action movie, and just have fun flying through the city with your friendly neighborhood spider-man!
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