Personally, Spider-Man has always been the funnier, friendlier and the most accessible superhero. He’s a high-school-aged geek, whose supernatural powers allow him to fight crime, yet keep him grounded when dealing with the common issues of being a teenager such as: girls, friends, parents, etc. With that being said, the chemistry between real-life couple Andrew Garfield (Peter Parker) and Emma Stone (Gwen Stacy) is undeniable and it adds realism to the on-screen relationship. Furthermore, Emma Stone isn’t the only woman Andrew Garfield had chemistry with; Sally Field who plays the lovable yet stern Aunt May especially shines in one moving moment when Parker begs his aunt to reveal a dark and painful family secret.
Like the first film in this rebooted series, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is about the emotional, yet witty side of the web-slinger. This movie portrays his weakness through the love and respect Parker has for both Gwen and her father. One of the things I thoroughly enjoyed in this film is the introduction of a wealth of characters. The con is that it also dives into a wide variety of subplots which I personally feel the writers didn’t do a great job of allowing the story to come together unless you’re willing to accept a bunch of coincidences.
Let me not downplay Jamie Foxx’s character Max Dillon, who is an introverted, spidey obsessed, Oscorp engineer-turned-power-conductor, Electro, who is very capturing. Fox did a compelling job at portraying his character as an intriguingly oppressed individual who could be mentally ill but we later discover he’s actually really smart; if you can put aside the screenwriter’s foolishness to have Electro name himself.
Finally, the last two but not the least of the supporting characters in The Amazing Spider-Man 2; are GREEN GOBLIN (Dane DeHaan) and Rhino (Paul Giamatti). Dane DeHaan’s character, the rich kid, Harry Osborn is introduced in this film. It was sort of heartening to see his father, Norman Osborn (Chris Cooper) passing his rights to his only son just as he is about to fade away. Dane DeHaan has by far some of the best scenes in the film and during some of his more intense scenes with Garfield, he even showed shades of Leonardo DiCaprio’s great acting abilities. Lastly, let’s not forget Paul Giamatti who plays the Russian mobster that all of sudden becomes a Transformer with his mechanical rhino suit. I would say this was a personal opinion, but there are no synonyms for what Giamatti was; it was perfect! He almost gives comedic relief to the action scenes, after all, Paul Giamatti is hilarious.
Overall, the only issue I found to be disturbing to me is the length of the movie could have been shortened by not including side plots toward the end. For example, there was a subplot involving two planes. The scene was added for what I feel is extra tension for the audience during a blackout that didn’t even include Spider-Man. Truly the movie could have done without those extra few minutes. Aside from the planes, the last 10 minutes or so of the movie isn’t just amazing, it’s incredibly well executed. It brought the movie to a closure with a genuine stir of emotions, in what could possibly be the absolute best ending I’ve seen in a superhero movie.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 takes audiences on a roller-coaster ride from start to finish and Webb finds a good balance between the action sequences and the normal life issues of each character. Rather than relying on unexplainable events to introduce the superpowers of each character, he gives the most believable rational explanations to keep the film grounded and accessible to audiences.