The Amazing Spider-Man 2

MPAA/Content PG-13 (AC, AL, V)

Distributor Columbia Pics. [2014]

Technical 2.35:1 35mm

Genres  FAN ADV SCI

Runtime 142 mins.

Cntry./Lang. USA [English]

Budget $200M

 

 

CAST

Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Colm Feore, Felicity Jones, Paul Giamatti, Sally Field, Embeth Davidtz, Campbell Scott, Marton Csokas, Louis Cancelmi, Max Charles, B.J. Novak, Michael Massee & Denis Leary

 

CREDITS

Director: Mark Webb; Screenwriters: Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci & Jeff Pinkner; Producers: Avi Arad & Matt Tolmach; Director Of Photography: Dan Mindel; Production Designer: Mark Friedberg; Editor: Pietro Scalia; Costume Designer: Deborah L. Scott; Music Composers: Hans Zimmer and The Magnificent Six Featuring Pharrell Williams and Johnny Marr

 

THE SYNOPSIS

NYC. Running late for his high school graduation, Spider-Man—aka Peter Parker (Garfield)—foils the theft of radioactive vials by Russian criminal Aleksei Sytsevich (Giamatti). A call from his girlfriend/valedictorian Gwen Stacy (Stone) prompts Spidey to quickly foil Aleksei after saving the life of Max Dillon (Foxx)—a brilliant, introverted OsCorp electrical engineer who idolizes the web-slinger. After the graduation—attended by Aunt May (Field)—Peter breaks up with Gwen as he promised her father, Capt. Stacy (Leary) before his death. Seeing Stacy’s ghost everywhere reminds Peter that being Spider-Man can cause much pain to his daughter.

Elsewhere, the dying OsCorp CEO Dr. Norman Osborne (Cooper) is visited by his estranged son Harry (DeHaan), whom he informs will eventually die of the same hereditary disease. Before passing, Norman hands him a computer key to access all OsCorp files in an effort to beat this disease. Hearing of Osborn’s death, Peter visits his childhood friend to reconnect. Peter’s deceased scientist parents Richard (Scott) & Mary (Davidtz) worked for Norman Osborn, so the history is there; as is the mystery behind their deaths…

Harry humiliates the OsCorp Board—including VP Donald Menken (Feore)—and takes control to explore his father’s scientific projects…one of which involves harvesting energy from genetically enhanced electric eels. Max discovers them when he accidentally falls into a water tank during routine repairs. The eels bite him, causing their energy to mutate Max into a human electrical generator! Stumbling over to Time Square, the cops and Spidey appear when he reacts with hostile force. Spidey subdues Max—who promises revenge as the cops take him away…

Menken has Harry expelled from OsCorp, blaming the new CEO for a cover-up of Max’s “death”. Harry begs Spider-Man to do a blood transfusion in an effort to cure Harry’s disease, but Spidey vetoes the notion…fearing that the side effects may be too dangerous to his friend. Enraged, Harry vows revenge and breaks into the Ravencroft Institute to free Electro.  Sneaking into OsCorp, they kill Menken and access—with help of Harry’s loyal assistant Felicia (Jones)—the top secret advanced weaponry and armor suits that his father had designed and built. Vials of genetically altered spiders that made Peter Spider-Man are also there. Harry ingests a vial but mutates into something green and scary…

Having been accepted to England’s Oxford University, Gwen informs Peter that she is leaving New York. Realizing how much he loves her, Peter decides to go with her. Before they can head for the airport, however, Electro has knocked out most of the power grids in the city as Harry commandeers his father’s green armor suit and glider machine to cause mischief. A final battle is brewing as Peter/Spidey and Gwen take on the villains, but victory comes at a cost…

 

THE CRITIQUE

As far as sequels go, THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 is enjoyable superhero entertainment that won’t tax the brain. It is an ambitious continuation to the preceding The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)—itself a “reboot” (ugh…I hate that word) of the popular Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy (2002-2007) starring Tobey Maguire, himself a descent actor who did a nice job sling those CGI webs around CGI New York City.

While the new Spidey movies lack the dark Wagnerian scope of Christopher Nolan’s masterpiece Batman/Dark Knight trilogy (2005-2012), the snark of the well-oiled Iron-Man series (2008-Present) or the operatic chaos of the infinitely expanding X-Men saga (2000-Present—including spin-offs and origin movies), they do feature an immensely likable (but wise-ass) teenage superhero we can all relate to…almost. Most of our heads lack the prominent spiky pompadour adorning the head of the current Spidey, Andrew Garfield. Just saying…

The newest Spidey movie was written by prolific scribe team Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci & Jeff Pinkner (the three men responsible for TV’s Alias & Fringe; Kurtzman & Orici are also responsible for writing such movies as Mission: Impossible III, Transformers & Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen, Star Trek [2009] & Star Trek Into Darkness) —and I can only say that they stuffed everything into this one except the kitchen sink (which was probably shattered during the epic battle in The Avengers movie, a MARVEL movie like this one).

One of THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 screenplay’s glaring problems is the lack of focus. Why do these movies insist on throwing in 300 freakin’ name villains into one movie? Batman Forever (1995), a fun movie in its own right, did the same thing. Pick a villain! The Green Goblin is Spider-Man’s scariest foe—go with it!! Here, they throw in Electro and The Rhino (to almost no effect) and leave GG to pick up the pieces. I can only assume that GG will return in the next movie, but I cannot focus on that one right now. Is it me? Just saying…

Another issue is throwing in a prologue involving a sub-plot involving Peter Parker’s deceased parents and their involvement with OsCorp. While I understand that it is probably essential to the overall multi-movie arc, this one seems thrown in just because. On the other hand, the Sally Field/Aunt May character gets some mileage out of this plot element during her BIG SCENE. Add in the likable romance between Peter and Gwen—and their amiable personalities—and the screenplay earns back some of its points.

