The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - Grading & Discussion

Nope.

Link with pics

Quite odd.

 

My first thought was... White Tiger moving in? I'd love that!

White Tiger

Dredd had Judge Anderson.

I usually put sexual tension, chemistry and partnerships in the "love interest" category.

Instead, we get a commercial for X-Men. Felt very corporate.

 

Grade: C-

I didn't enjoy TASM either really. I did grade it marginally better, C+ or so if I recall. This film was poised to allegedly leap this new trilogy to great heights now that the origin story was behind them. It failed to do that.

Pros:
Overall I found Garfield's portrayal of Peter much more likeable. In TASM he was way too cocky for Peter, as Spidey sure but the producers missed that there is an attitudinal difference in the two. Spidey is Peter's outlet. Here while Peter is more self confident he's not arrogant.

Gwen. Simply put when she's on screen the film shines

The web swinging action moments. Still top notch.

Cons:
Nerdy Jaime Foxx as Max Dillon. Really just about anything with Electro. I'm willing to overlook the "origin" but everything else, no. "It's my birthday, time to light my candles". His motivation was---Spidey didn't remember him. I could've gone with disrespect and being overlooked and under appreciated but then his target would have to have been Oscorp, Smythe etc. and it wasn't cause that didn't work for the story. He suddenly has a rubber, lightning bolt embossed suit after the Ravencroft breakout. So is that a stock suit? Also not a fan of him essentially becoming Dr.Manhatten. Electro can't atomize his rubber suit and reform it.

Harry Osborne as "best friend" to Peter Parker. Harry states he was away at boarding school since he was 11. When you are away during a young man's formidable years growing up you can not by definition be "best buds". Adding a line that "Harry was there for me when Uncle Ben died" is lip service while ignoring the prior statement---that they've not seen each other cause Harry was away. Due to the popular 90's cartoon and Raimi series the screen writers know the audience expects them to be best friends so they just write it in regardless that the film itself gives no reason to justify it.

Stalker Heroes. Peter following her around, as Spidey, "just once a day" as he confessed to her later. Since when has stalking become an acceptable "romantic overture"? It wasn't cute in Superman Returns and it's not cute here either.

Gwen is the only one available to reset the power grid. She saw the plans, she can do it. Peter is fairly scientific Gwen, tell him what to do. Also hilarious that he with his science smarts conveniently couldn't figure out how to insulate his webshooters. So then, what is required to reset the power grid? Lift the door covering and pull a switch----thank god only Gwen could've done that.

The nearly colliding aircraft. That served no story purpose as Peter & Gwen had no idea there was a ticking clock towards any doom scenario. That was there for the audience but added nothing to the story itself. It was a distraction.

There is really no logical leap for Harry to put Peter&Spidey together as one and the same. Again, other than the screenwriters know the audience is going to expect that due to knowledge from the prior series.

Aunt May is a nursing student and yet she's seen as being in a fairly authoritarian mode during the blackout. It's about placing her in the final act, I get that, it was just silly "Come on people lets get back to it".

I AM THE RHINO!!! The whole sequence with the kid walking out to face the mechanical terror was camp. Knowing how Marvel Studios has given us very close screen interpretations of characters I'm not convinced we couldn't have a more comic faithful Rhino. When I want Transformers, I'll watch Transformers. An in story reason could be the suit is for bomb squads and thus very impervious. Creating the headpiece could be for effect. Just a stupid ending sequence.


The film deserves all the negative WOM. Noting that it's been out for a few weeks and this thread is only on 6 pages with 37 votes is telling in and of itself as well.

 

^Well 6 pages, might be more to do with the fact that whilst the film has been out in some markets i.e the UK for around 3 Weeks, it's only been out in the USA for less than a week, and perhaps not everyone goes to see it opening weekend.

 

I have 3 pages.

And it's interesting that the grades are evenly distributed across the board.

 

We've all been here when a big event film happened and the Review/Discussion thread exploded out of the gate.

People largely make time to go if they feel the film is worth it.
The irony is CAP2 does $95m which is great, an increase over the first and that shows increase interest.
TASM2 does $91m and that's bad cause it's showing a decrease in interest even though they are similar.
The distribution of grades is also a bit telling. No solid love or hate, at least here. It looks like the grading is almost indifferent as does interest in discussing it due to the mediocrity.

 

That's pretty much how I feel about it. I enjoyed it for the most part although I still had issues with it. I don't feel a need to rave about it though, and even though there's the Sinister Six coming up and Smythe was in the film etc I don't feel excited enough to think ohmygod what's coming next.

