The Amazing Spider Man 2 is the second movie tin the Spider-Man reboot franchise. Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy are graduating high school and coming to terms with Peter's Spider-Man persona. In the midst of a frantic high speed persuit. Spidey saves the life of Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx), a nerdy, unappreciated uberfan of Spider-Man. Some time later Max accidentally is electrocuted and transformed into Electro. His new powers soon turn to resentment of Spider-Man as he's hell bent on destroying him. Meanwhile, Harry Osbourne returns to NYC after a time away to visit his dying father, Norman Osbourne and learns a dark family secret. Harry sets out on a selfish mission to turn it around but only digs deeper a deeper whole into darkness. Needing help, Harry and Electro team up to put an end to Spider-Man and take control of NYC.
While the first movie in the rebooted franchise wasn't anything to write home about, it was still better than it's 2nd attempt. Here are 4 reason's why this movie fails to deliver
4. Electro/ Max Dillon
Jamie Foxx's Electro only serves as a means to end for Dane Dehann's Green Goblin and that's not what you want in a main villain. The transformation of Foxx's character from Max Dillon to Electro is also extremely poorly written. He goes from Spidey loving, nerdy super fan, to an evil jacked up lightning freak hell bent on killing Spidey in a matter of seconds with no explanation why. One of the worst (or so bad its great) moments in Marvel or movie history is the close up, often missed shot, of Max Dillon's gapped tooth being magically fixed by super electricity during his transformation to Electro. I laughed out loud. Not because it was funny but because it was ridiculously stupid. The saddest part is he doesn't feel like the main villain at all. He's technically not but one would assume he should be. His character is just dull and feels like a mistake. I can only assume the movie was written without Electro but was added last minute to add more to a dull script. It had the opposite effect. It only made the movie more cluttered.
3. Harry Osbourne/ Green Goblin
Not only is he poorly acted by DeHaan (who is obviously trying too hard to be the next DiCaprio), the character of Harry Osbourne is extremely rushed and just plain boring.
-Harry returns to NY after being gone for 10 years. We learn Parker and Osbourne were friends when they were 10 years old. Upon Osbornes return, Parker has approximately 6 minutes of conversation with him. He then explains to Gwen Stacey that Osbourne is his 'best friend' . WHAT? Where did that come from? The entire conversation between Parker and Osbourne felt phony and timid, how are they best friends? It just felt stupid.
Next we have Harry's transformation. I won't even get into the spider blood that could save Harry (it's the reason Goblin hates Spidey). Harry visits his dying father, Norman Osbourne. Upon talking with him, Norman explains the 'Osbourne family' disease and how it will effect Harry too. IN THAT INSTANT, Harry begins to show signs of the disease. Seriously? That's a big coincidence. The rest of the movie we see Harry trying to find a cure, only to only fully transform in the last 10 minutes.
2. Andrew Garfield
While I DO commend the Parker Stacey relationship (Garfield and Stone are dating in real life, so their chemistry shines in this movie), Peter Parker has simply become a cocky prick in the second movie. I do not recall Parker being so full of himself in the comics, or previous incarnations, especially the first ASM film. I can only fathom that Garfireld's new found fame is going to his head and bleeding through into this movie. Parker just comes off as crass and abrasive at times and it just leaves a really sour taste in my mouth considering he's Spider-Man and the reason we're watching this movie. I can see were this could be a very petty complaint and shouldn't be #2, but it forced me to spend the whole movie thinking "don't be a dick again, don't be a dick again" only to see him do or say something with an extremely cocky attitude. There are times where he isn't cocky whatsoever, so it is unbalanced. In my opinion, certain scenes were filmed 'prior' to Garfield feeling full of himself, while others were filmed after. YES I'M THIS ANAL.
1. Writing/Story
This movie was just horribly constructed, story and writing wise. I could easily go into a slew of different examples but will refrain to only a few.
As seen above, Electro is just a horribly written character. His story simply makes no logical sense and this can only be blamed on writing. His transformation was cliche, predictable and terribly executed. His attitude change is just plain stupid. Late in the film we see him materialize out of thin air in some form of "rubber suit". How does this suit materialize with Electro and where did it come from?? I'll tell you where it came from... it came from poor writing.
Another example is the final scene.
(Spoiler)
Upon Gwen Stacey's death, Peter Parker grieves at her funeral, and again while sitting on his bed looking at his Spider-Man mask. Then he's fine. Back in top crime fighting form, complete with a renewed sense of humor. Um, dude, your girlfriend just died. YOU FELT 10 TIMES WORSE WHEN HER FATHER DIED IN THE LAST MOVIE!. This left me with a sense of being screwed over. With poor writing choices, this movie just flounders. while its not over the top terrible, it isn't a great movie either
