It's a shitty movie. This is what happens with shitty movies.

If you have to convince yourself to like a movie, it's not very good.

Talk about a movie saved by the chemistry of its stars. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is curiously undercooked and overcooked at the same time, with so many random villains showing up on screen at a given time that the story starts to not make any sense. Dane DeHaan was fine, but I didn't understand why there was always wacky hijinks music with Jamie Foxx and why Paul Giamatti was even in this. It would all be quite the slog without the chemistry of Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. As with the previous film, these two sizzle together and allow Peter/Gwen to transcend most of the script limitations. C+

On another note:

With The Amazing Spider-Man 2, I find myself in the same place as I did with its predecessor: it's never boring and it does some of its material well, but there is enough that is bungled that the overall product struggles to rise above mediocrity. It would be easy to say that like its predecessor, it lives under the large shadow of the corresponding film in the original series (and it doesn't help that it doesn't handle the "balancing real life with Spider-Man life" angle anywhere near as effectively); but even outside of that arena, it's bogged down by trying to do too much at once. It's paradoxical that a movie that takes ample time to set up conflicts for future movies also tries to rush through as many storylines as it can within its own self-contained running time, but alas, that's the case here, and it damages the product as a whole. There are some very good, very poignant moments between Peter and Gwen, between Peter and Harry, and between Peter and Aunt May, but the filmmakers' decision to cram in so much story robs these relationships of the space that they need to breathe. Nowhere does this point become more apparent than in the third act of the film, when the Green Goblin's entrance doesn't feel anything but forced, and when one of the most iconic scenes from the comic book mythos makes for some moving shots, but surprisingly muted emotional impact. Why? Because it feels like the victim in question has had relatively little time in the movie while it was busy tending to the half-dozen other subplots. The big saving grace, however, is once again the acting. Andrew Garfield still isn't as good in this role as Tobey Maguire was, but he's sufficiently down-to-Earth for the part, and he's once again an appealing presence. His chemistry with Emma Stone is good, but she's given too little to do, which ultimately makes their relationship feel less meaningful than the one in the original films (which is quite ironic considering that they're an offscreen item). Dane DeHaan shows shades of the impressive work that he did in similar territory in Chronicle, but he's ultimately betrayed by the hasty introduction of the Goblin and the awful look for the character (say what you will about the costume from the 2002 film, but it's still better than what we're subjected to here). Sally Field once again knocks out her few scenes as Aunt May. The weak link is Jamie Foxx, but to his credit, it's more a case of poor writing than poor acting given the underdeveloped personality he's given to work with. I was hoping that this movie would get my love for the Spider-Man films back on track, but instead, it sputters and keeps my take on it exactly where it was two years ago: disappointed, flustered that its flirtations with something better are just mere flirtations, and hoping that it will somehow pull itself together in the next installment.

C+

Also, Spider-Man speaking to criminals gets really annoying. Will you shut the fuck up and just beat him up, at once?

He does that in the comics though so you can blame the source material there.

And I agree about the lack of Emma Stone in the 3rd. They better have perfect casting for Mary Jane or that film will have problems.

LOL, One thing I just realized Webb forgot to add in the film

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO UNCLE BEN'S KILLER ?

There wasn't any hunt this time, it would have been awesome to have another storyline in TAS2

This probably would've been a better movie with more of a focus on one villain (Electro or Harry, no Rhino...), added Mary Jane and made the three of them friends and saved

On a very basic level, I dig the use of Rhino as a bookend. The idea of having Spider-Man capture and embarrass a low-level hood early in the film and then have him return at the end, empowered and out for vengeance. It seems a spiritual cousin to the neat way Christopher Nolan maintained Cillian Murphy's presence in the second and third Batman films. The final shot here, though spoiled in every trailer and TV spot, is also exciting and well-composed.

HOWEVER, my respect for the idea is mostly obliterated by Paul Giamatti's ham-and-cheese-with-vodka performance, the painful scene with the child in the Spider-Man costume, etc.

If the execution were superior by a very wide margin, this ending could have left people going, "**** YES! BRING ON THE SINISTER SIX!" Alas...

better than the winter soldier

I really liked both scenes with the Rhino. *shrugs*

IRON MAN 2 and THOR: THE DARK WORLD are bad films (and I'd take AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 over both). The MCU is not immune.

ASM2 > CA TFA > IM3 > ASM1 > TTDW > IM2

CA1 > IM3 > ASM1 > ASM2 > TTDW > IM2

WB, Marvel, and Sony have all released a bad, bad comic book movie in the last year. Fox just needs to shit the bed in a couple of weeks to make fanboy wars well and truly obsolete.

Remember when it was rumored that Sony's SPIDER-MAN reboot would be a relatively cheap, TWILIGHT-esque high school story?

Webb totally could've nailed that. It's the big operatic superhero/universe building stuff that ruins these films.

I would love to know the story behind what happened to that vision, and how long it lasted.

Given the way the movies have turned out, I'm having a hard time imagining Sony execs hearing that pitch and not immediately going "...Ok. Here's $200 million, so just make a superhero blockbuster, you goddamned hipster."

LOL, Robert Downey Jr. aproves this

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... eam_ref=10

Did this movie have Stan Lee's worst cameo to date? I can't recall some of his roles from movies pre-Iron Man, but this felt like the most forgettable one since it became a "thing."

I'm kind of tired of his cameos, at first they felt cool, now they annoy me a bit

I tend to agree with Brian regarding Stan Lee. It has become a bit slavish. "Oh, we have to pause or distract from the film for the obligatory Stan Lee cameo." So I do not hold the fact this film quietly slips him in (rather than giving him a big oh-golly gag to play) against it.

There is not much public reaction (surprise, outrage, holy-shit word-of-mouth) to the fact this film includes the death of the main love interest, unless I am just missing it. Obviously fans of the comics expected it, but I am sure many, many others did not. I feel this is a bit of a testament to the way the film ultimately fumbles the death by going on for too long afterward and too crudely compressing Peter's grief and subsequent return as Spider-Man, even though the scene itself in which she falls is handled nicely.

The idea of every Superman requiring his own destruction of Krypton, every Spider-Man requiring his own Uncle Ben death scene, etc. needs to be transcended stat. I am eager to see how Marvel handles this when, as they must sooner or later, actors such as Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Hemsworth move on from their superhero roles.

It is not too hard to picture a scenario in which a new character becomes Iron Man, particularly if they spring for a well-regarded actor.

It's amusing that we already had that happen with the Batman series, 20 years ago. They recast him, don't include an origin story, and it breaks the OW record. And then there's, of course, James Bond.

I loved it, close to my favorite Marvel universe film. The Peter/Gwen relationship is SO GOOD, not just compared to comic book movies, but any film couple in recent years. I WANT TO SHIP THEM. And Garfield as Peter even in the scenes without Gwen just kills it... so much genuine.

Harry scenes were great thanks the intensity of that actor and looking forward to how he's used next. I can understand the Electro complaints, I thought they started his plot better than they ended it. But even in the last fight his plan is to control the power so people "look to him as a god", so the insecure nobody loves me thing is still there, even if they make him a little too deep voice villain-y. The only part of the first 2 Raimi films I like more than ASM and ASM2 is the villains are more memorable, or just casted exceptionally well. Still, Marvel has done MUCH MUCH worse than these villains. The villain work in this still destroys like, all the Iron Man villains, Red Skull, etc.

Honestly this movie is a breath of fresh air compared to stuff like Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 and The Avengers which have no calories at all. This one has heart and emotion. Its characters feel like real people. The action scenes have a plan. It's a good movie outside of having superheroes