So when I first saw it a couple days or maybe a week ago, I saw a bootleg stream, now I saw it in theatres, in Imax. And I all I can say is wow. I loved it even more. I'm gonna give a detailed review so yeah.
One of the many problems in the first film was that so many plot threads were introduced and none were resolved. One of those plots were the mystery of his parents disappearance and death. My opinion on this is that they thought this would work well and that they could stretch that out for maybe the first trilogy. But fans didn't react so well, so they pretty much fixed it in the intro to this first film. Right off the bat, they tell us what happens to his parents. To many, it wasn't needed, but if it wasn't there, people would've complained that they still haven't answered the question that the first film asked so I don't see the problem. Is it a super great scene? Maybe not. Is it bad? Definitely not. Simply tying up loose ends.
Now the film begins. Right off the bad, the visuals were amazing. This is the best Spidey has ever looked onscreen. From his motions, to how he's swinging around the city, to how they handled his spider sense. Phenomenal. Seeing this film in Imax was highly worth it.
Next follows Aleksei running from the cops after stealing Plutonium. This scene and what follows is classic Spidey material. Villain steals something, cop chase ensues, and Spidey webs them all up and goes on with his day. This was ripped straight out of the books, and I could totally see that happening from the humor used to when he pulled his pants down with his webbing. An absolute classic opening imo.
Only problem I had with Peter was the moment when he kissed Gwen at their graduation. That's not something Peter would do so it slightly bothered me, but wasn't a major deal.
In that chase with Aleksei, we first get a glimpse of Jamie Foxx as Max. On the first viewing, he was a little wierd to me, but with the second watch it wasn't as nearly as bad as I first thought it was. The only scene where I cringed was when he and Gwen was on the elevator and she leaves, he says "wait, she remembered my name" in this soft voice, and it was just ugh. C'mon Jamie. But other than that, I wasn't bothered with this character at all. Jamie as Electro was great on both viewings, even better in Imax of course because I get to see all the effects and how he looks. Jamie really does great in this role. Max with his new powers gets angry as police are shooting at him, and he believes Spiderman set him up. This leads to their first confrontation , and Electro is sent to Ravencroft afterwards.
I believe we see Harry a little earlier before Jamie and Electro duke it out, but either way Deehan kills it as Harry. Franco is meh in everything to me, and I just never liked him as Harry. The scene between him and Chris Cooper was powerful. A perfect introduction to Harry and shows how great of a Goblin Chris Cooper could've been if he was younger, or if he's currently able to pull of the stuff required to be the Goblin. Even close to death, he was menacing as Norman. Many people feel that he's wasted, but he's not done. I'm 100% confident he'll be back at some point. He still may be the Goblin as Harry was never given any name. Which could be something cool to see.
Emma Stone is just perfect as Gwen Stacy. I've seen Easy A and liked the film, but I never thought she would have a long or lasting career in Hollywood, but I think she will. The chemistry between Andrew & Emma is outstanding. Easily in the top romances of all cbm's to date, and easily outbeats whatever it is you want to call what was between Tobey & Kirsten's Peter & MJ. People complain that this was a romance movie which is a BS complaint imo. Peter Parker is equally as interesting as Spiderman. You can't have a Spiderman film without all of the women in his life. Were there a few scenes that could've been cut? Maybe, but not anything that drastic.
I forget exactly where but there's a scene between Aunt May and Peter and it is definitely one of the highlights. Sally Field is a great Aunt May and I hope she sticks around for a little while longer.
Harry eventually shows signs of his eventual death due to a genetic disease. In a desperate manner, he thinks that Spiderman's blood is the cure. So he makes a partnership with Electro to try to bring him down. Not long after, we witness his transformation. I liked Harry as the Goblin (or Hobgoblin), and I thought he looked great. He looked scary, instead of the power ranger looking like thing I saw in SM1. His laugh was menacing, and Deehan played it perfectly. People throw around the fact that his dad lived so long, so why is Harry rushing to find a cure? That's flawed logic imo. If I know I'm gonna die, why will I wait to try to figure something out? I'm gonna treat everyday as if it's my last and look for a cure.
