Film Review: "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" (2014).

“It's easy to feel hopeful on a beautiful day like today, but there will be dark days ahead of us too. There will be days where you feel all alone, and that's when hope is needed most. No matter how buried it gets, or how lost you feel, you must promise me that you will hold on to hope. Keep it alive. We have to be greater than what we suffer… I know it feels like we're saying goodbye, but we will carry a piece of each other into everything that we do next, to remind us of who we are, and of who we're meant to be.” This is what The Amazing Spider-Man 2 brings in this American superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man, directed by Marc Webb and released by Columbia Pictures. It serves as a sequel to the 2012 film The Amazing Spider-Man and was announced in 2011. In the film, Peter Parker runs the gauntlet as the mysterious company Oscorp sends up a slew of supervillains against him, impacting on his life.

The film stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Campbell Scott, Embeth Davidtz, Colm Feore, Paul Giamatti and Sally Field. The performances in this film were all varied but brilliantly performed. Garfield showed appropriate earnestness. Stone was captivating, she gave this character a tough core of intelligence and wit. DeHaan was wonderfully debonair and Giamatti conveyed verve. However, Electro was a curiously meager and a more depressing character than his predecessor; I pitied him, but I did not fear him nor find him necessary for this film. The genius of Jamie Foxx is all but swallowed up in the paraphernalia of the role. But, it proved to me one thing; he is a good contender for the role of Spawn in Todd McFarlane's reboot of Spawn, to be released in 2015 (hopefully).

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 mostly just plods and lacks humor. For every slam-bang action sequence, there are far too many sluggish scenes. It’s missing the centrifugal threat of Rhys Ifans’ character, ultimately the three villains here don’t add up to one Lizard. Marc Webb overreached his grasp by allowing so many villains to roam in one flick. Especially with the Green Goblin is one bad guy too many. Easily the most complex and deftly orchestrated superhero epic ever filmed. However, the enormous amount of characters, action and sci-fi superhero plot going on in this film, the movie feels weighted down, tedious or boring. The script is busy with so many supporting characters and plot detours that the series' charming idiosyncrasy is sometimes lost in the noise. It will be a challenge for the filmmakers and the studio to fix the clusterf*** they have created. To conclude, the film is a mess. Having too many villains, subplots, romantic misunderstandings, conversations and street crowds looking high into the air and shouting 'oooh!' this way, then swiveling and shouting 'aaah!' that way.

Simon says The Amazing Spider-Man 2 receives:

Also, see my review for The Amazing Spider-Man.