I hate this movie. I don't know why I liked it when I walked out of the theater actually enjoying it. Maybe it was blatant fan service and the final shot made me like the movie. Now having grown up and watched this stinker reinforces the belief that this is the worst Spider-Man film. So let's break it down.
The story is all over the place. It continues from the previous film about Peter's missing parents. We're shown what happened to them. Albeit, it goes too long, the action is okay but overall it shouldn't be the beginning of the film. I was confused as to why they opened the film with the death of the Parkers. It would've made sense if it was shown when Peter finally found out what made his Dad have Peter live with his aunt and uncle.
Another sub plot is Gwen and Peter's break up and eventual make up. In the previous film, Captain Stacy explicitly told Peter to stay away from Gwen as he was dying from wounds that was brought on by The Lizard, which led to them splitting up. Confusingly they are still together in the sequel. In the scene where Peter meets Gwen by a dim sum restaurant, they finally break up, for a little bit. Subsequent scenes show Peter as Spidey follow Gwen in the city. I never really understood why he did that. I can understand him having a hard time adjusting but it makes him act like a stalker. They eventually make up when they are on a date.
They notice that Time Square is being electrically fluctuated. The breakup scene backs up my claim that Garfield is the worst Spider-Man since he is way too emotional in this moment. Just his performance is all over the place. He's not grounded in the least bit. He has a lot of mania that it undermines Gwen's death later in the film, I'll talk about that later.
ANOTHER sub plot focuses on Harry Osborn realizing that he has a degenerative disease that is slowly killing him when it's revealed by his dying father Norman. He reunites with Peter which they hang out once in the film. It's frustrating that there wasn't any mention of Harry in the last movie. I can understand that they don't want to retread the first Spider-Man but by showing Uncle Ben's death a second time undermines how this series tries to be different. Eventually they meet again to discuss that their fathers working on a project involving spiders when they were at Oscorp. Harry believes that Spider-Man's blood can help cure him. He asks Peter to find him and to bring Spider-Man to Harry. I feel like the entire subplot does not make the least bit sense, which is saying a lot. Like honestly, here's the reasons why this one makes no sense:
1. Why is Oscorp tracking Peter? It's established in that same scene that the company is keeping tabs on Peter, why? I thought about it for a long time, but I realized that the screenwriters also wrote the first two Transformers films.
2. How sure is Harry willing to use Spider-Man's blood? Like, is he really banking on this not realizing that it could kill him or make him look like a crack addict.
3. I hate this movie so much it's a bullet point. Let me elaborate on that, this movie is poopoo.
Moreover, I feel that this should've been the main story. Peter's attempt to fix a failed friendship and to juggle with the idea of responsibility. But no, there needs to be more villains, setups for spinoffs that never come to fruition.
The final (thank god) subplot involves the main villain of the film, Electro. You would think that being the face in the advertising that he would be complex or at least adequate. You're stupid if you thought that. This villain, is one of the worst comic book villains that has ever unfortunately graced the silver screen . He starts out as an introverted worker named Max Dillon who is an electrical engineer at Oscorp who is bullied by a coworker. During the opening of the film, he is rescued by Spider-Man when he is chasing down Aleksei Systevich who is The Rhino in the comics and in this turd. The rescue made Max be obsessed with Spider-Man. An accident occurs which made Max into an electrical being by genetically altered Eels. The effects look impressive, but it reminds me of Dr. Manhattan in Zack Snyder's Watchmen. During the fight in Time Square, he hates Spider-Man due to him taking the spotlight away from Max.
Oddly enough, he starts to have a god complex when he is captured and put in Ravencroft which is an Arkham Asylum type place in the Marvel Universe. He is tortured by a Dr. Kafka who is so batshit insane that he plays classical music while torturing Electro. It contributes to the overall inconsistent tone of the film.
What do I mean by that, well typically tone means at its basic just the overall vibe of the movie. This one borders on, dramatic, comedic, action oriented, and goofy. For instance, how do you transition from Harry receiving terrible news that he is close to death? By having a scene where Max becomes Electro. It doesn't work since the movie is inconsistent in terms of emotional investment. You can argue that Raimi's Spider-Man Trilogy had a goofy, campy vibe. What offsets it is the level of drama since it was intentional. Those films were being based on the early issues of Spider-Man when he was just brand new. As well as the director having a very kinetic sense of film making.
I could go on about the many overlapping subplots, such as Peter discovering that the spiders his Dad was working had his blood. Just briefly, I hate that scene so much that it completely invalidates the idea of Peter being an ordinary teen who's been bit, but a predetermined accident that grants him powers. I think it's best to just to talk about bits and pieces of just how cluttered the story is. I believe it's now appropriate to discuss the one scene that really summed up this brief franchise's failure.
Near the end of the movie, Spider-Man beats Electro through the power of science and having a smart girlfriend. All of a sudden, Harry arrives at the electric grid, looking like a bad cosplay of the Green Goblin. A hilarious moment occurs when he puts together that Peter and Spider-Man are the same person when he spots Gwen. Another fight occurs this time at a clock tower as Harry abducts Gwen as a hostage. We just got through one, now here's another one. Peter manages to get her and put Gwen on top of a spinning gear. The fight feels too much since we already seen a fight sequence just moments earlier. With Harry defeated, Gwen falls due to the gears being destroyed from the fight. As she inches closer to the ground, Spider-Man spins a web that looks like a hand reaching out, it makes the oncoming emotional moment subtle by comparison.
Nevertheless, Gwen dies and Peter gets teary eyed. This scene is the worst part of the movie, we only knew Gwen for just two movies. Killing her off feels unearned since in context with the comics, readers knew Gwen for ISSUES before her death at the hands of the Green Goblin. The death scene could have worked if it was developed further into the film series. Thus making her death be even more tragic considering just how much she meant to Peter. Regardless, the death of Gwen Stacy makes Peter quit being Spider-Man temporarily.
This one scene sums up the entire franchise due in part that it felt rushed. It's a recurring thing for studios to catch up with Marvel Studios since they want to have the same box office numbers that an Avengers movie makes. Not knowing that the investment has to be with the characters being relatable and worth giving a shit instead of stuffing the movie with so much that it becomes forgettable.
In the end, the same shaded figure that visited Dr. Connors in the first film visits Harry at Ravencroft and asks him about joining a group of villains to terrorize New York now that Spider-Man is gone. So that shaded figure named Gustav Fiers goes to Oscorp with Harry's permission to see the tech that the company has such as: four mechanical arms, a wing suit, and a Rhino suit. Peter in his depressed state decides to be Spider-Man after watching Gwen's graduation speech. Interspersed with shots of Rhino robbing a bank. The movie ends prematurely when Spider-Man is going head to head against the Rhino.
Overall, this is one of the worst superhero movies I have ever seen. There are terrible ones that are just incompetent, but this one is so personal to me since it sucks having your favorite superhero be butchered for gross financial profit. So who's fault is it? Well you can point to the director, writers, producers and Sony Pictures. Though I believe that there is equal fault in those specific positions since I can assume that there was no one to really comment on just how big of a clusterfuck this movie was. Like, no one said "Hey, looking at this script, there's a lot of overlap, we should probably trim this before it becomes bloated."
The ultimate irony is that it took another studio to reinvent Spider-Man to be a bigger part of an expanding cinematic universe. So much so, that it had the guts to kill Peter Parker in his third appearance and to have his resurrection feel emotional.
So with all that being said, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 gets a 2 out of 5.
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