Movie Review – The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

Released to the theaters this weekend is The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the sequel to 2012’s hit film, The Amazing Spider-Man.

While the first Spider-Man film in this series is an origin story, the sequel jumps right into the middle of action.  The Amazing Spider-Man 2 shows us a version of Peter Parker who has to wrestle the emotions of whether or not to continue his relationship with Gwen Stacey.  At the end of the first film, Peter made a promise to Gwen’s dying father that he would not see her and, thus, keep her away from Peter / Spider-Man’s enemies.

While Peter and Gwen deal with their relationship there’s the sudden creation and rise of Electro, the main villain for this film.  We also see the arrival of Harry Osborn and his takeover of OsCorp after the death of his father.  Harry later transforms into the Green Goblin and becomes another of Spider-Man’s enemies.

Directed by Marc Webb, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 returns James Garfield in the title role of Peter Parker / Spider-Man.  Also returning are Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, Sally Field as Aunt May, and a brief cameo of Dennis Leary as George Stacy.  New cast members in this film include Jamie Foxx as Max Dillon / Electro, Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborn / Green Goblin, Paul Giamatti as Aleksei Sytsevich / Rhino, and Chris Cooper as Norman Osborn.

Spider-Man creator Stan Lee has a cameo role as a parent in the stands at Peter and Gwen’s high school graduation ceremony.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 begins about sixteen years ago as Richard Parker (Campbell Scott) is rushing to destroy his research experiments at OsCorp.  He knows that he had been betrayed by somebody, and him and his wife are both in grave danger.  After destroying the material and returning home, Richard and Mary (Embeth Davidtz) know that their young son, Peter, is also in danger.  They decide to give him to his Aunt May and Uncle Ben, and then Richard and Mary Parker flee the area.

The two of them end up in an OsCorp aircraft.  There’s trouble though when one of the aircraft’s pilots turns out to be an assassin.  He has already killed the pilot.  He tries to shoot and kill Richard when the scientist fights back.  Mary is shot in the process and the aircraft suffers some damage as well.  Richard is able to connect to a computer network and transfer his secret files to a secure location before the aircraft crashes, killing everybody on board.

Fast forward to today.

There’s a police chase on the streets of New York City.  Russian mobster Aleksei Sytsevich (Paul Giamatti) and his gang had just stolen an armored truck full of radioactive material from OsCorp.  They’re trying to get away from the police when Spider-Man (James Garfield) swings into action and does whatever he can to end the chase.

It’s a somewhat lengthy chase and at one point Spider-Man saves the life of OsCorp worker Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx), one of Spider-Man’s fans.  Spider-Man finally ends the chase and captures Aleksei.  He’s taken to jail and Peter Parker rushes away so he can hear Gwen Stacy‘s (Emma Stone) valedictorian speech at their high school graduation ceremony.  He misses her speech but makes it on stage just as they’re announcing his name.

Peter Parker has quickly learned that being a masked superhero takes a serious strain on his everyday lifestyle.  In addition to it occupying much of his time, it also puts his family and close friends at risk to Spider-Man’s enemies.  That’s why George Stacy (Dennis Leary) made Peter promise him that he would stay away from Gwen.  Peter frequently hallucinates and sees visions of George Stacy, reminders that he should not be in a relationship with his daughter.

Although Gwen is annoyed that Peter missed her valedictorian speech, she insists that Peter join her and her family for dinner that night.  Peter agrees to although once at the restaurant, he cannot go inside and join Gwen’s family.  She sees Peter standing outside and goes to talk with him.  Gwen is tired of Peter’s attitude about dating and the promise that he made to her dying father, so she decides to break up with him and end their relationship.

Meanwhile, Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) has returned to Manhattan at the request of his terminally ill father, Norman Osborn (Chris Cooper).  It turns out that Norman’s medical condition has advanced to a critical stage, and he’s close to death.  The medical condition, one that is genetic and starting to effect Harry, has caused horrific changes to Norman’s body.  He has researched all that he could about the disease and how to stop it, but there is no cure.  Not yet.  He passes on his research information to his son and then dies, making Harry the new CEO of OsCorp.

Harry and Peter used to be friends before Harry’s father sent him away to a boarding school.  After hearing about the death of Norman Osborn, Peter pays his old friend a visit to see how he’s doing.  The two of them quickly reunite, and at one point the talk turns to Spider-Man and his impact on the city.

Back at OsCorp, electrical engineer Max Dillon is alone in the building when an electrical problem occurs.  He manages to repair the problem, but when he touches a live wire he receives a shock and falls into a vat with a bunch of electric eels.  Max is electrocuted and what appears to be killed in the accident.  However, a short time later he rises and discovers that not only is his skin blue, but he can also control electricity and electrical fields.  The more electricity that he’s exposed to, then the more powerful he becomes.  Max Dillion has now transformed into Electro.

