The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - Grading & Discussion

I'll write up a more comprehensive review tomorrow, but I just got back a little while ago from seeing it with friends in IMAX 3D. I enjoyed it, I think some of the negative reviews it's getting are a little harsh. This movie is not without flaws but it's certainly not the worst of this genre. Good performances from all of the actors and some not totally unexpected plot developments for this franchise. One corny moment that sticks out in my mind right now, on part with the cranes lining up to help Spidey in the previous movie, is the thunderous applause by the ATC personnel when the plain crash was avoided. It struck as just a bit over-the-top and, really, that whole sequence wasn't needed.

 

Wasn't "Get Spider-Man" pretty much it?

 

I saw this movie last night. I gave it an A. It's not the same as the other Marvel movies that exist in the same universe, but you can tell that they stepped up thier game possibly to compete. It's a real shame that Spidey can't be a part of the Avengers, I think he would fit in well. I doubt he would take orders well and would probably make fun of Stark or maybe Cap. He'd probably admire the Hulk, because, you really don't want to piss him off. I thought the action sequences were absolutely awesome. This reboot feels more like pages of a comic book coming to life, especially Gwen's death. I've never really been a big fan of Electro, but he was alright. I like Harry Osbourne in this, but Defoe is a better Goblin. It will definitely be interesting to see where everything goes next. This movie was not better than Captain America, but certainly better than the first movie. What little complaints I have are not really worth mentioning.

 

I liked the movie although it definitely did have some flaws. The main thing that sticks out at me is how much better Garfield is in the role than Maguire. Tobey Maguire always had the presence and charisma of a jellyfish, IMO. Emma Stone also wipes the floor with the awful Kirsten Dunst who looked like she was coked up half the time in the Raimi films.

 

Harry needed Electro to get back to OsCorp to get his cure, Electro also wanted revenge on OsCorp for their role in what he became and what happened to him at Ravencroft.

After that, it became more about Spider-Man. But there was more to it than just getting him.

 

I'm starting to think Kurtzman and Orci might actually be....bad writers. The evidence is piling up.

Although I enjoyed it for what it was, ASM2 was one of the most nonsensical movies since Batman & Robin.

Why do so many of their movies involve over-the-top goofy, illogical, inconsistent nonsense? Between Revenge of The Fallen, alot of STID and this.........just wow.

Just a few questions:

1. How did Harry break into a maximum security facility all by himself? Or take out two trained guards by his little frail self. Isn't he supposed to be sick?

2. Electro had the combined electric power of an entire city as his disposal. Why didn't he just instantly fry Spider-man, game over?

3. Richard Parker ran so they couldn't get his blood? Besides that making no sense, why did Mary Parker run too? Why didn't Norman Osborn just kidnap Peter and force him to come out hiding?

4. Where did Electro's black suit come from? Where does it go when he dissipates?

5. Harry's dad started getting sick at Harry's age. So Harry had 20 plus years to go. Why was he in such a hurry? Why was his first impulse to inject Spider-man's blood into himself or all things? Why not do, I dunno, an hour of research first? Hell, why didn't Spider-man suggest this option? to Harry?

I can go on with this stuff for days.

 

Whaaaaaaaaaat?!

6. If the Goblin suit cured Harry so easily, why all the run-around with spiders and blood and other crap?

 

Saw it on Friday, didn't like it. Ran for two hours, felt like three.

 

I never got the impression that Harry's career as the Green Goblin was only a few minutes. I thought this was only his introduction and that he'd be back.

If you saw it on a real IMAX screen, you were probably immersed enough for that. I saw it on a regular screen so no flinching.

 

Saw it last night and it wasn't my cup of tea. Electro seemed a bit too stupid to be a genius and I wasn't sure why he wanted to kill spiderman (especially after idolizing him). Harry's hatred for spiderman was also a bit weak. Someone wants your blood because they think it might save them, you decline due to the chance of a worser outcome (I imagined the creature at the end of Jeff Goldblum's The Fly), so he kills your girlfriend? Maybe their transformations messed up their minds. It was a fun movie but it didn't seem believable (for a superhero movie at least).

Was the scene in the commercials of Harry telling Peter that Oscorp was watching him cut for anyone else? Also, I'm not sure where Peter is getting his webbing if the spiders were killed.

Good analogy.

My rankings of the Spider-films:
The Amazing Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man 2
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Spider-Man 3

 

Mary Parker existed? I never would have guessed with how little thought Peter actually spares her in the movies.

 

Was disappointed, no where near as good as the other four films. Not enough action, Electro was killed off in a rather pathetic manner and there was too much Peter and Gwen.

