THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 was not a film I was expecting greatness from. I initially had quite high hopes, I'll admit. I quite enjoyed the first film, but it felt like it was laying the groundwork for a much more interesting sequel, and at first it seemed like this film was shaping up to be just that. But with the more trailers I watched (and there were A LOT of trailers), the more I got this niggling feeling about the film that it was just "off" to me, and my anticipation started to sap away. I actually waited for a couple of weeks after its cinema release to get round to seeing it, as it just wasn't grabbing me. But still, I went in expecting a fun, if unremarkable movie experience. So it's with some disappointment that I have to report that the film failed to meet even these modest expectations and proved to be quite underwhelming.
It's hard to explain what exactly is wrong with it. People have been comparing it to Sam Raimi's SPIDER-MAN 3, and I don't think that's quite on base, because while I'd say it's around the same ballpark in terms of quality - probably a little bit better, to be fair - people are coming at it from the wrong angle. First, people are making the comparison because of the "too many villains" dilemma, which needn't necessarily be a problem in itself (CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER worked in no less than 5 villains from the comics and managed to do it rather seamlessly and unobtrusively) and certainly isn't a problem here because, despite what the marketing may tell you, this is essentially a two-villain film. And second, and this is something many won't acknowledge, while SPIDER-MAN 3 was the worst of the Raimi trilogy, it really only exacerbated problems that were already present in the previous films. THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 is different in this case, as it feels less like a progression of existing problems to the point where they come to a head, and more like a drastic regression, so while the end product isn't as poor as SPIDER-MAN 3, it may be in its own way more disappointing.
While the Raimi SPIDER-MAN trilogy is already dated, feeling quite hokey and cheesy by today's standards, THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN was a breath of fresh air, very much a post-BATMAN BEGINS superhero film that presented more of a grounded reality and a human dimension around Spider-Man, while also preserving that character's identity and unique charm. It provided a great foundation to build from, and there are flashes of it here and there. But for the most part, THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 feels like a doubling-down of that outmoded cartoony vibe. Watching this, I found myself thinking that if this came out in the 90s, people would love it. But we've moved on as an audience since then, and expect more from superhero movies than this condescending "POW! THWACK!" pantomime. The film I found myself comparing it to most was BATMAN FOREVER, actually. Not quite the disaster BATMAN & ROBIN was, but it hasn't aged well. And though of course the production values are better, I got a BATMAN FOREVER vibe here. Stagey-looking sets and locations, everything given this cartoonish, melodramatic quality, characters monologuing and talking to themselves, broad characterisations, particularly when it comes to OTT, BWAHAHAing villainy. This is a world where we meet a lip-curling German mad scientist called Dr. Kafka, which feels like something straight out of the Schumacher wheelhouse. It even starts similarly, with a great actor (Tommy Lee Jones for FOREVER, Paul Giamatti here) phoning it in as a one-note moustache-twirler snarling and bellowing nefarious threats straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon, before segueing into a caricature nerdy loser who abruptly shifts from idolising the hero into despising him due to a dubious slight. It was Jim Carrey in FOREVER, here it's Jamie Foxx.
Now, Foxx is charismatic with the right role, but Electro was not the right role. Once he gets his powers, there is the most perfunctory of attempts to play the sympathy card before we have him turn evil and murderous because... ummm.... that's what the movie's plot requires him to do. And before you know it he's blasting out groanworthy electricity-based puns and declaring "I'M ELECTRO!" (also said in the film: "I'M THE RHINO!" - not one for subtlety, these baddies), and by the time we got to him trying to apparently murder Spider-Man with dubstep, I'd checked out. Elsewhere on the antagonist spectrum, the talented Dane DeHaan tries his best with the Harry Osborn role, and plays a sense of justifiable grievance more credibly than Foxx's Electro gets the chance to, but once he gets on that glider and starts cackling and arching his eyebrows (No "I'M THE GREEN GOBLIN!" line, sadly), his hard work is largely undone. I've never been the biggest Green Goblin fan even in the comics, no matter how hard they've tried to convince us he's Spidey's greatest foe, and with us now having 3 out of 5 films where Spider-Man is having to leap around that glider in fight scenes, it's really feeling worn out.
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 is saved from complete mediocrity by the inherent likeability of Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, and a handful of emotionally affecting scenes peppered throughout - one near the end packs a particularly powerful punch. But for the most part, this is a letdown. It feels flabby and scattershot, poorly-paced and with writing all over the shop, and by an hour and a half in I found myself constantly looking at my watch wondering when it would be over. Oh, and just as they did with the first film they give away the final moments of the film in the bloody trailer! Quite the opposite from leaving this film more eagerly anticipating the glut of Spideyverse films that are to follow, this left me with my enthusiasm dampened for all of them.
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