The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a ho-hum comic book film masquerading as a Marvel superhero film. It has its high-flying moments and surprisingly intimate interpersonal scenes, but it leaves an indifferent impression. It’s a sad situation for those who want to see Spidey join the Avengers.
High school is now over. Peter Parker (Spiderman, played by Andrew Garfield) keeps his promise to break up with Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) because of her father. Gwen takes a summer internship with Oscorp, and Peter lives with Aunt May (Sally Field), fights crime and takes pictures of himself for income. At Oscorp, Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), Peter’s once best friend, comes back from school to take over his father Norman’s (Chris Cooper) empire. Peter and Harry both go on journeys to learn about their father’s past, and they both encounter Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx), an electrical engineer who undergoes a transformation after an unfortunate electric eel accident.
Sony produced The Amazing Spider-Man 2 so it wouldn’t lose the character rights back to Marvel studios, the equivalent of a family adopting someone else’s child. As such, the creative team behind The Amazing Spider-Man 2 guesses at why people like comic book movies by employing the kitchen sink approach. Like Iron Man, there is quippy dialogue and a cute love story. Like the Avengers, there are some intense special effects. Like Captain America, there is a giant corporation wielding secret power. But by borrowing ideas from other superhero films, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 loses the essence of what makes the character interesting. Spider-Man was always at heart an emotionally frail but smart kid who had to outwit his opponents, giving hope for every high school nerd out there. Here, Peter has his moments, but he mostly relies on charisma and agility; any creative strategy involves Gwen Stacy. Without Peter as its anchor, the Amazing Spider-Man 2 mostly revolves around Harry Osborn and Max Dillon’s origins with tepid results.
By employing operation throw everything at the screen, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is severely bloated. There are 3 villains, two of which have backstories, and two of the villains have people harassing them that need development. The excess of villains leads to tonal inconsistency and underdevelopment of almost every character. The sad thing is, there is probably a great story in here somewhere. Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy’s relationship is very cute and fun: the movie becomes electric when Gwen Stacy, not Electrode, graces the screen and interacts with Peter Parker. Aunt May has a wonderfully nuanced confrontation with Peter about his father’s (Campbell Scott) past. Harry Osborn is also a film favorite because his arc is the tragic version of Peter’s. Had the movie focused on Peter and Harry’s search to confront their daddy issues, showing how Peter’s influences show empathy and Harry’s show callousness, the film would have had a much clearer tonal focus and a final confrontation with real stakes. Peter’s scenes could have been light and sweet while Harry’s despondent and scary, playing to Garfield and DeHaan’s strengths. Instead, because of Jamie Foxx’s presence, Electrode is given much more screen time than he probably deserves, resulting in shoehorning Harry Osborn into the movie and limiting the impact of the third act twists coming Spider-Man’s way.
The good guys do their best to keep The Amazing Spider-Man 2 afloat. Andrew Garfield captures Peter Parker’s innocence much better than Tobey Maguire did. Garfield has wonderful chemistry with Emma Stone and some nice scenes with Sally Field. Stone is the big winner here though: Gwen Stacy is funny, smart, decisive, and sweet in a way Kirsten Dunst never was in the original. Watching Stone and Garfield flirt makes me wish a spinoff of just their relationship would get greenlit. Sally Field, severely underused, makes a nice impact as Aunt May. The villains are the weak point in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Jamie Foxx is surprisingly creepy before his transformation, but due to underdevelopment, when he turns blue, he becomes a blank slate. Dane DeHaan is best at conveying scary when hurt, and here we don’t see him hurt long enough to believe in his long-simmering anger; he is also NOT funny enough to keep up with Garfield. Finally, Paul Giamatti goes full Nic Cage with his turn here.
Writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman write Sleepy Hollow on FOX. Sleepy and hollow would be two perfect adjectives to describe The Amazing Spider-Man 2. This movie reeks of cash grab and, despite the high-profile cast, never loses that stigma. Make things better Sony. Take a high-profile producer credit from Marvel to let Spider-Man join forces with Iron Man, Captain America and the rest of the Avengers. It will make the audience forget all about the time they spent watching The Amazing Spider-Man 2.