Swinging In For Seconds!!! Spidey’s Second Adventure
Delivers Strong Installment to Young Rebooted Franchise!!!!
By: Brandon Porter
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| Peter Parker begins his greatest battle yet as Spider-Man |
Story
Peter
Parker’s (Andrew Garfield) life couldn’t be more exciting, as the web slinging
hero Spider-Man, he is fully embracing his role as the town’s unquestioned
guardian. Finding balance between his home life with his aunt, helping people
across the city, and keeping his forbidden romance with Gwen Stacy (Emma
Stone), Peter seems to have this hero thing down pretty well. But soon, Peter’s
childhood friend and son of OSCORP founder Norman Osborn Harry (Dean DeHaan)
arrives to inherit his father’s company. Peter now finds himself facing his
greatest challenge yet as he prepares to encounter obstacles that reveal the
truth he’s been searching for and put everything he holds dear at risk.
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| Peter and Gwen meet up for some quality time in Manhattan. |
Analysis
Since Sony Pictures decided
to reboot the Spider-Man franchise, concern and optimism has surrounded it ever
since it began. With a solid financial and critical performance of the first
film in the rebooted series, people were eager to see how the sequel will do
the second time around. For the critics, it was somewhat unsatisfactory. With a
disappointing critical rating of 54% on Rotten Tomatoes, critics seem to on the
brink of putting the franchise on the death watch list. Critic’s complaints stemmed
from the films length to the addition of all the villains. However, they
enjoyed the strong chemistry displayed by Andrew and Emma Stone Tim Robey of
The Telegraph states that, “Marc Webb's Spider-Man sequel is overstuffed with
high-voltage villains, but the sparks between Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone
save the day". On a positive note, Richard Roeper gave the film a solid B+
saying, “It's about 20 minutes too long and it's overstuffed with too many
characters and too many subplots, but there's enough good stuff in The Amazing
Spider-Man 2 to ward optimism about the next chapter of the franchise.”
Financially, Spider-Man did well. It grossed $92 million dollars at the box
office and had a worldwide gross of $368 million. Despite the strong box office
numbers, the critical decline puts the franchise in a very tough position that
begs the question: Is the rebooted franchise in danger of being shunned or can
Marvel Studios do it better?
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| Spider-Man and Electro go head-to-head at OSCORP |
Review
After
2012’s Spider-Man reboot, the world was reintroduced to one of Marvel Comics’
golden boys. With a new lead actor, love interest, and new look. The Amazing
Spider Man franchise was launched hoping to create a new look for the web
slinging Avenger (Yes, I did say AVENGER!!! Are you listening Sony and Marvel
Studios?!) Fast forward two year and Spidey returns with a brand spanking new suit
and new enemies to face. I was lucky enough to experience it in IMAX and I
really liked what I saw. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is exactly what I hoped it
would be. A sequel that builds on what is good and fixes what didn’t work the
first time. This time around, Andrew Garfield is now fully established as
Spider-Man. Everything from his demeanor, wise cracks, and overall aura makes
me love him as the character more and more. At this point, he has fully
surpassed Tobey McGuire’s performance as the character. As for the others,
Jamie Foxx delivers a very solid performance as Max Dillon/Electro. I in no way
shape or form had to worry about how Foxx would do in the role. Given some of
his recent work, I am convinced he can play any role he gets his hands on. His
role is this film backs that claim. Foxx’s portrayal of Max Dillon is very
good. Max comes off as someone who just wants to be noticed and acknowledged
for his hard work and brilliance. Unfortunately, he just seems to be a small
stain no one pays attention to. All he wants to do is be seen and recognized by
people. This makes him relatable in a way and you feel sympathy for him. We all
want to be recognized for our work and efforts but sometimes they go unnoticed
and we are pushed aside like we don’t matter. When Dillon becomes Electro, in a
way, he gets his chance to show everyone what he is capable of, including his
idol Spider-Man. However, in his pursuit of gratification, he loses his sense
of morality and becomes someone other than the person we see in the beginning
of the film. Jamie plays this well and I really enjoyed his performance. Emma
Stone delivers very well as Gwen Stacy in her second running. Dean DeHaan dose
well as Harry Osborn and establishes his place as a future prominent figure in
the rebooted franchise in his small amount of screen time. The action in this
film far exceeds the previous one. I felt that The Amazing Spider-Man had the best action out of any of the films.
This film tops it big time. The action is fast, fun, and exciting. So far, the
rebooted franchise does a much better job at delivering great action sequences
than the original trilogy. The film also does a good job of filling in the
holes that were left in the first film. You really see all the unanswered
question from the first movie answered in this one which is really great to
see. Another plus for me was the films emotional impact. Without giving
anything away, there is a powerfully emotional scene that had me almost in
tears. It really hits you hard and is a bold but good move for this still
growing franchise. I do believe there is plenty of room for improvement if this
franchise continues to move forward. But if the right things are done, The Amazing Spider-Man franchise can
hopefully live up to its name
Rating and Final
Thoughts
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Delivering solid acting, terrific action, and strong
emotional fiber, Spidey’s second running is a solid indication that the reborn
franchise is moving in the right direction.
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With another Spider-Man film out, question still remain on
Sony’s plans for the franchise and what does the future hold for the rest of
the retold tale of Peter Parker.
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