The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
Directed by Marc Webb
For Peter Parker, life is busy. Between taking out the bad guys as Spider-Man and spending time with the person he loves, Gwen Stacy, high school graduation cannot come quickly enough. Peter has not forgotten about the promise he made to Gwen’s father to protect her by staying away, but that is a promise he cannot keep. Things will change for Peter when a new villain, Electro, emerges, an old friend, Harry Osborn, returns, and Peter uncovers new clues about his past.
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17 films that influenced The Amazing Spider-Man 2
What critics say influenced The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Coming with his own nerdy-comic theme music, Max is uncomfortably reminiscent of Jim Carrey’s closeted Riddler in Batman Forever.
A less-than-worthy sequel to the 2012 picture, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is more reminiscent of Batman Forever (1995) and Batman & Robin (1997), which, in the franchise’s directorial wasteland between Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan, believed that the series could be extended simply by signing big stars to play new villains: Jim Carrey as the Riddler, Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze.
However, his character is painfully underdeveloped, borrowing elements of hero-worship-turned-revenge-seeker we saw in the Riddler in “Batman Forever” and Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) in “Iron Man 3.”
Unfortunately, he’s even less interesting than the villain from the first movie, with an origin story that’s oddly reminiscent of The Riddler’s from “Batman Forever” and backed by a headache-inducing dubstep anthem.
Original Review: William Bibbiani calls The Amazing Spider-Man 2 "the Batman Forever of the Spider-Man movies."
These aren't modern comic-book bad guys, they're leftovers from "Daredevil" or — ugh — the awful "Batman Forever."
A less-than-worthy sequel to the 2012 picture, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is more reminiscent of Batman Forever (1995) and Batman & Robin (1997), which, in the franchise’s directorial wasteland between Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan, believed that the series could be extended simply by signing big stars to play new villains: Jim Carrey as the Riddler, Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze.
The love story between Peter and Gwen is just about perfect, but when combined with wildly over-the-top supporting characters, the film flows over into outright camp (remember “Batman & Robin”?).
4. There's also a weird layer of unintentional kitsch to the villains here—this is far more Batman & Robin than The Dark Knight.
In some ways, this is the Batman & Robin of the entire Spidey series.
That nice exchange — summoning memories of Humphrey Bogart telling Claude Rains in Casablanca that he came there for the waters and, on being reminded that they are in the desert, tersely replying, “I was misinformed” — also serves as a key to the Peter-Spidey duality in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. He’s a Marvel superhero given strength and air power because of the arachnid goop in his veins, like the pine tar on the neck of Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda.
The more conventional heavy, Max Dillon, begins the film much like Selina Kyle in "Batman Returns"that is, a meek, underappreciated worker who gains confidence but loses his/her mind in the process following a would-be fatal accident.
The only superhero film in the last two decades that has managed to work with more than one villain is Batman Returns.
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If so, here's hoping he re-develops an interest in both spectacle and sensitivity, finding a way (as Nolan and Burton did in their "Batman" films) to deliver special effects and human scale.
The segment quickly spirals into trite and distracting "Matrix"-like effects -- bullet-time stop motion, speeded-up and slowed-down footage -- almost as if Webb had just seen "The Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole" and become inspired by its visual gimmickry before attempting to beat "The Blues Brothers" world record for "the most crashed squad cars in a single chase scene."
Along the way to stopping Sytsevich, he saves psychologically unstable Oscorp-employee Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx) from getting hit by a car, thereby turning him into a Spider-Man fan in the mold of Kathy Bates in Misery.
It turns the caustic frown of superhero films like "The Dark Knight" upside down with a story about love and friendship, tinged with tragedy but anchored to possibility.
4. There's also a weird layer of unintentional kitsch to the villains here—this is far more Batman & Robin than The Dark Knight.
For some reason, every blockbuster needs to be an epic endurance test, but this script - by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Jeff Pinkner - doesn't have the elegance or depth to earn its running time (as something like " The Dark Knight " did, for example).
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Daniel Mindel introduces a more radioactively luminous palette to proceedings — one of several ways in which Webb has dropped many of the real-world affectations of the first film (gone is Parker’s skateboard, though he still has a “Dogtown and Z-Boys” poster on his wall) in favor of a more high-key comicbook story world.
His room is even full of energy, with movie posters for “Blow Up” and “Dogtown and Z-Boys” making way for a frenzied map of clues left behind by Peter’s father.
“The Amazing Spider-Man 2” wastes DeHaan, it wastes Felicity Jones (“Like Crazy”) in a tiny role that promises to expand in later chapters, it wastes a way-cool secret laboratory in an abandoned subway station.