Gwen tells Peter a little earlier that she's going to London. Right before so, he professes his love for her, and makes the decision that he wants to be with her and all that. What follows is a fight between him and Electro. Like I said earlier, the film looks beautiful, and the fight was great. There's nothing more I can really say about it.
Eventually he's defeated, and here comes Harry. Seeing Gwen, he deduces that Spiderman is Peter, and this makes him angrier. As a result he grabs Gwen and throws her trough the clock tower, where Peter & Harry fight. Now If I do have one major negative, it's the short fight scene between him and Harry. I would've liked to see more, but I'm positive the Blu Ray will have an extended version so whatever. Anway, I would've liked to see something more physical like Peter not wanting to hurt his friend, but dealing with the fact that Gwen is in danger so he has to do what he has to do. During their fight, Gwen is in a terrible position, and she ultimately pays the price. After Peter chokes out Harry, gears are shifting and Gwen ultimate ends ups falling. Peter leaps for her and does the best he can to try and save her but he's too late.
Holy hell her death scene was powerful. Hands down my favorite CBM death scene at the moment. Nothing tops that for me. I already knew way ahead of time that she would die, but it still affected me heavily. I didn't know Sony would allow it to happen like it did. Not only do you hear her back snap, you hear her head hit the ground also. What follows immediately is shock and silence throughout the theatre. Garfield perfectly acted out the grief he had.
What comes next is Peter dealing with what happened. He quits being Spiderman for a while. It is then we hear Gwen's graduation speech which is placed well in this film and is the right words needed for Peter to suit back up. Something along the line: "There will be dark days, days where you feel all alone, and that's when hope is needed the most...no matter what happens, you must always keep hope." What comes after is Harry and The Man In The Shadow discussing that now Spiderman has been inactive for 5 months, more trials need to be held and the first is Aleksei. On first viewing, I thought the Rhino was a bit too wierd, but that's mainly because I couldn't understand him due to watching the cam version. On second watch, he wasn't bad at all. I enjoyed Giamati's performance. What follows is the scene with the boy. People who react so strongly to scenes like that are just looking for something to dislike. It's not that big of a deal. We see the crowd cheering on Spidey as he returns and dukes it out with the Rhino.
Conclusion: I'll just sum it up by saying I love this film. This beats the last one in every way. Visuals, tone, story, whatever. All the actors did a great job in their roles, especially Andrew, Emma, Dane, and Jamie. Andrew is Spiderman for me. He has both Peter and Spiderman down perfectly, and I can't imagine it being done any better. One of my favorite elements of the movie was probably the humor as Peter and as Spiderman. Especially as Spiderman. My god, I finally get to see a goofy, wise-cracking Spidey. It's about time. My only real complaints are the fact that there isn't a central plot. It's not a BIG issue with me as the story flows smoothly for me, and I had no issues with keeping up. I feel for the sequel, they should tell a better focused story. My other complaint is the final battle with Harry. Like I said earlier, it should've been longer and more physical, but I believe the bluray will make up for this. The death scene was the absolute highlight. I can't think of any way they could've done it better. Sucks to see Emma is gone now. Whoever follows her shoes whether it be Felicia Hardy, or MJ will have to pull off a tough performance. This film could've went a couple different way. They could've just focused on Electro or the Goblin, they could've left out the Rhino. There could've been a lot of things that could've been changed. But that can be said for every movie. I enjoyed what they gave me, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Before seeing this film again, I let all the critics reviews and negative one's from here bring me down a bit, and I shouldn't have. I loved this film. I know I'm gonna get a we must've had watched two different films type of comment, but I was respectful of the negative reviews, and I hope you all respect mines at least. To end this review, again I will say that I loved this film, I enjoyed The Winter Soldier more so I can't give it a 5 / 5, this film for me is what SM2 is for others, so this film easily gets a 4.5 / 5 out of me.
t: 