 

For me the bigger question is how Electro could have no problem absorbing all THAT energy (to the point where he can now turn into energy itself), but somehow whatever Spidey did to him at the end was enough to overload him.

Say huh?

 

Yeah I'll grant you that opening scene was pretty cool. But after that I have a hard time remembering any others that come close. All the stuff at the end with him dodging energy bolts, for instance, just did nothing for me.

I can understand why people feel that, but personally I thought Maguire's sense of joy and happiness shown through pretty strongly in all his Spidey scenes (even if he wasn't cracking lame jokes every 10 seconds). All the hoots and shouts of joy as he was swinging around got that across pretty well, I thought.

I will say I definitely prefer the leaner look of Spidey in the Webb films, though. The Raimi Spidey always looked a bit too short and buff for my taste.

 

They let him in past most of the checkpoints because he was Harry Osborn, and OsCorp obviously had a lot of dealings with Ravencroft. And the sickness hadn't begun to really weaken him as badly as it did Norman (that took years).

You have to be totally grounded for electricity to really hurt you. Spidey is swinging around in the air a lot of the time.

No one knew about Richard altering the Spiders so it would only work with his DNA. Him running was so no one would ever know. Instead of assuming he did something to the Spiders, they thought he was running with their research so they sent someone to kill him instead.

One of the guys experimenting on him at the Asylum was wearing it, probably some insulation suit to keep Electro from killing him. Presumably, there was a deleted scene of Electro getting it from the guy.

Harry was just terrified at the sudden realization he'd be dead long before his time (60 ain't old anymore) and wanted a cure NOW. Norman told him that the Spider-Venom would heal him, and Harry was smart enough to realize Spider-Man was the successful result of the Human/Spider DNA thing so he figured an infusion of his successfully melded DNA would be enough.

Peter assumed that the blood would just mutate Harry like it did to Connors (who would also have done tests) and figured it was just unworkable. He's probably right, it would have turned Harry into Venom instead of the Goblin.

It was a combination of the venom and the suit that helped Harry. And it just replaced one disease with another. Now he uncontrollably mutates into a Goblin creature.

 

Maybe give Spider-man 3 another watch. ASM2 was hardly "great" but it wasn't a big mess like SM3 was. I mean at least this movie didn't need the Exposition News Channel to set-up the final act.

 

I haven't seen it in ages, but I also remember disliking how Peter and Mary Jane's romance was kind of left up in the air at the end of the movie. While it's no fault of the movies, I saw it around the time my longtime girlfriend broke up with me and a lot of the drama hit home to me.

At least here we got two people who were really in love. Granted she bites it at the end, but still, I could believe in their love.

 

That entire scene didn't make sense, there is a system known as TCAS (Traffic Collision Avoidance System), the planes own radar should have detected the other plane independant of ATC and instructed the pilots what action to take i.e. climb or descend.

 

Like every Spider-Man movie before it, a mixed bag of good and bad.

GOOD:
--Lots of villains. the actions scenes that were there were incredible! even though it had no super villains in it, I think the opening truck chase with pre-Rhino was my favorite action sequence in any SPM movie.
--Spidey actually makes jokes. Hallejuah.
--setting up the Sinister Six. lots of references and nods!
--Spidey in action is absolutely perfect. he's incredibly agile and invincible and smart. I also really loved the way that he tries to talk down his villains rather than fighting them. I also loved how he helps and jokes with random civilians; he actually remembered Max Dillon!
--they did the Gwen death scene really well. I was actually quite surprised it happened because I just assumed she would be in ASM3!

BAD:
--like SPM2, way too much teen soap opera and way too little action/villain/plot. he only fights Electro twice, and Goblin only once! and Rhino doesn't appear until the last scene of the movie!
--they introduce Norman Osborn for a single scene and then kill him off?!
--Oh Harry, my bestest friend in the world who I will tragically have to fight at the end of the movie... we haven't seen each other in 11 years!
--so sick of the 'we can't be together cuz you'll be in danger' thing
--they really needed to spend some more time with Electro. his story needed a middle chapter/fight scene. he gets his powers and gets put down. then he comes back at the end for a final fight. needed more; the villain half of his story was rushed and incomplete.
--this movie should not have been this long. if they cut out about 30 minutes of the Gwen drama this would have worked a lot better.
--Spider-Man 3 was only seven years ago. Did we REALLY need to see Harry Osborn as the Green Goblin this soon again?!

 

That whole scene was such an obvious and ham-handed attempt to up the drama. The bit with the kid in the costume was as well but I think the planes takes the cake because there was so much setup involved.

As far as flinching, I saw it in IMAX 3D but didn't really feel that in part I think because the one plane in the foreground was flying into the screen.