The Amazing Spider-Man 2
[in 3D] (2014)
directed by Mark Webb
★★★★☆
There are 2 things I find amazing about The Amazing Spider-Man 2:
- I somehow managed to avoid spoilers for this movie for 8 years (although most of my suspicions were confirmed)
- That critics and audiences at the time found it too busy, confusing, and/or lacking in depth
While Sony’s previous attempt to cram too many characters and plots into a single Spider-Man movie resulted in Sam Raimi’s painfully off-balance Spider-Man 3 in 2007, I thought they were handled really well in what was supposed to be the second chapter of Mark Webb’s Amazing trilogy (or possibly even tetralogy). Several new characters are introduced, with the intent of elaborating on them in future movies, but unless the viewer has previous knowledge of the characters and their other identities, they would simply be considered minor supporting characters here.
Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone return as Peter Parker/Spider-man and Gwen Stacy, respectively, and their chemistry is as great as before. Sally Field also reprises her role as one of the best Aunt Mays put on screen. The cast is rounded out will impressive performances from Jamie Foxx and Dane DeHaan, who, in typical franchise fashion, become enemies of Spider-Man due to some unfortunate accident that causes them to resent our hero.
Both villains are given sufficient development without detracting from Peter and Gwen’s human story, and though several side-plots and secondary characters were trimmed to keep the runtime down, nothing feels rushed or unfulfilled.
The biggest villain of this movie was its marketing. Playing up these supporting characters as if they were going to play major roles (*cough*RHINO*cough*) probably led to confusion about their omission from the main plot. We were promised an introduction to the Sinister Six, but instead we just got cameos and visual nods — mostly via a pre-credits scene, a teaser hinting at their formation in a sequel that sadly never happened.
Unlike the first film, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was not shot using 3D digital cameras, but rather on film in 2D and digitally post-converted. This is obvious in the slightly wonky shapes of the actors’ faces in close-ups. I do believe that the computer-generated special effects were rendered in true 3D, because their quality of depth and immersion are noticeably better than the standard live-action scenes. Seeing TASM2 in 3D is not necessary, nor greatly beneficial, but it isn’t bad either.
