The Amazing Spider-Man Review…2

SPIDER-MAN 2 REVIEW

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is one of the most anticipated movies of the year and last night, this lucky girl got to watch it on a big-ass IMAX screen.

Spider-Whats-it? You’ve been living under a rock? Oh, lemme give you a quick summary.
Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) is Spider-man, a masked hero that uses his new abilities to save the city from villains. He lives with his Aunt May who is his only living family. He has a girlfriend, Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), who knows his identity and understands the sacrifice that comes along with being a vigilante. She lost her father in the last movie during the climactic villain fight scene. Her father was the police chief and a big deal because her father put the kibosh on Gwen dating Peter because he knew that he was Spider-man (Spider-man is really bad at keeping his identity a secret).
Peter Parker’s life is just as busy as Spider-Man’s because other than normal post-high school living, he spends his time trying to unravel what caused his parent’s deaths. In the last film it was revealed that his father worked at Oscorp and developed some genetic tech that caused the transformation of Peter into Spider-Man. His father had a formula that would have taken the research to the next level and it cost him and his wife their lives.

In this installment of the Spider-man story, we meet new and exciting villains as well as important people in Peter Parker’s life. Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) comes into play as Peter’s friend and perhaps Spider-man’s next villain? *Cough Green Goblin Cough* (Not a spoiler, it says it right on IMDB).

If you have watched the trailer you must have seen the main villain of the movie Electro (Jamie Foxx). Jamie Foxx plays an insecure / delusional electrical engineer named Max Dillon. He suffers an accident and his body is negatively altered causing him to be reborn as the Super-villain Electro.

Will Peter Parker be able to juggle a normal life, a girlfriend, researching his parent’s work, AND his Spider-Man duties? Go to theatres this weekend to find out! Click the trailer to get pumped, then come back and click the jump to see what I thought of the latest from the Amazing Spider-Man….2.

My SPOILER-FREE review after the jump…

Quick Disclaimer: Fellow arachnophobes there are two scenes with actual spiders, but it passes very quickly. 3 seconds each (tops).

Story:

The movie takes place during the summer after Peter’s high school graduation. It is a time that is usually reserved for finding jobs and getting ready for college, but since Peter is Amazing that is just the tip of the iceberg. The story is paced well and there is barely anytime for your eyes to wander around the theater. You are too busy searching for hidden clues and wondering what will happen next.

I feel like each character was used perfectly to keep the story on track. Max Dillon had humorous moments and they blended with his insecure personality to give you a look inside this man to the point where you could see how he ended up becoming a Super-Villain. At one point I leaned over to my movie-going-partner to say… I just don’t feel too bad for this guy anymore. I think with a villain that pretty much hits the mark.

The humor really pushed this movie to the top for me. Spider-Man has a fun loving vibe with witty one liners that makes you laugh out loud. I feel like it is more of what I have read in the few Spider-Man comic books I have picked up. He is young and funny. There are a few scenes where I felt like a kid watching a cartoon rather than a live action movie.

Visual:

I watched the movie on IMAX-3D and the opening sequence is from Spidey’s POV. Let me just say I loved it. It was like a roller coaster and it was one of the few times I can say I enjoyed 3D. I am not the best at spotting CGI or other visual FX, but I thought that the use of 3D was perfect. There is a scene where Harry come home and he is walking down the hallway leading to his father’s room and the 3D elongates this walk to build the suspenseful reunion between father and son. Subtle, yet it works.

I also liked the fact that this movie was not too dark. I feel like lately movies and TV have been darker to push the “edgy”, but Spider-Man kept vibrant colors and it really worked. The movie takes place in the summer, why black it out, right?

Electro! I thought this character would be totally lame. I was not looking forward to him at all, I thought he would be just a glow-y blue man. Visually though he was stunning. I thought that they used the electric aspect very well and just WoW! He doesn’t take just one form… that is all I will say. Was it Jamie Foxx’s acting? Nope. I think they could’ve put a B list actor in there and it would have had the same effect. Credit to the visual department.

Audio:

The music choices were a stand-out! The songs were perfect and used so well that I am not sure if my fellow movie goers understood that it was music and not just maniacal whispering in the background. Basically, I will be picking up this soundtrack even if it is primarily a score. Hans Zimmer you get a pat on the back. Good job.

Romance:

If you have watched any of the Spider-Man movies you know that Peter Parker has a girlfriend. In these movies it is Gwen Stacy and the movie takes time to slow down so the audience can fall in love with her right along with Peter. His walls are covered with photos of her, they have the best banter. She is strong, smart, gorgeous, and brave. She is practically the perfect girl.

There are so many moments where you just smile. Perfect couple on & off screen. Guys, if you need an excuse to get your girls to the theater for this movie, push the romance.

Overall:

This movie made an Arachnophobe love The Amazing Spider-Man. Obviously there are some huge points I didn’t cover, but this is a review without spoilers. Despite the big ending, I still enjoyed the movie and I will be there for the next installment, on the edge of my seat, waiting for the next adventure.

Go watch this movie!