Speaking of the cast, the likable Andrew Garfield reprises his role as Spidey, bringing charm and humility to a role that also requires him to be a New Yawk wise-ass—so much so that my Queens-born/bred actor friend Matthew found his interpretation to be a tad excessive. Three hours of arguing about it with dear Matt confirms (to me anyway) that Garfield is right on the money. Then again, I’m Jersey-born/bred…so wise-ass is a natural prerequisite for growing up in the NYC metropolitan area! Just saying…

Bringing balance to the fore is the lovely Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy. Smart, spunky, hot—wow, I’m jealous of Spidey—the young lass holds up her end of the chemistry quotient with Andy. Sally Field, one of the great actresses of her generation, does her part to bring stability to the Parker household—even earning her own aforementioned BIG SCENE.

The villains on the other hand…meh. I was intrigued with Jamie Foxx’s casting as Electro, but was disappointed with his interpretation. Same with Dane DeHaan, an interesting actor who was a much better antagonist in the underrated sci-fi thriller Chronicle (2012). So much attention is given to Foxx’s Electro and Feore’s villainous Menken (another great character actor who can always play a heavy)—among other matters—that DeHaan’s conversion into the new Green Goblin is so anti-climactic. Again, an issue with the screenplay more than the actors involved.

In fact, the only villain that I really liked was the underused Paul Giamatti as the Russian criminal Aleksei Sytsevich, aka The Rhino. We only see him causing bedlam at the beginning and then suiting up as The Rhino at the end to take on Spider-Man. Giamatti is a talented actor who gives it his all here—and I’ll assume that we’ll see him again in one of the forthcoming sequels. But still, why add him in at all? Just saying…

Part of the blame goes to director Marc Webb (The Amazing Spider-Man, 500 Days Of Summer) for not streamlining the screenplay more. Really—did the theatrical cut of THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 need to be 142 minutes? That’s 18 minutes shorter than it took for the Titanic to sink way back in 1912! Still, it’s not bad news for Webb, whose strength as the director of this movie is in the human aspects of the story (Peter & Gwen; Aunt May & Peter; etc.). Also, Webb manages to helm the complete package with a growing sense of craft and entertainment value—because let’s face it: this isn’t the visually-operatic retelling of a Dostoyevsky novel or the existential tomes of Kierkegaard. It’s Spider-friggin’-Man…entertain me without giving me a headache!! Comparing Part 1 to Part 2, the latter is more ambitious while the former is better focused. I’m not sure if director Marc Webb is returning for Part 3 (and he should, for the sake of parity)—but I’m pretty sure that he’ll hit his stride—as will the series.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 earns top marks for production values for the estimated $200+ million endeavor (imdb.com). The film was shot entirely in New York State, with a majority of the production occurring within the New York City area—with the exception of an extended chase sequence filmed in Rochester, NY. It has been said that this movie is the largest production ever filmed in New York State.

Wait, did I say “filmed”? Yes! Lensed on 35mm film in the classic PANAVISION^® scope format by ace South African cinematographer Dan Mindel (Spy Game, Star Trek [2009], Mission: Impossible III, Star Trek Into Darkness), this movie looks fantastic. I say this with amazement because Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man was shot in HD by veteran cinematographer John Schwartzman (Armageddon, Seabiscuit, The Green Hornet) and the look of the two movies cannot be more different. Not to knock Schwartzman—he’s one of my favorite cinematographers—but Mindel actually convinced Webb to go for the film/anamorphic package—and to terrific results. I am so very happy to see that film is not yet on its way to the morgue.

Unnecessarily-long running time excluded, the movie’s cutting is an exercise in elegance by veteran Sicilian editor Pietro Scalia (Oscar^®-winner for JFK & Black Hawk Down; also cut Ridley Scott’s Hannibal, Gladiator, American Gangster, The Counselor). And speaking of elegant, the musical score by Hans Zimmer (Oscar^®-winner for The Lion King; also composed Ridley Scott’s Black Rain, Gladiator, Hannibal, Matchstick Men as well as Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy) with The Magnificent Six supergroup earns kudos as well. To read more about them, click here.

I’d also like to extol the grandiose production design by New Yawker Mark Friedberg (The Ice Storm, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, Across The Universe, Noah)—who beside creating a cool lair design within OsCorp—actually created a great mock-up of Times Square for the Electro vs. Spider-Man sequence—aided in VFX by the artisans at Sony Picture Imageworks. Easily the best set-piece in the movie, one day of shooting on location in the real Times Square—in addition to capturing all visual references for later studio work (per the production notes)—gets props for intricate detail orientation.

The cool Electro VFX make-up was designed by prolific house KNB EFX Group while the new Spidey costume was designed by veteran Deborah L. Scott Oscar^®-winner for Titanic; also costumed Back To The Future, 2000’s The Patriot, Transformers 1-3) in an effort to harken the MARVEL comic book incarnation’s original design—including the white eyepieces…heretofore never done for any Spider-Man movie.

 

THE BOTTOM LINE

With everything but the kitchen sink thrown in, THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 manages to score as overall entertainment—but sputters in its individual minutiae (unfocused screenplay, excessive villains, etc.)—hence the ½ star reduction. However, a strong cast, handsome production values, nifty VFX and that classic New York state-of-mind vibe slings this flick forward into the future with the next movie already on the horizon. You keep slinging, Spidey baby…just saying!!

 

 

 

IMDB:                    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1872181/

Wikipedia:             http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amazing_Spider-Man_2

Official Site:          http://www.theamazingspiderman.com/site/