The latest installment of the titular web-slingers movie franchise is certainly no different, and packs no less than three classic Spidey villains into one film, with the promise of a whole bunch more soon to come. They had their work cut out for them making this one, that much is clear from the get go.
Our story cold opens with some major history that will rub canon fans the wrong way, as the mysterious past of Peter Parker's science savvy parents is revealed amid a James Bond style crashing airplane battle over a tenuous internet connection. It may feel more like a tech-thriller than Spider-Man, but it beats opening on some tired old Uncle Ben stuff eh? The action really gets going full-force in scene two, as our hero swings into action against stock Russian terrorist, Aleksei Systevich. This entire encounter really is the old cartoon brought to life. Aleksei (played by a completely over-the-top Paul Giamatti) is as snarling and ridiculous as you can get playing a Russian killer, and Spider-Man is at his wise-crackling best from the first line. Caught stealing an armoured car full of plutonium isotopes, Aleksei is beaten and bested by Spider-Man in minutes, leaving us with a reminder of just how dexterous and strong this particular version of the hero really is.
Arriving late to his own graduation ceremony, Peter drops in to reintroduce us to his love interest, the ill-fated Gwen Stacy. The relationship between the two is blossoming, yet haunted by the specter of Gwen's father, killed in battle against a Welshman last movie. The foreboding stares of her father's ghost forces Peter to wedge a gap between the two, ending their relationship. It isn't wildly fun getting into the relationship between these two again. It's teen romance, we all know what it's like already, awful and terrible and full of headphones and pillow punching. What is far more fun is watching the developing villains go about their pre-villainous lives.
Manic, self-confidence deficient electrical engineer Max Dillon was rescued by Spider-Man in a happenstance encounter, and now talks to the hero in his miserable apartment when no one else is around. Max is both self obsessed and horribly afraid of social embarrassment, with obvious and severe abandonment issues, stumbling over his words trying to interact with anyone as he goes to his bottom of the ladder job at questionably evil megacorporation Oscorp. You know the character, you've seen him before. He may be played by a weird haired Jamie Foxx here, but he was played by a weird haired Jim Carrey before he became the Riddler in Batman Forever, and a weird haired Guy Pearce before he became Aldritch Killian in Iron Man 3. The stepped on and overlooked scientist, the unseen genius. Oh, one day, if only he had the chance. It doesn't take long for Max to stumble into a room filled with fizzing electrical wires and tanks full of electrical eels (no really) and go get himself done turned into his very own Dr Manhattan.
When the world is focused on him, just for that one perfect moment, and everyone pays attention to him, he seems almost content. Then his hero arrives and tears all the attention away from him immediately. Worse, Spider-Man forgets Max's name. Electro comes alive.
Now Electro is by far the strongest villain of the film, and once he makes the transition from tired stereotype to full fledged bad guy, becomes one of the more exciting villains to appear in a recent film. His body moves with fluid electricity, swarming and moving over his translucent flesh, and his voice reverberates with a bassy distortion that is just wonderful. Even more distinctive, is the swelling music that follows the character through the film; A deep, rolling dubstep that not only sets the dread of his incredible power perfectly, but even moves and jumps in tone with the character on screen, making each of his scenes feel beautifully kinetic and bringing so much more to the atmosphere. The rest of the music in the film pales in comparison.
Spider-Mans confrontations with Electro are by far the film's most visually impressive sequences, the villains powers evolving through the course of the film from simple energy manipulation, to moving as a living current of electricity spiraling through the air in waves of blue and purple surges. It's gorgeous to watch, I just wish the changes in his personality were explored a little more as the film went on. He desires to take control of what is rightfully his by design, the city power grid, but once this is accomplished, we never really find out what goes through his mind. What would the sheltered, fearful little scientist become when endowed with such power? (and how did the transformation fix the gap in his teeth?) I would have enjoyed seeing Electro fleshed out more in the third act.
