I only just finally broke down and watched
The Amazing Spider-Man 2. It was the first mainstream CBM in years that I elected not to see in the theater. That decision was based on a combination of my dissatisfaction with the first
Amazing Spider-Man film, my “meh” reaction to the promotional trailers for
TASM2, and early reviews suggesting that the sequel was not fixing the problems inherited from its predecessor. I still stand by that decision, and feel good about saving the money.
However, having now actually watched TASM2, to my surprise I find myself compelled to come to its defense. Not to say that it is a great film, or that it couldn’t and shouldn’t have been better than it is. Make no mistake; I still feel that Sony’s management of the franchise is failing. That being said, though, this is not a terrible film. It’s not the worst Spider-Man film that has been made, let alone one of the worst CBMs. It’s a case of identity crisis, but from my perspective there is just as much to praise as there is to criticize.
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Here are my thoughts on the pros/cons of
The Amazing Spider-Man 2:
The Bad -- Let’s get these things out of the way first:
1. Inconsistent Approach – In many ways, TASM2 is like two separate takes on Spider-Man, spliced together into a single film. On one hand, there is the human drama, which fits Marc Webb’s style as a director. On the other hand, there is the wildly cartoonish action spectacle. This is one of the most bi-polar CBMs that I have ever seen.
2. Fantastically Implausible Electro – Jamie Foxx’s character has his merits (see below) but by giving him the power to basically dissolve into an electrical ghost and reappear, transporter-like, the filmmakers pushed the envelope too far. To be completely honest, I’m not sure that such a bizarre power couldn’t happen, but my suspension of disbelief wasn’t buying it. And that is with my suspension of disbelief already calibrated for a superhero film.
Electro is really no more “out there” there than Spider-Man 3’s Sandman, but the latter was a much stronger, more grounded character on a motivational and emotional level. (And also on a pun level.)
3. Hideous Soundtrack Songs – The actual score to this film is quite nice at points, and I have no problem with Hans Zimmer’s work on that front. However, there are a couple of vocal selections that are the most ill-suited that I have ever encountered in one of these types of films. The "techno voice track" playing behind Electro's first big scene is just embarrasing. And following close on its heels is a Phillip Phillips song, of all things. Stylistically, that one felt completely out of place in this film. I can only speak for myself, but in emoticon terms, I was face-palming.
4. Messy Green Goblin Design – Casting Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborn was a great move. Having him transform into the Goblin may have been a bit rushed. The actual look of his transformed/suited character, however, is the real problem. Say what one will about the original Willem DaFoe Goblin’s crazy mask, but at least it could be explained as a mask that the guy put on. DeHaan’s weird makeup and messy hair resemble something improvised for a high school play and take away from the established seriousness of the Harry character.
Also, given the ostensibly more “scientific” approach to these rebooted Spider-Man films, why does the Goblin still look like a spiky vampiric fantasy? Which leads me to…
5. Ludicrous Rhino Design – So, it comes back to the villains yet again. I do not so much mind the part of the Rhino in this film. He is obviously a smaller-time criminal used merely as a colorful bookend to the film. In fact the final scene works wonderfully as a positive note to end on…except for the Rhino’s mechanized suit. It looks like something a kid would draw on a piece on construction paper, just before ruining the drawing by spilling a bowl of breakfast cereal all over it.
Another comparison—one of those tinfoil swans that people sculpt to make leftover food seem more elegant. Here a tinfoil “horned head” makes a weird-yet-generic robot look like a rhinoceros. Surely the art department could have come up with something better. At best, the suit is a weird robot with a giant piece of tinfoil on top. I get it; it’s there to allow the ramming of brick walls, etc. But it looks like an extreme case of function following form, instead of the other way around.
Fortunately, and this is the core of why I am writing this, there are several positive points worth discussing...
The Good -- These points are what I really want to talk about, because I was surprised by them:
1. Good Human Relationships – Peter/Gwen and Peter/Harry are played as real human drama, at least in the out-of-costume moments. This is or at least should be the core of any Spider-Man story, but has never been done quite this well before. I love Toby Maguire and Kirsten Dunst for what they represent (precision-executed, simple archetypes) but the Amazing reboot has its one leg up on the original Sam Raimi trilogy here. Marc Webb does have a background in “young romance” cinema, after all.
And Dane DeHaan is a clear trade-up from James Franco, in my estimation. This Harry Osborn may have less screen time, but he still manages to feel more complex in his own right, not just as a yin-yang foil for Peter Parker.
2. Fantastic Action Sequences – While some frames suffer from foreground/background separation in 2D, probably because of being designed for 3D,
TASM2 simply has the best acrobatic web slinging action sequences of any Spider-Man film to date. Not only is there plenty of panorama and agility on display, but the use of slow-motion and injections of humor make this feel like a higher level of experience. Very well done, for the most part. Of course, the action is the one thing that almost everyone seems to approve of in this film.
