The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a bloated mess and the worst in the series. Over the weekend The Amazing Spider-Man sequel opened and proved there’s always room for a worse movie than Spider-Man 3. As a lifelong Spider-Man I was disappointed and here are some reasons why.
Official Synopsis:
“We’ve always known that Spider-Man’s most important battle has been within himself: the struggle between the ordinary obligations of Peter Parker and the extraordinary responsibilities of Spider-Man. But in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Peter Parker finds that a greater conflict lies ahead. It’s great to be Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield). For Peter Parker, there’s no feeling quite like swinging between skyscrapers, embracing being the hero, and spending time with Gwen (Emma Stone). But being Spider-Man comes at a price: only Spider-Man can protect his fellow New Yorkers from the formidable villains that threaten the city. With the emergence of Electro (Jamie Foxx), Peter must confront a foe far more powerful than he. And as his old friend, Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), returns, Peter comes to realize that all of his enemies have one thing in common: OsCorp.”
1. Character Motivations Are Pathetic
Electro is motivated by the fact that nobody notices him. But people notice him all the time. He just keeps saying, “Nobody notices me.” He gets mad at Spider-Man because he doesn’t remember him. Why would he? Who would make the connection between a black guy with a bad comb-over and a maniacal blue creature made of electricity in a hoodie? Then, when it’s obvious people notice him he switches to stealing all the electricity for no reason. Harry Orborn’s motivation makes a little sense, but it makes no sense when he becomes the Green Goblin. At least Sandman, the New Goblin and Venom had clear goals.
2. The Villains Do Nothing
After 142 minutes the villains accomplish nothing. In Spider-Man 3 the villain that had the least to do was Sandman and he had some really good bank robbery scenes. Even Venom had a little worth doing. Electro has a ridiculous plan to make himself important and it’s stupid.
3. One Really Pointless Villain
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 had three villains and one was absolutely useless. One was almost useless in that Green Goblin only shows up in the very end. Rhino was completely pointless. Paul Giamatti makes a great villain, but he had nothing to do but yell and threaten kids. He shows up in the beginning scene and the ending scene. That’s it. Pointless. At least Venom had a story arc that was important to the final film. Rhino was an obvious attempt to lead into the “Sinister Six” movie.
4. Overly Long
They could have cut a half-hour out of this film and not missed it. Spider-Man 2 had the opposite problem. It felt rushed and could have used another half-hour.
5. It Feels Like Two Different Movies
There’s some romance in the movie with long scenes of Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy. They felt completely separate from the high-energy action scenes. At least Spider-Man 3 had a romance that tied into the storyline of the New Goblin with Harry Osborn.
6. No Clear Message
When you leave The Amazing Spider-Man 2 you feel a sense of forgiveness. When you feel The Amazing Spider-Man 2 you feel nothing. There’s no theme or message in the movie. It’s just a bunch of noise.
7. Ridiculous Looking Villains
When the New Goblin shows up it’s exciting. When Sandman comes in it’s visually arresting. I started laughing when Rhino shows up. His mech suit looks ridiculous. Green Goblin’s costume looks nothing like the comics and the explanation for why he wears it makes even less sense. Why jump on a glider? Electro looks alright, but when he wears his black costume they lost me. Not everyone looks good in leather pants.
8. Ridiculous Plot Holes
Spoiler Warning There are some dumb parts in Spider-Man. There are some stupid parts and there are parts that are absolutely moronic. Here’s are the four biggest I noticed:
- They’re torturing a man that absorbs electricity by electrocuting him?
- During his origin he gets covered in ash and breaks free. Why does Electro make pants when all his clothes are burned off?
- The Roosevelt train was designed to help President Roosevelt hide his wheelchair, so why would he build an elevator to hide the car under the tracks? Are we supposed to believe Richard Parker built the elaborate mechanisms in his spare time?
- If the spider venom could cure the Osborns then why didn’t Norman use it before he died and all the spiders were destroyed?
Would you watch The Amazing Spider-Man 2? If you’ve seen it, what did you think? Is it better or worse than Spider-Man 3?
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<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="35190 ">22 Comments
That was my main complaint – too long.
Ironically the best parts of the movie involve Peter with Gwen, not Spider-Man.
I think Rhino was in there mostly because Paul Giamatti was begging them to let him be the Rhino. Plus yeah the Sinister Six thing.
Electro's pants are probably to keep the thing PG-13 rated. I mean they couldn't have this blue thing swinging around like Dr. Manhattan without it being R. Really though isn't his origin almost identical to the Riddler's in Batman Forever? The same kind of stalkerish fixation that leads him to becoming a villain?
Thank you! I kept looking at the time and wondering where are all the baddies he is supposed to fight? It was predictable and too cartoonish in some places (itsy bitsy spider)(Character death). Don't get me wrong I did like the chemistry in the romance department, but all the good action scenes were shown in the trailers.
I haven't seen the movie but I think I would go just for the love story between Peter and Gwen.
I think I liked this one more. I really didn't like Spider-Man III. I've never thought Tobey McGuire was good as Spider-Man either.
(As you'll be able to tell by this question, no, I hadn't planned on seeing it) — Urm, why is this one called 2 if 3 already was out? Does the "Amazing" put him in a different universe?
P.S. Hey! Did you switch platforms? I'm able to leave regular Google comments now. 🙂
I'll keep it off my see list. Thanks for the heads up. I still can't believe how fast they rebooted this franchise. I did enjoy the first Amazing Spider-Man. I liked the fact that spiderman was a tinkerer versus just growing webbing out of his wrists.
LOL, yeah I can't imagine him walking around naked, but it didn't make any sense. Why just that part of his clothes? Why not cover him in rags? Giamatti did beg for the role and Webb originally said it was a small part, but the marketing guys blew it up into a whole thing and it's disappointing. The origin was a lot like Riddler's only sillier.
Yeah those parts were solid Alex, I just wish they were in a better movie.
McGuire played a dorkier Peter and his Spider-Man didn't have the sense of humor Garfield's does. No arguments there.
It's worth watching Clarissa. Go get some popcorn at the other parts. 🙂
Glad I'm not the only one David. There were no surprising action scenes and they shouldn't have built this up as being a trio villain film when he fights them one at a time. Spider-Man III was lame, but at least it delivered on it's promises.
I loved it. Best of all five films to date. (I am not being sarcastic.)
I know my Man. I know. 🙂
Thank the gods I did not see this "dren." I knew there were too many bad guys. The Lizard's recycled world domination plan was so idiotic I had little hope for this film.
"One Really Pointless Villain"
They just put him in the film to put him in the film, like Venom in Spidey 3? Wow. Some people do not learn from the mistakes of the past.
Yeah Rollo, it was pretty bad. Webb swore that it wouldn’t be as bad as Spider-Man 3 and he was right. It was worse. Actually Rhino was worse than Venom because Venom actually fit into the plot. Rhino literally came out of nowhere.
I haven't seen Iron Man 3, Thor 2, and I think I will skip this one as well.
I saw the movie and i thought that they were torturing electro by putting him in water and depleting his electrical energy
Jacob, I guess that makes sense, but he was reacting like he was being electrocuted. It was confusing to me. Good point though.
Okay so in the end when rhino is blasting everyone and everywhere why are there people standing behind a barricade with their kids watching? That's like 1 of 10 dumb scenes. Another one is in the beginning wen all the cop cars crash into each other. It was like 20 cars. You think the cops saw the other cops ahead of them and stop rather than keep driving one after another. I can believe maybe one or two car pile up from trained officers but 20 cars? Get real.
you are wrong amazing spiderman is better than spiderman 3