The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Someone once told me that with great power comes great responsibility. The same is true with movies. When you are asking for the money of the people and creating a world, you have a responsibility to make a world that will transport you from your ordinary life and become something spectacular. I thought, and I don’t think I was wrong, that The Amazing Spider-Man was kind of a flop. There were good moments, Denis Leary as Captain Stacy, a one armed Kurt Connors (even if the Lizard became a little weak in the end) and a questionable plot to make Peter’s parents look like James Bond. The Amazing Spider-man 2 starts with the parents question front and center. Again they look like James Bond or secret agents at the very least. This seems to be the thrust Marc Webb has chosen for Mr. and Mrs. Parker. We just have to deal with it I guess. You wonder what you are in for in this movie and the movie answers that quickly. You are in for the love story of Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy.
The Amazing Spider-man 2 is a smarter more interesting movie than the original. Spider-man is a realized character and now Andrew Garfield is able to move in his body better. He is smarter, faster, better at being Spider-man. The movie opens with more of the debacle of a story line involving Peter’s secret parents and what happened to them. Then we are thrust into the character that is New York and the web-head’s new life after high school. Traveling by web slinger has never been shot better. I enjoyed Sam Raimi’s vision of that but with the fully realized effects in this movie, Spidey moves through New York as though it is his city. I’ve always been curious if some poor bastard has to clean off the webbing that is left behind or does it just disappear into movie land somewhere. Soon Spider-man is saving a lot of people including Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx) who takes his simple act of heroism as a declaration of friendship. Where Tobey Maguire failed (dialogue, weird faces, and scarily bad quips), Andrew Garfield is natural, fun and more Spider-many. He brings a likability to Spider-man and Peter Parker that I always felt was missing in the Maguire series. As Spider-man, Garfield gives the performance we always wanted from Spider-man and not the cheesy dance moves that sadly defined the earlier series.
I think the greatest thing that Marc Webb has done with his series of Spider-man Movies is created a stable of villains that Spider-man can fight. The Lizard was a great start and showed that OsCorp was up to something both regarding Peter and the hidden Norman Osborn who’s son Harry (played with glee by Dane DeHaan) who delivers a new level to the character’s dark turn and a puppet-master like existence in creating new monsters for the Spider-man to fight. Also where the Sam Raimi Spider-man had almost a glut of villains, The Amazing Spider-man introduces us to just as many villains without sacrificing the story. Electro, The Rhino and The Green Goblin are each dealt with in a real way. There is a bit of comic book magic that comes into play but the characters are smart, efficient and deadly. They each play their roles in the story without feeling shoved in and unnecessary in a way Spider-man 3 never quite accomplished. I think that this series is setting up as one of the better superhero franchises around. I would love to see (and doubt I will) Garfield’s Spider-man interact with The Avengers. I would like to see Garfield’s Spider-man just swing into any movie. Jaws? Sure he can web-sling the shark’s mouth. There is a brilliance and likability to Andrew Garfield that would fit anywhere. I mean it might seem unnecessary to have him fight Smaug in the Hobbit movies but it would definitely add a little excitement to see Spidey punch Legolas in his elfy neck. I’m just saying.
Which brings me to the best moments in the movies. Those involving Emma Stone as the complicated love interest to Peter Parker, Gwen Stacy. The chemistry between real life love interests Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone translates so well to the screen in this movie. The pain Peter feels after promising her father that he would keep her safe by disassociating her from his life as Spider-man and his dominating love for her, is the central point to this movie. I’ve read reviews of this movie in which the love story was not even mentioned. This is a crime because seeing those two on screen together is to be a part of a great love story. Emma Stone’s Gwen wants to live her life and make her own decisions while Garfield’s Peter Parker wants nothing more that to keep her safe. There is a battle in their relationship. They fight, they break up and they fight to keep people safe together. It is the type of realistic and smart love story I expect from the director of 500 Days of Summer (a great movie to see). Marc Webb doesn’t cheat the audience a bit. You root for them, you long for them and you hurt for them when they hurt each other. Imagine being in love with someone who is bigger than life, a hero and loved by the whole of New York. How overwhelming that must be. Yet for Stone’s Gwen Stacy, the story isn’t about Spider-man (she’s fine with him endangering himself for the city) it is about Peter Parker, the man she loves and that is, to me, a movie I enjoyed seeing.
Mr Unhappy Sez: Going in, I wasn’t sure I wanted to see this and now I can’t help but want to see it again. There can be no truer success for a good movie than that.
