Big Screen :: The Amazing Spiderman 2 – Rise of Electro

April 17th 2014

Amazing-Spider-Man-2

 

After giving a good review to Captain America a few weeks ago I’m worried about looking like a soft touch on this superhero nonsense, but I really liked the new Spider-Man movie…

It’s pretty surprising. The last movie had a boring origin story and idiotic Lizard Man villain. But the things that worked about it, the cast and Marc Webb‘s clear and colourful visuals, really shine now there’s a decent story to play with.

At the end of the last film our hero revealed himself to be a complete jerk by swearing an oath to a dying policeman that he would stay away from his daughter Gwen Stacy, and then revealed he had no intention of keeping that oath. This one opens with him at least struggling with that epic act of treachery as he tries to balance school and Gwen with being Spider-Man.

There is some dodgy stuff going on at Oscorp though. Similar to FBi Radio they like to keep a huge vat of Electric Eels just sitting around without a lid. Jamie Foxx (looking like he’s come from Revenge of the Nerds) falls in and becomes Electricity Man. A quick word on Electricity Man. It’s not entirely clear what he is able to do. He can shoot electricity bolts and fling stuff around but his bolts don’t seem to be such a big deal to Spider-Man. I am not an expert but Electricity Man doesn’t seem like a very accurate scientific representation of the power of electricity. Thomas Edison would give this movie a bad review I think. Two thumbs down. Also my nerd friend promised me that Paul Giamatti was in this and playing a god damn Rhinoceros, which as you can imagine got me extremely excited. I was really pumped for that Rhino. But it’s not strictly true. He is barely in it so don’t get yourself too worked up.

Despite scientific misgivings and the Rhinoceros letdown, I thought this was really good. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are fantastic. Watching Andrew Garfield do an awesome job as Spider-Man must make Tobey Maguire even more mopey.

It’s a long movie, but the plot is still rushed and there are a couple of story beats that will leave you scratching your head. The action though is beautiful and clear and the whole thing bounces along so you don’t notice how stupid it is. It takes the characters seriously and builds to a climax that actually matters to them. I’m a bit embarrassed to say I was completely invested in it by the end.

It’s the most comic booky of all the super hero stuff being crammed down our throats.
If you are not into that, it won’t change your mind. But if you’re partial to this particular kind of nonsense then it’s worth seeing The Amazing Spider-Man 2: Rise Of Electro.

 

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