movie review - The Amazing Spider-Man 2
the journal of Michael Werneburg
twenty-seven years and one million words
We watched this one for "movie night", and I realized that I'd somehow never seen this movie. I'm a fan of Spider Man inasmuch as can still tolerate super-hero movies. And while the cast is excellent, the plot makes little sense and Jamie Foxx is cruelly mis-used. Spider-man comes across like an unpleasant and self-serving person, and quite undeserving of his girl's affection.
I suppose this is the last of the Spider-Man movies where the titular character is not just a subservient kid playing second fiddle to the appalling Iron Man. They took some interesting chances with this story, too. Following on the warning from Gwen's dad that people near him could get hurt - Gwen dies! Yes, they kill off the love interest, played by the insanely charismatic Emma Stone: Spider-Man just fails to catch her in time. Spider-Man was always plagued with guilt, this should have had legs in the third "Amazing Spider Man" that was never made.
In the lore of these movies, it seems that this one was poorly received and it ended what was supposed to be a trilogy for the actor playing the lead. I never really understood why they felt it necessary to "reboot" the story line within a decade of the original coming out, but then Hollywood seems pretty messed up so who knows. Andrew Garfield, who plays the lead, is a superb actor but was at 31 too old for a role as a teenager. He should have been in a story of an adult Spider-Man, confident and dealing with adult problems. Even the story-line with his old friend would have made a lot more sense in that context.
Not recommended.