Although Marvel
jump-started the summer movie season in early April with the release of Captain
America: The Winter Soldier, to the entire entertainment industry, the summer
blockbuster stretch starts the first weekend of May. Marvel has, again, been
known to dominate this time slot, especially in the past few years. Now, with
the release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Marvel has established a formidable
one-two punch atop the box office that should carry for the next few weeks.
Following off the events of 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man
origin story, Andrew Garfield continues to deliver a solid performance as both
Peter Parker and the web-slinger. Not only does he provide a comedic side to
Spider-Man, something rarely seen during Sam Raimi’s original Spider-Man
series, but also covers up his identity acting as the blundering Parker, as shown
during select scenes with his Aunt May (Sally Fields). Overall, this movie
delivers in the acting department, as all of the stars, not just Garfield, give
incredible performances. Jamie Foxx’s portrayal of Max Dillon, aka, Electro, is
especially powerful, as we see, to quote The Dark Knight, how “All it takes is
one bad day to reduce the sanest man to lunacy.” The chemistry between Andrew
Garfield’s Parker and Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) shines through the movie, as the
real-life couple is able to play off each other’s words with ease.
Similarly, the action scenes are amazing, starting just
about five minutes in, as we see Spider-Man in a freefall toward the streets of
New York, only to sling a web, and shoot up to the skies, all while Hans
Zimmer’s incredible soundtrack plays. Foxx’s Electro gets in on the fun too, as
we see him, having just discovered his newfound powers, lay waste to Times
Square, in what is, in this author’s opinion, the second best action scene in a
comic book movie this year, just behind Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
The final battle between the two, though, takes that power, and magnifies it
tenfold, leaving fans on the edge of their seats.
Unfortunately, while the movie does receive incredible
marks for the cast’s acting, the action scenes, and Zimmer’s soundtrack, the plot
suffers from an overload of storylines akin to Spider-Man 3. On top of the
Electro villain story, we are also given the origins of Harry Osborn (Dane
DeHaan), and his friendship with Peter. While DeHaan again delivers a stunning
portrayal, like in 2012’s Chronicle, his transformation into the secondary
villain of the film could have been left out until Amazing Spider-Man 3. On top
of all of that, there is the continuing will-they-won’t-they between Peter and
Gwen, Peter uncovering the further truth about his father, and a scene that
would have been much better suited for a thriller movie. Throw in the shocking
ending of the film, and fans could understand why Mary-Jane Watson, who was
supposed to be played by Shailene Woodley, was cut from the film.
Despite this, Amazing Spider-Man 2 delivers an incredible
film, both through its incredible cast, and stellar action scenes. Sony had taken
a bit of a gamble for not returning the rights to the film to Marvel, and thus allowing
Spider-Man take his place among the Avengers. Yet this film proves that Sony
had done the smart thing in keeping the rights to Spider-Man, allowing them to
continue to build the universe of the web-slinger for years to come, and be a
part of the Marvel superhero summer.
One last thing: while
there isn’t an end credits scene directly from the movie (there is a preview
for the new X-Men movie, featuring Jennifer Lawrence), you will want to stick
around to watch the credits themselves, as they directly tease the future of
the Spidey-verse.
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