Film Reviews & Movie Analysis

Marc Webb’s sequel might not have been amazing, but it’s pretty incredible.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has a lower Letterboxd and Rotten Tomato Critic rating than Spider-Man 3.

Let that sink in.

Spider-Man 3. A movie where Peter Parker is taken over by the dark side, which gives him the confidence to spontaneously thrust in the middle of New York City.

Make it make sense.

The Amazing Spider-Man duology has always received mixed reviews from fans and critics. Some cite an over-abundance of underdeveloped villains and the movies being littered with spin-off thirst traps. Others question the acting, and many were influenced by external circumstances; primarily Sony’s financially driven reasons for rebooting the franchise.

It’s an awful lot of nitpicking, which makes the situation abundantly clear; The Amazing Spider-Man was always going to tank because audiences didn’t want it to succeed. After only five years since Sam Raimi’s unconcluded original trilogy, fans weren’t emotionally ready for a new Peter Parker.

Ten years later, it’s time to change the narrative and reevaluate The Amazing Spider-Man 2, an underrated gem that deserves a little respect in the superhero genre.

Kicking off the movie’s many strengths, is the undeniable chemistry and relationship growth between Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) and Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone). The moment the two characters are together on the screen (iconic graduation kiss) it’s abundantly clear they fit. Their magnetism makes it easy to understand how Peter was able to break a promise. Remember, at the end of The Amazing Spider-Man he swore to a dying Captain Stacy to stay away from his daughter.

This promise comes between Peter and Gwen in the film, and they break up. Despite this, the audience knows there is no way Peter and Gwen can be ‘just friends’ they are drawn to one another in a way that has us kicking our feet and giggling into our hands. The on-screen chemistry between Peter and Gwen not only adds to the romantic C plot, it also strengthens and seals the emotional depth of the movie when tragedy later strikes.

Speaking of plots, a superhero movie would not be complete without a supervillain. Enter Max Dillon aka Electro (Jamie Foxx). Comic book fans saw Max Dillion as a caricature that went against his depiction in the source material. Others were angry about the unrealistic portrayal of a man with electricity running through his veins…

What many missed was Foxx’s nuanced performance as Max Dillon, the intelligent and overlooked man who was desperate to be seen. Dillon reeks of desperation, from his clothes to his mannerisms and his obsession with Spider-Man, a figure who once told him he was special. Bright blue, and sucking the light from a room – Electro was born to be seen. It was all Max ever wanted.

The power literally goes to his head, the desire to plunge everyone into the same dark loneliness he experienced day after day. It’s heavy, it’s compelling and it’s deep. And Foxx juggles the shift from desire to destruction with skill. Perhaps the technology wasn’t there to create the Electro of the comics, but we should be able to suspend a bit of disbelief for a guy who looks like the inside of a fairy light when the performance is so well done.

Overall, the visual effects across the board were decent and had progressed significantly from Spider-Man (2002). Spider-Man’s stomach plunging acrobatics through the streets of New York. The battle sequence as he takes on Electro at the power grid and watching him bullet through the broken mechanisms of the clock tower to save Gwen. Come on. Yes, okay, sure; Harry’s Green Goblin looked like an actual Goblin. Not an artistic choice I would have made, but when you’re up against Willem Dafoe’s iconic depiction (which still gives me nightmares) it was always a losing battle.

No matter what negativity there is around the plot, the visual effects, and the non-stop comparisons to Sam Raimi’s trilogy, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 had one thing it didn’t; heart.

The film takes its audience on a relentless emotional journey that subtly begins with Gwen Stacy’s graduation speech. Gwen talks about the years gone, the life left to live, and the importance of grabbing the future with both hands. I always felt bad for Mary-Jane Watson, who didn’t seem to have much depth or be able to exist without a man at her side or chasing at her heels. Gwen Stacy had courage, individualism and a future we could envision. Giving her this breadth, making her loved by the audience, was part of the emotional long game that was later played, and won.

Aunt May (Sally Field) isn’t given much screen time, but when she does, she makes it count. There’s a moment in the movie where Peter confronts her about his dad, Richard. Aunt May refuses to tell Peter what she knows. Partially out of jealousy over Peter’s idolisation of a ghost, but mostly out of love. Aunt May doesn’t want to hurt him, because Peter is her boy, her son. This one scene, this one explosive speech from a character we haven’t heard much from in two movies, absolutely knocks it out of the park. Peter’s reaction to her words, the intimacy of this moment, pulls the audience into the resolute understanding that Peter and Aunt May are the two left behind, and they’re both holding on as hard as they can.

Finally, while Spider-Man is saving the citizens of New York from armed robbers, purse snatchers and escaped convicts, he still takes the time to help a ‘nerdy’ little kid being bullied. Spider-Man beating up a bunch of kids would be bad for optics but standing there is enough to make the bullies pee their pants and run. Alone with the ‘nerdy’ kid, Spider-Man helps him fix his science project, gives him words of encouragement and walks him home.

It’s one of a few circular moments in the film, where, this same kid, dressed up in a Spider-Man costume, confronts a ridiculous criminal in a mechanical rhino suit. Spider-Man, who hasn’t been seen in months makes his reappearance before the rhino can charge, and takes it from there.

Whatever you say about The Amazing Spider-Man 2, there are so many moments that do their job to reduce you to tears.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was ambitious. Electro, introducing Harry Osborn/the Green Goblin, and the exploration of Richard and Mary’s backstory and the legacy they left their son. However, it wasn’t without its faults as the various narrative elements overwhelmed some, and others (myself included) will never get over what happened to Gwen. Her fate in the film, mimics her fate in the comic books, and even in 1973 it shook the community. What happens to Gwen goes against the conventions of the heroes journey. For a hero to fail so spectacularly… and continue? Unfathomable.

Although, even I’ll admit the emotional payoff was temporarily effective.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 like many movies had its issues, but it deserves to be recognized for its strengths. Led by Andrew Garfield, who was a natural in the role, the movie is a brilliantly cast, engaging and action filled film that dared to be different.

Go on. It’s been ten years. It’s safe to admit that your first impressions were born out of sadness and anger. I was the same when Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor regenerated into Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 might not be fantastic, but it’s got heart, it’s got character, and it’s a far sight better than Spider-Man 3.