3. Electro = New Villain – Jamie Foxx as Max Dillon is not a great villain. Reduced down to essentials, he provides comic relief before his transformation, and eye-candy spectacle afterwards. His powers are over-the-top and his action scenes are a bit fanciful for my tastes. All of that being said, though, Electro is a good character for this franchise in that he is a new type. The Lizard in
TASM1 felt for all the world like a cheap, combined retread of the Raimi Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus. Electro is different enough from either of those two iconic villains, as well as from
Spider-Man 3’s Sandman or Venom, to help give this film a feel of at least moving forward into new territory.
Yes, there may be elements of Jim Carrey’s Riddler (nerdy aspirant) and Arnold Schwartzenegger’s Mr. Freeze (transformation, blue skin) present. Again, I am not defending Elelctro as a great character. He is too campy to suit the overall tone of this film. But he at least provides some rather fantastic visuals, doesn’t get in the way of the rest of the story, and has a complete—if flawed--character arc. Things could have been worse.
4. Story Makes Sense – I have seen this film criticized for “not making any sense” in terms of story arcs and plot threads. I didn’t get that at all. This may not be one of the greatest of CBM screenplays, but neither is it one of the worst. There are several through-lines of story: Peter and Gwen, Peter and his father which ties into Harry and his father quite nicely, and Electro which ties into Peter, Gwen and Harry. I was able to follow all of those arcs and felt that they were reasonably well put-together.
The allegation that this film is a mess because it fixates on setting up the Sinister Six rings very hollow to me. That setup is really more of a minor afterthought than anything else. It does not get in the way of the present stories. In that regard, this film works better than Iron Man 2 or Captain America: The First Avenger, both of which overtly labored to set up The Avengers (CA:TFA being a better film than this, I should say).
5. Not a Retread of Previous Films – This is almost the primary virtue of TASM2, and what makes it (in my mind) a clear improvement over TASM1. This feels like the most emotionally real Spider-Man film yet, thanks to Webb’s direction of Garfield and Stone as a “complex” couple pulled in different directions but still very much in love. The Green Goblin arc may be somewhat familiar but it is different enough from that of the Raimi trilogy to feel fresh. And again Electro, for all of his flaws as a character, is something new for this franchise. TASM2 may not be perfect, but it does bring new things to the table and not without some success.
All in all, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a decent film. It’s not great, but neither is it horrible. While it may not approach the fine-tuned perfection of Spider-Man 2, it at least avoids the watered-down, unfinished mediocrity of The Amazing Spider-Man. Are parts of TASM2 cartoonish? Yes, but that is hardly the worst crime that a superhero film can commit. And more to the point, parts of TASM2 are very serious and very emotionally compelling. This film has a great deal of heart, and heart is something that speaks more for this film than any of its flaws speak against it, in my view.
Why is Sony having a crisis of confidence about the Spider-Man franchise? Well, they produced an undercooked reboot and then did an atrocious job of marketing the strengths of its sequel. While I clearly feel that TASM2 has been unfairly raked over the proverbial coals, I find it hard to defend the studio that produced it. They kind of had it coming to them.
Trying to look at things objectively, I would not at all mind seeing The Amazing Spider-Man 3 releasing in 2016, and that is not something that I ever in my wildest dreams expected to hear myself saying, just a few days ago. Instead, though, it’s been pushed back to 2018, may be a soft reboot…what a mess. I think that the Andrew Garfield version of the character can keep going. Gwen may be gone, but you still have Harry and Felicia and Smythe, not to mention the other big characters yet to be seen in this reboot, namely Dr. Octopus and Venom. And of course, new characters yet to be seen in film, period. There is plenty of potential to work with, but confidence is low both in the studio and in public opinion.
And let’s be honest—2014 saw both Marvel Studios and Fox release arguably their finest CBMs yet. Marvel wowed and impressed with two very different films, while Bryan Singer returned to help Fox complete its long arc of redemption for the X-Men franchise. Compared to something definitive like Days of Future Past, TASM2 doesn’t look like much.
That could be read as a commentary on Sony’s failings, but it bears keeping in mind that Spider-Man isn’t supposed to be like the X-Men or the Avengers or the Guardians of the Galaxy. Spidey may be Marvel Comics’ most visible single character, but he is designed to work on a more intimate scale, being based on the life of an ordinary guy who just happens to have superpowers (i.e. not an alien, not wealthy).
TASM2 works surprisingly well on that intimate scale—its failure to impress was not purely due to the wrong approach. It seems to have been a combination of “not quite getting there,” superior competition and again, a week promotional campaign. An interesting scenario on the whole.
I used to be one of the biggest naysayers, but this film improbably changed my mind. I don’t regret passing it up before, but I’m glad that eventually gave it a chance. I guess that in a nutshell, what I have to say is that this film isn't that bad. The rumors of its shortcomings seem, to me, to have been exaggerated.
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Thoughts? Disagreements? Does anyone still care about this film one way or the other?