In the city, Peter and Gwen are trying to get their relationship going again when they notice a blackout in the city.  Peter changes into his Spider-Man costume and discovers Electro surrounded by the police.  When the police shoot at Electro he easily stops the bullets and only becomes angrier.

When Spider-Man arrives on scene, he tries to convince Electro that he and him are friends.  Spider-Man remembers saving his life during the police chase the other day.  This friendship tactic works until a police sniper tries to shoot Electro.  This enrages him and he thinks that Spider-Man has betrayed him.  Electro goes on a rampage and it’s a tough battle between him and Spider-Man.  One of Spider-Man’s web slingers gets damaged from Electro’s electricity.  Spider-Man ultimately wins the fight when he dons a fireman’s hat and uses a water hose to knock down Electro.

After he’s subdued, Max Dillon is taken to the Ravencroft Institute, a secure mental asylum that’s also used as a secret research facility for OsCorp.

At OsCorp, Harry looks into his father’s research and decides that the research into spiders’ DNA may hold the key to curing him of his deadly disease.  That spider solution worked when it changed a regular person into Spider-Man.  Harry invites Peter Parker to his home so that Peter can ask Spider-Man to give Harry a sample of his blood.  Harry knows that Peter knows Spider-Man as the Daily Bugle newspaper has published several of Peter’s photographs of the masked hero.

When Spider-Man later pays Harry a visit, he refuses to offer Harry any of his blood.  Spider-Man believes that it’s too dangerous and may make Harry more toxic.  This enrages Harry and he feels betrayed by Spider-Man.

While this is taking place, Gwen Stacy has received news that she is one of two candidates for a prestigious scholarship program overseas in England.  Being accepted into the program requires her to move to England so she can attend the college program.

After Harry was rejected by Spider-Man, he’s informed by his assistant, Felicia (Felicity Jones), of a secret part of OsCorp, something that she overheard two workers speaking about recently.  Harry looks into the Special Projects division and learns of secret projects and weapons being developed at OsCorp.  One of the projects includes the venom from the now-destroyed genetically engineered spiders.  Before he can learn anything else, OsCorp board member Donald Menken (Colm Feore) takes control of OsCorp by framing and then firing Harry Osborn.

Knowing that time is against him, Harry Osborn quickly infiltrates Ravencroft Institute and frees Electro.  He makes a deal with Electro as long as Electro helps him gain access back into OsCorp.  After that Electro is to be given free access to OsCorp’s incredibly powerful power system.

The two of them make their way back into OsCorp, and Donald Menken is easily captured.  Electro goes into the power system and Harry takes Donald at gunpoint down to the Special Projects area deep underneath the OsCorp skyscraper.  He finds the spider venom and injects it into his arm.  Just as Spider-Man feared, the venom has a negative effect and Harry Osborn transforms into the Green Goblin.  He crawls over to a special battle suit and that’s the last we see of him for a while.

Back at home, Peter Parker has been trying to research the whereabouts of his parents again.  It seems to be a continual trail to nowhere until Aunt May sees this research material and finally tells Peter what she knew of the events surrounding his parents’ death.  She tells him that she and Uncle Ben were visited by FBI agents a few days after the funeral for Peter’s parents.  The FBI agents claimed that Richard Parker betrayed his country and was trying to steal research material.

This news enrages Peter as it sounds like everything he had known about his parents had been a lie.  When he throws his father’s old graphing calculator against the wall, he’s surprised when it pops open and out fall a bunch of subway tokens.  All of a sudden Peter remembers what his Aunt May said about his father’s ritual subway patterns.  Peter quickly researches the subway along with the term “Roosevelt,” and he learns of the secret bunker that was built in the New York City subway lines back in World War 2.

Peter heads out and locates the secret subway station on a vacant subway line.  He uses a token in the turnstyle and discovers the secret train car / research station.  This was his father’s old laboratory.  The computers are still powered after all of these years.  Peter sits down at a computer and finds a video clip from his father.  In the video clip, Richard Parker reveals the truth about why he had to suddenly disappear from OsCorp.  Richard had discovered that OsCorp was going to develop his biogenetic research experiment into a weapon.  The video clip also has Richard explaining that giving up Peter was the hardest decision that he and his wife had to make.

When Peter emerges from the secret bunker he receives a voice mail message from Gwen Stacy.  She had earned the scholarship to study abroad in England.  Gwen was also on her way to the airport to leave for school and attend some summer classes.

As Gwen is sitting in a cab and stuck in traffic on a bridge, she spots a message written on a giant spider web.  It’s a message from Peter stating that he loves Gwen.  Spider-Man then grabs Gwen and swings her onto the top of a bridge.  Up there, Peter tells Gwen that he’ll follow her to England.  He’ll do whatever it takes to be with her.  Besides, England has plenty of crime and the residents can use the help of Spider-Man as well.

