Saturday, May 3, 2014

The Amazing Spider-Man 2: Review

IMDb

Title:
The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Distributor: Sony
Director: Marc Webb
Writer(s): Alex Kurtzman (Screenplay), Roberto Orci (Screenplay), and Jeff Pinkner (Screenplay), James Vanderbilt (Screen story)  
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, and Dane DeHaan
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action/violence.
Running Time: 142 min
Synopsis: Peter Parker runs the gauntlet as the mysterious company Oscorp sends up a slew of supervillains against him, impacting on his life.


What Others Are Saying?

Rotten Tomatoes: T-Meter: 54% "Rotten", Top Critics:37% "Rotten", Audience: 77% "Like It"
Metacritic: Critics: 53 out of 100, Users: 7.8 out of 10
MRQE Metric: 55 out of 100
My Review

Source Material: Based on comic book characters, from Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. 

Entertaining Value:

  • Action Elements: Short burst of action mix among the love story that explodes into a giant battle sequence near the end of the film.     
  • Comedy Elements: There are a lot of playful and kind of "cheesy" one liners, lines you expect characters from a spider-man comic to say.       
  • Dramatic Elements: There is great chemistry between Garfield and Stone.        
  • Sci-Fi / Fantasy Elements: This film is chalk full of "comic book fantasy" elements.       
Cinematic Value:
  • Acting and Dialogue: 7: ALL the actors in this film did a great job, but there was some major character development issues, but we can't blame the actors for that. Andrew Garfield again brings another "old school" but modern Peter Parker to the screen. I liked Emma Stone's portrayal of the adventurous, sexy, and smart Gwen Stacy. Jamie Foxx pulls off both the super geek and the supervillain. Dane DeHaan dose a good job as Harry Osborne but the entire time I was thinking to myself, "This guys reminds me of a younger Leonardo DiCaprio."              
  • Art Direction: 7: I felt most of the comic book movies now days go with the "Ultimate" versions of the character design. I'm fine with that decision if it reduces the amount of spandex on the screen. The part I didn't like about the "modern" Peter Parker is making him a "hipster" on a fashion basis. Where was that geek / nerd Peter Parker? 
  • Cinematography: 7: The cinematography in this film seems to borrowed some plays from the Zach Snyder playbook, especially when dealing with some of the action sequences. I'm talking about the Snyder slow motion. I understand that Spider-Man has spider like reflexes and they want to capture that on film. Nature filmmakers will sometimes use a high speed camera to film, then play it back at normal speeds creating the slow motion effect. I believe the filmmakers on Spider-Man want that same cinematic feeling.   
  • Direction: 6: I personally felt this film was a little bit on the slow side. I'm say that as I was sitting in my seat I was thinking, "Hurry this up and get to the action already" Its not that I'm a an action junkie, but I didn't expect the film to put as much emphasis on the love story as it did. To a certain degree this film "Star Wars: Attack of the Clones" its fans. Meaning the love story aspect of the film slowed the film down. Don't get me wrong, the love story did give the film a little more meat, when it comes to story, but from a pacing aspect I believe it slowed the film down.     
  • Editing: 6: "Short burst of action mix among the love story that explodes into a giant battle sequence near the end of the film." pretty much sums up the editing in this film. 
  • Screenplay: 6: I mentioned before about the bad character development, well let's examine that claim. Electro: He goes from a nobody geeky guy who works for Oscorp to a damn near omnipotent supervillian. The film gives us little to no transition between the two. Harry Osborne is supposed to be Peter Parker's best friend, but we really don't get that vibe on screen. We only really get one scene, where they showcase that really good friendship, but that was more of "I haven't seen you in very long, lets catch up" I think the reason the film fell short in this area is because it was a bit on the over crowed side. I understand the filmmakers are trying to establish a Spider-Man cinematic universe. I believe this film is to be the bridge to other films in the Spider-man universe. All I'm asking for is some breathing room, especially when it comes to the character development. The filmmakers did get one thing right and that was the relationship with Gwen Stacy. Peter has this inner turmoil of trying to uphold the promise he made with Gwen's father verses his great love for Gwen. This emotional connection between Peter and Gwen makes Gwen's inevitable fate from the comic books a powerful scene.                         
  • Sound and Music: 7: I liked how they worked the "original" Spider-Man theme in the film, but I disliked the "Dubstep" / "Electronic" themes for Electo. I disliked because it was little to cliche.   
  • VFX: 8: It was very well done.    
Overall: 6.75: I enjoyed this film from a entertaining summer comic book stand point, but I was a little disappointed from a cinematic stand point.           

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