The third act devotes its time mainly to another, however. Young Harry Osborn makes his entrance early on in the film, a seemingly innocent yet dark young man returning to see the last moments of his dying father. Norman is bed ridden, twisted and dying from the same disease that courses through Harry's veins, and with a cryptic warning, passes his companies malevolent research onto his son. Thus beginning a subplot of intrigue within the Oscorp company, of plot and deceit from those that Harry is forced to trust upon taking his father's throne. Now Harry is a well done character here. The young Osborn is usually treated as ancillary to his father, but here the elder is done away with swiftly, establishing the deep disconnection the two share and complete lack of family trust, as well as give us a glimpse into this dark young man who once called Peter Parker friend. The two share a very real feeling moment where, after encountering one another after almost a decade of absence, they insult one another and laugh. Their friendship feels believable, and it's a moving development when Harry's illness requires him to obtain the blood of the newly famous Spider-Man. Connected to Spider-Man through is photography (sadly absent is J. Jonah Jameson in this one) Peter is forced to refuse Harry's pleas. Harry is a dying young man, he's desperate; and to be betrayed by his only real friend in this world of hateful businessmen fighting him for control of his birthright, might be all it takes to knock him over the edge from desperation into insanity. Here returns the earlier established backstory of the Parker parents, and their dark relationship to Norman Osborn and his research. In a noir little mystery sequence Peter must follow the trail set by his father to a hidden lab beneath the city, to find a long abandoned lab his father left behind and unveil his secret research. Although filled with the only real link Peter has with his parents, this didn't seem to pay off all that much in the rest of the film, and actually seemed to further more to Harry's medical plotline than it did Peter's family strife.
The action and interplay between these two major villains is interesting, with Electro gaining control of his new powers and growing stronger, and Harry losing control of his company and growing weaker. Electro becomes the weapon which Harry uses to stab his way back into his empire. It's a shame these two characters only really have a couple scenes together, as it would have been interesting to see how they would interact later on in the films events.
As Spider-Man comes to a shattering showdown with Electro, containing a moment where Electro creates a replica of his leering face in the sparking ruins of a New York skyscraper that truly impressed me as a new super-villain classic, Harry is descending to his destiny in the vaults below Oscorp, where he is injected with the imperfect spider serum in last ditch effort to save his life.
Harry goes from 0 to Green Goblin in a matter of seconds, which may have been a bit fast in my opinion, the whole film going into the final waves of act 3 in very short order.
The two climactic battles with our villains coming one after the other was a little bit of an odd choice of pace, with Electro having been built up longer and simply more impressively than the Goblin, and he is done away with a little easily with Spider-Man's first solution to the problem. Gwen Stacy being courageous and running around in the midst of the explosive battle was also ridiculous at times to watch. She's talking to Spider-Man like he's just her average old boyfriend whilst he is literally being attacked by the highly explosive supervillain. Yes, we understand you're a strong, intellectual woman who can look after herself and solve problems, but get your head down in the line of fire bitch!
Speaking of Gwen, those in the audience who're fans of the story will know she's not seeing the end of this one. As Spider-Man battles the newly powered Harry, who does look brilliant in a very grotesque new take on the Green Goblin, Gwen's life hangs in a precarious balance. We're waiting for it to happen, and in a way that takes away from most of the threat in the rest of the fight.
Now Emma Stone isn't a bad actress, googly eyes and all, it's just that the character of Gwen Stacy just isn't great. She's too perfect, too intellectual, too successful. Her relationship with Peter is so picturesque in its ineffable romance that she really did have to die. The character of Peter Parker, and indeed any superhero, is most exciting when it is strained, when it is challenged and under assault. Remember Spider-Man 2? With poor Peter Parker losing everything in his life bit by bit, life raining crap on him day after day? He's at the brink of giving up everything before Doc Ock even turned up. It was compelling stuff, and the death of Gwen Stacy here, which was done well in a mix of both the classic comic book event and the creation of Venom; is a step on the trials this new Spider-Man has to face to become the hero he needs to be.
The film doesn't really wind down, it just gets going again, almost as if it's about to introduce another act. We are treated to a shameless introduction to the next story in the franchise, with the beaten and imprisoned Harry Osborn directing a mysterious benefactor to ready the experiments for a new group of supervillains. Just a few men, would it be a stretch to guess about six? How sinister.
The first of this crew is handed to us for the final scene, as Aleksei returns from his stint in prison, powered up in his tank-like Rhino mech and ready to claim his revenge on Spider-Man.
Rhino could have been scary and intimidating, but the way he's played here is just too comic-book to be so. He's fun, he's wacky, and the final clash leads us into the idea of Spider-Man routinely battling this sort of villain as his everyday occurrence. Some may say it's baiting for a sequel, but this kind of movie doesn't need to bait. It chooses to go out on a high note, a playful one, one that reminds us Spider-Man does this every day, and there will only be more of these guys coming. This film also subtly introduces us to the characters of Felicia Hardy and even Mr. Smythe; for those who remember the creator of the Spider Slayer robots in the animated series.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a good film, it's fun, doesn't take itself too seriously most of the time, and when it does the melodrama doesn't overstay its welcome. Visually there are scenes that will stun you in here, and the movements and actions of the titular hero have never looked better. With great villains and solid performance by the protagonist, I'd say the franchise has been done a favor by this installment.