The two of them then learn of Electro on the loose as he causes a massive power outage across the city.  Knowing that he needs help to fight the villain, Gwen helps Peter modify his web shooters so that they’re magnetized and more resistant to Electro’s attacks.  Peter then leaves Gwen tied to the hood of a police car as he goes off to fight Electro.

Outside of OsCorp, Electro and Spider-Man have a second battle.  Even though Spider-Man has upgraded his web shooters, he still has a hard time as Electro is more powerful since he has access to OsCorp’s power system.  At one point Spider-Man is captured until Gwen arrives and crashes the police car into Electro.  This buys them some time to organize and form a strategy.

They decide that the best way to fight Electro is by overloading him with power so that he’ll explode.  Spider-Man returns to fighting Electro as well as linking together the broken power cables.  As soon as the cables are linked and also connected to Electro, Gwen activates the power switch.  Electro is overloaded with power and then destroyed.  This also returns power to New York City and allows the people to return to their normal lives.

All seems well until the Green Goblin flies into the area on his glider.  When the Goblin sees Gwen Stacy there along with Spider-Man, he quickly figures out that Spider-Man is really his old friend Peter Parker.  He gets his revenge against Peter by quickly grabbing and flying away with Gwen Stacy.  Spider-Man follows the Goblin as he flies around the city and finally hovers over a clock tower.  When he drops Gwen, Spider-Man catches her and absorbs the impact as they crash through the roof and land on an upper balcony.

Right after they land the Goblin flies into the clock tower, and he and Spider-Man fight.  Gwen falls off the large set of clock gears, but Spider-Man catches her with his webbing.  This is only temporary though as he’s also dealing with the Goblin.  Spider-Man eventually defeats the Goblin, but the clock’s gears cut the webbing that’s supporting Gwen.  Gwen Stacy falls down the building and Spider-Man leaps after her.  He reaches out and snags her with his webbing, but it’s too late as her body hits and bounces off the floor.

Gwen Stacy is dead.

It’s a tearful moment as Peter Parker realizes that the love of his life is dead.  He takes the blame for her death as he made a promise to her dying father that he would end the relationship to keep her out of harm’s way.

There’s a funeral for Gwen Stacy, and after that Peter continually visits her grave.  Seasons pass as not only Peter grieves for his loss, but he also stops being Spider-Man.  Soon the city is asking what happened to its masked hero.

About five months after the death of Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker receives some sound advice from his Aunt May.  He goes back to his room and watches the video recording of Gwen delivering her valedictorian speech for their graduation ceremony.  This inspires Peter to once again put on the Spider-Man costume and return to helping the city.

Around that time Harry Osborn receives a secretive visitor in his prison, a “man in a black suit.”  Harry mentions that he’ll be wanting to get his revenge against Spider-Man, but it’ll be in the form of a small group of people.  He has the “man in a black suit” break Aleksei Sytsevich out of prison and give him one of the powered suits from the Special Projects division at OsCorp.

Aleksei uses the powered suit to cause chaos in the city.  He calls himself Rhino and challenges anybody to stop him.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ends with Spider-Man stepping up to Rhino and accepting the challenge to fight him.

It’s clear that the ending of Spider-Man 2 is setting up the series for a third Spider-Man film.  It’s implied that the next film will use more of the powered suits at OsCorp, possibly with the formation of the Sinister Six including Doctor Octopus.  We’ll just have to wait and see what develops.

FINAL THOUGHTS

So is The Amazing Spider-Man 2 a good film?

Absolutely!

This is a powerful super hero film that leaves you satisfied yet craving more of the story.  The story is great, the characters are excellent, the fight scenes are amazing, and the film as a whole is just plain awesome.  As a whole, this is an outstanding film.

Perhaps the worst part of this film is the way that Electro looks as his glowing blue body resembles a little too much like Dr. Manhattan from the 2009 film Watchmen.  But that’s a minor issue with an otherwise interesting character.  Max Dillon is just a guy who wants to be noticed by people.  When he’s seemingly betrayed his anger gets out of control and he becomes a destructive machine causing a tremendous amount of carnage.  Electro is pretty cool when he’s showing off his full powers.

This film also lacks any real information about Peter’s life outside of being Spider-Man and his relationship with Gwen Stacy.  There’s a brief mention of him going to college, but that’s really it.  We really don’t see Peter trying to live a normal life while also being a masked super hero.

Nor is there any continuation of Peter’s quest to find the street punk who killed his Uncle Ben in the first film.  We also don’t see or hear anything about Flash Thompson, not even a cameo of him at the graduation ceremony.

Those are just minor issues with an otherwise great film.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) – movie trailer

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is an awesome comic book movie, and a great film as a whole.  Watch the 2012 Spider-Man film and then go out and see this sequel in the movie theater.  It’s well worth the price of experiencing it on the big screen.