Some of you know that the decision was made to reboot the
Spider-Man film franchise yet again.
Thus, the movie series with Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Man
and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy has been completed. Their last film was “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”
(which was released last year). Today I
wanted to present my review of this film.
Incidentally, let me add that all of this is simply my opinion. You don’t have to agree with my
observations. I’m not preaching gospel
truth, I’m just submitting my point of view on a superhero movie.
Let me begin with the praiseworthy elements. First off, let me start with Andrew
Garfield. Someone once said that
whatever actor is playing James Bond when you see your first Bond movie will
forever be the definitive version of James Bond, no matter how many actors ever
play the role. I think the same is true
for Spider-Man. Tobey Maguire is, and
always will be, Spider-Man to me. So
it’s high praise for me to say that I was impressed with Andrew Garfield’s
portrayal of Peter Parker/Spider-Man in “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”. Bluntly, I thought that Peter was a
hot-headed, unpleasant jerk in the first movie.
However, Peter was much more likable this time around. Furthermore, Garfield accurately captured
Spidey's legendary sense of humor in this one. I
have to give Andrew credit for this because Spider-Man will always be the
class clown in the face of danger.
Moreover, I want to express kudos to the entire
cast. Everyone was really at the top of
their game in this film. Andrew
Garfield, as I said, was marvelous; Emma Stone was as great as she was in the
first film (I really thought she was the highlight of that movie); Sally Field
was stellar; and I was very pleasantly surprised by Jamie Foxx as Max Dillon/Electro. Honestly, Foxx blew me away with his
portrayal – he was the scene stealer in this one. I didn’t know that I was going to be so
impressed with this version of Electro, but I actually think this adaptation of
Electro is my new favorite version of the character. Once again, Jamie Foxx deserves the credit;
he was sensational.
- The
ending of this film is going to be discussed * spoiler alert * -
Let me move on to the negative aspects of my evaluation
of this movie. My criticism of the film
primarily involves the subject of the ending.
“The Amazing Spider-Man 2” ends on a very sad note. Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker’s beloved
girlfriend, dies at the hands of the Green Goblin. This tragedy is actually what happened in a
famous Spider-Man comic book story, and so the filmmakers presumably couldn’t
resist cinematically capturing this event from the comic.
My problem with this ending is that there were a few
things that happened in the comic book version of this death that should have
happened in the film, but for some reason, they didn’t.
For example, in the comic, Gwen dies and
Spider-Man wants to get revenge. He begins
to mercilessly pummel the Goblin, but he stops after he realizes that he can’t
cross the line into executioner. But
then, at that moment of Spider-Man’s hesitation, the Green Goblin’s glider
comes flying straight at Spider-Man, Spidey dodges it, but the glider’s spikes
subsequently stabs the Green Goblin, killing him in a mere matter of moments (by
the way, this death is actually re-created in the ending of the 2002 Spider-Man movie). Spider-Man thinks to himself that he would
have thought he would have felt a measure of satisfaction in the fact that the
man who killed Gwen was now dead, but he doesn’t, he just feels alone.
Mysteriously, none of these fascinating occurrences transpire
in the film. The Green Goblin doesn’t die
in this film; he is just carted off to jail to begin his next plot. This just felt wrong to me. Even in the video game adaptation of this
film, the Green Goblin dies. In fact, he
dies in the exact same way as he did in the comic. I prefer that version. The audience feels closure, even if Spider-Man
feels nothing but more emptiness.
Secondly, while this very sad ending was clearly inspired
by the events of the comic book, it still didn’t necessarily have to end in
this way (particularly with the knowledge that this is the last Andrew Garfield
Spider-Man film). The filmmakers could
have decided to have Peter actually rescue Gwen this time, even if it did
directly contradict the events of the comic.
But this isn’t what they decided. Thus, with the decision for another reboot, we can only speculate
on what might have occurred in "The Amazing Spider-Man 3".
In conclusion, I have to say, I enjoyed this film. Honestly, I enjoyed it a lot more than I
thought I would. The cast was
excellent. I enjoyed the special
attention this movie gave to Peter’s parents.
The action sequences were very good.
A good time was had by all. But
my enjoyment of “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” was diminished by a heartbreaking
ending that, in my opinion, felt forced.
Further, the Green Goblin should have died in this film (after all, he
died in both the comics and in the video game version of this movie). Unfortunately, I think this film will be
remembered primarily for its tragic ending.
It casts a dark shadow on what is otherwise an entertaining movie.
Kevin
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