Maybe it's the fact that there are so many superhero films out now companies can't just coast on the hero they're using. I mean, Spidey is my favourite but we already have X-Men out soon and then Guardians.

If the films aren't great they're going to get lost in the shuffle.

 

Another possibility is fatigue it is after all what the fifth Spiderman film in 12 years old.

 

Maybe.
Maybe just fatigue after consecutive mediocre films.

If DOFP has robust discussion and box office then that assumption has to be reconsidered I'd think. DOFP will be the 7th film in 14yrs and while those have had declining box office it's not that the quality was perceived as mediocre. The last two installments have both Critical and Audience Fresh scores at RT.

 

I love Spider-Man so even if they came out with five a year I'd still go and see them all, but I may not get so excited about them.

I'm hoping the lukewarm critical reception will show Sony that just because it's a Spider-Man film won't guarantee it record-breaking performances at the box office.

 

I definitely think all the criticism of the plot and villains is justified, but for me the magic and charm of the Peter/Gwen scenes was enough to make up for quite a lot of that (even more than in the last movie). And ultimately I thought they did a pretty good job with their arc and her death (the scene of Peter mourning in the graveyard I thought was particularly effective).

That being said though, this probably isn't a superhero film I'm going to want to watch again anytime soon. Not when there are so many other, better ones to see again.

 

I don't really get why TASM2 doing $91 million is considered bad and shows a decrease in interest. That's almost $30 million more than TASM1's debut, which had the task of following up the poorly received Spider-Man 3 and had to deal with a general feeling of "Another Spider-Man movie?" among audiences.

 

I haven't voted yet, I cannot decide on a fair grade.

It didn't totally suck but neither did it leave me spell bound, like CA:TWS did. It was better than ASM but I did doze during this one too. Not that it was boring, just a little long in the tooth for me. Shaving five/ten minutes time would have made a big difference, for me.

The 3D was very good. The Times Square scene was breathtaking. The slow-motion spidey-sense sequences were amazing. I must have have gained 5 pounds on all that eye-candy.

Sally Field did the best she could with what she was given. I liked them recalling Gwen's father as a memory ghost to haunt Peter. Parker/Spidey's attitude portrayal was some of the best I've ever seen, just enjoyed the hell out of those scenes. Electro was electric, although I did think they overplayed his 'nerd' appearance pre-villainization more than they needed to.

The bad news, Except for Spidey, the movie didn't make me care for anyone, they were just there to serve the story. I was surprised by a character's unexpected death, but not really saddened by the event. Despite the film trying to remind me of their known past history, I didn't believe for a second Harry and Peter were old friends. I dozed off though Peters discovery of the train carriage so still not sure what the big secret is. Reason to rewatch it again, I suppose.

So it was brain deadening yet eye-popping summer fare which I am not sorry I paid the 11 bucks to see on the big screen...

B-

 

I always find it amusing when articles talk about the "failure" of Spider-Man 3. It was the highest grossing film in the series!

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/showdowns/chart/?id=spidermanvs.htm
SPM1-821M
SPM2-783M
SPM3-890M
ASM1-752M

The opening weekend is even more interesting:
SPM1-115M
SPM2-88M
SPM3-151M
ASM1-62M
ASM2-92M

 

Amount of money a movie makes =/= success or failure. It may have been a financial success but it was a failure from fan and critic reaction.

 

YES! I couldn't tell the difference over one filmed in 3D. Even faces seemed to have a gentle depth of field to them.

 

This is a business; studios only care about the Benjamins

 

It's not an apples/apples analogy saying TASM did it's $62m OW and view this an improvement. TASM opened in the heart of summer and had it's actual Opening Day on a Tuesday, July 3rd so as to capitalize on the long July 4th extended weekend many either got or took off of work for. TASM had a unique opening week.

The fairest comparison is viewing other Spidey 3-day OW and through that prism it's $91.6m is indeed showing a downward skewing interest in the character and/or franchise as SONY is delivering the product.

Once we get to the final DOM and final WW the evidence is going to show the downward trend again as a few global markets are not opening as strong for Spiderman as they once did. It's a near certainty to say that TASM2 is going to struggle for a US domestic finish of $225-240m. Below CA:TWS and that is telling.

 

Hmm, good point. I'd forgotten that ASM1 had a long opening week and not a typical weekend debut.

 

Pretty much sums it up. Thank god I didn't pay to see this abortion of a movie.