The Amazing Spider-man 2 (2014) Review: Fun but Overstuffed
The sequel carries on the emotional drift of the first, with Peter Parker facing his inner conflict between desire and duty. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone have great chemistry and you’ll end up rooting for them. The rest of the cast is also great, with Dane DeHaan and Jamie Foxx elevating simplistic villains.
The web-slinging aerial sequences this time around are immersive. In one scene there’s a first-person point of view as if someone attached a Go Pro to Spider-man’s suit. The accompanying soundtrack, given that the villain is Electro, is amped up.
The problem is as the film progresses the plot traipses around the main narrative. Apart from a new villain, it’s a mixed bag of subplots from backstories. There’s still the complications of Parker’s parents, the media backlash, a borderline rom-com love story, and the BFF turned nemesis. The dialogues are expositions. The action is repetitive.
Worse, Spider-man is a smarmy jerk.
In the end, the movie predictably sets-up the next installment and reminds us that this is a franchise, wasting a dramatic turn of events.
One thing that the Amazing Spider-man manages to do though, is to maintain the realism that its predecessor aimed for. Our superhero keeps the world safe, but at whose expense?
Amazing Spider-man 2 (2014)
The Amazing Spider-man 2 is fun and well-acted, but it spun too many webs to deal with and becomes a forgettable overstuffed mess.
