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| Review by Benn Robbins |
After watching The new Amazing Spider-Man film by Sony and Marvel Entertainment all I can say is, I really hope they just give back the franchise to Marvel Entertainment as a whole because what I saw was more like the “Eh”-Mazing Spider-Man.
Never did so much action, excitement, and emotion leave me so tremendously underwhelmed and empty as this film did.
Their aim was true but like the drunk spider videos I watch on YouTube, the can never really hit the mark and get it right.
Mostly to blame, I feel, are the dynamic writing duo from J.J. Abrams’s bullpen, Alex Kutrzman and Marc Orci, the two responsible for penning such gems as The Island, Transformers, Cowboys & Aliens and the two reboot Star Trek films.
KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHNNNNN!!!
These two write like 15 year olds who love the genre of comics but never really get what actually makes comics good, and fun to read.
Yes, they have action.
Yes, they have funny dialogue, but what they always seem to lack is heart and soul.
I never really feel anything or anyone these two write about. Like I discussed with my friend, who saw the film with me, I never feel any emotional connection with any of the characters. And that is the one thing, probably the only thing, that is important in a Marvel comic/film.
Stan Lee prides himself on writing emotional characters with real world problems and issues that audiences feel a connection with. The everyday person who just happens to have superpowers.
Ask him, he will be glad to tell you all about it.
Trust me.
Look, I am not looking for Citizen Kane here.
What I am looking for is what Marvel is doing right and Sony just keeps missing, the emotional core. When Peter is discussing missing his parents, I feel nothing.
When he and Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) are on their “emotional roller coaster” of a relationship, nothing.
When Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan, Lawless) speaks with his dying father, Norman (Academy Award winner, Chris Cooper, in a surprise cameo) nada.
I just don’t care. I felt one time, in this film, they got it right and that is when… oops. I don’t want to spoil THAT part for you, you will know it when you see it.
Right down to the Blue Jacket.
Even the exciting flashback sequence featuring Peter’s parents made me feel nothing except, thank god, now we can finally move past this.
What this film really gets right is the action, the adventure of it, and mostly the humor.
One of the funniest parts and the one that I think they nail perfectly is with Peter’s interaction with J. Jonah Jameson.
Spidey and actor Andrew Garfield really finally start to gel with the body language and the quips while fighting. I attribute that more to the actors doing a really great job with garbage dialogue than the writing of the film.
The greatest example of this is the phenomenal actor Jamie Foxx as Electro, who takes utter rubbish and dialogue that would make Anakin Skywalker wince at saying and making it really work; turning what could have been a wasted character into a really cool and relatively sympathetic one.
In the end, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was fun summer entertainment with a few nuggets in there for the comic-reading crowd and the web-slinging initiated. It has really great action and they finally got the hang of the “flying spider” cam. The effects are well done and the level of action should satiate all who see it. If you are hoping for The Avengers or Captain America quality storytelling then you may be very disappointed as they still just can’t get that right.
Hell, it isn’t even on Iron Man 3 ground. But go, check your brain, and laugh your ass of at the ridiculous Rhino armor and weep at the wasted talent of Paul Giamatti.
Oh, and DEFINITELY stay all the way to the end of the credits to get the really big surprise at the end that the audience I saw it with was in awe of.
Just remember, this isn’t an actual Marvel Universe film.
