This new ‘Spider Man’ may be a reboot of the movie series, but it seems to have the same problems as the old one. Namely, it’s come down with a bad case of sequel-itis we’ve seen previously in ‘Spider Man 3′. After opening up a new world with the first film, ‘The Amazing Spider Man 2′ is just in too much of a rush to cram in as much as possible. The final result is a bloated film with just too many yarns that hardly build or culminate. It’s never a good sign when a movie over 2 hours long still feels like you’re only getting have the story.
Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) continues to web-sling around New York as the titular hero. Despite the promise he made to the late father of Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), he does his best to maintain a relationship her. Of course, the fear of losing her causes his relationship to fluctuate as new baddies arise from within the mysterious Oscorp. The sketchy corporate giant is at it again this time developing the villain Electro (Jamie Foxx) as well as the Rhino (Paul Giamatti) as a bookend throw-away experiment. All this is going on under the radar of Harry Osborne, seeking a cure for the horrific disease that claimed his father. As Harry tries to reconnect with his childhood pal Peter Parker, he starts uncovering the horrifying mysteries of his family’s company and begins to fight back against the corruption in his angst. Meanwhile, Spider Man struggles with trying to find a way to save everyone with disastrous results.
Much like the last film, this sequel manages to tap into some of the adventurous nature of the web-slinger, but never fully capitalizes on it. Just when we think Peter has found some joy in his life, it’s quickly snatched away by tragic villains or unfortunate incidents. It’s all well and good to throw some tragedy into the mix to give Peter a higher mountain to climb, but this film just piles way too much on to our protagonist. The climax of the film is so incredibly dark that it almost seems inappropriate to end it on such a high note. The segments involving The Rhino feel like they’re from another movie; a much more fun movie where Spider Man can deliver more bits and fight some entertaining villains. That’s the kind of a film I want to see as opposed to everyone around Parker falling down dark holes. If I want a somber hero’s journey filled with grim, I’ll watch Batman.
At over two hours, this is a Spider Man movie with too much going on that’s never really explored enough. There’s an opening sequence involving more secrets of the Parker family, but that is hardly ever developed past that scene. There’s some interesting mechanics to the unstable psyche of Electro, but, again, it feels like we’re only given half the story. What made the first ‘Amazing Spider Man’ so engaging was that there was one central villain with an organic progression to his descent. There’s just nothing to latch on to in this film. It just feels like a series of introductions for Sony’s forthcoming ‘Sinister Six’ movie. Movie’s should not be promos or commercials for better ones to come, regardless of being a bridge or not. The final result is a messy collection of Spider Man yarns. All the elements are there given how perfect Garfield and Stone are on screen, but they deserve far better arcs than the disjointed ones presented in this superhero story.