AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 REVIEW; SPOILERS!
By Barry Dutter

The movie AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 exists for one reason: to kill GWEN STACY.
From the very first scene, we are hit over the head with messages like “Life is too Short,” “Seize the Day,” and “Live Life to the Fullest Because You Never Know When it Could All End.”
Even Gwen’s graduation speech at the beginning of the movie seems to be more about dying than it does about living. Clearly if one is paying attention, one can sense that Gwen is doomed from the first frame of the film.
It’s a shame, really. As most critics (and more than a few fans) have pointed out, the chemistry between Peter Parker and Gwen is the best thing in the movie. If the whole point of this movie is to kill Gwen, it really casts a dark shadow over the whole thing.
But the signs were there from the start.
When photos began surfacing months online before ASM 2’s  release of Emma Stone dressed in the exact same outfit Gwen wore in the comics on the day she died, comics fans feared the worst. But the director of the movie hinted, “Watch out! All may not be as it seems.”

If Gwen wears this outfit, comic fans know what happens next.

Turns out, all was exactly as it seemed, and the makers of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 had no problem going back to the old "Green Goblin tries to kill Spidey's gal" plot that we saw in the first Spider-Man movie with Tobey Maguire.
Worst of all, Gwen's death accomplishes nothing, from a storytelling standpoint. In the comics, Gwen was killed by Norman Osborn, a powerful underworld figure who had spent years building a reputation as Spider-Man's greatest foe.
In the movie, Gwen is killed by Harry Osborn, a punk kid who just got his powers five minutes ago and somehow learned how to master a flying glider in that amount of time. There is no dramatic purpose to her death. One minute she is alive and the next she is dead.
Honestly, the only excuse I can see for doing this would be if they were planning on bringing Gwen back as a clone in the next movie. (I know it sounds lame, but it actually was a story they did in the comics a few years after she died.)
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 gets off to a very weak start with a comedic action scene where Spidey tries to stop a badly overacting Paul Giamatti from stealing some Plutonium in a runaway truck. The first half of the movie is largely played for jokes, most of which are not very funny.
After so many Marvel movies that had just the right mix of action and humor, it is somewhat jarring to see a big-budget super-hero movie that is as campy as BATMAN AND ROBIN. (Electro in this movie is just as corny as Arnold Schwarzenegger was as Mr. Freeze in that movie.)
What kind of bad jokes am I talking about? Well, for starters, there is Peter’s ring tone, which plays the theme song from the 1960s Spider-Man cartoon series (a show which logically could not have existed in this movie’s universe!)

"Ice to meet you, my twin brother!"

Then there is the scene where Electro blasts Spidey using the rods from a power grid which end up playing the song “Itsy Bitsy Spider.” (Ugh!)
In one scene, Peter is walking across a street toward Gwen and is so entranced by her beauty that he doesn’t notice that he gets sideswiped by a car and accidentally breaks the rear-view mirror off the car. (Ha ha -- love makes you stupid!)
Then there is the montage of scenes where Peter Parker returns home from random nights of web-slinging and has to constantly explain to Aunt May why he is late and why he looks so beaten up.
And then there is the “hilarious” bit where Peter says he wants to do the laundry and Aunt May complains that the last time Peter did laundry, he turned all the clothes blue and red. This joke doesn’t even make any sense. If Peter Had thrown his Spidey suit in the wash, then all any white clothes would have turned purple. (Blue + Red = Purple. Do I really have to explain this stuff? Sigh.)

3 villains = 3 times the suckiness!

For that matter, the whole arc of Jamie Foxx’s character is a direct steal of the Jim Carrey/Riddler arc from BATMAN FOREVER. (Or is it the Uma Thurman/Posion Ivy arc from BATMAN & ROBIN? I dunno. Both, I guess.)
Foxx’s part is badly written and it’s unfortunate. Back in the early 1990s, James Cameron had come up with a  really interesting angle on Electro and had planned to use him as the villain in the very first Spider-man movie. Cameron’s take had Electro as a more subtle corporate villain who had figured out a way to electronically steal billions of dollars without anyone ever finding out what he had done.
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 has Electro as an insecure doofus-turned-super-villain whose plan is to, I dunno, kill Spider-Man and steal all the electricity in New York, I guess. Just really generic stuff.
But Electro is not the only super-villain in the movie. Oh no, there are two more! This movie continues the tradition of Spider-man 3, which showed us that if you have three or more super-villains in a super-hero movie, the movie will suck.

Does this look like the Rhino?

The next villain is played by Dane Dehan, who starts out as emo-Harry Osborn and then, after receiving a dose of Peter Parker’s spider-blood (?),  becomes a Green Goblin so laughably bad that it almost makes you miss the horrible Goblins from the Tobey Maguire films.
The Goblin only has one purpose in this movie, which is to kill Gwen, and he does so towards the end, so, um, good on ya, mate!

The new Green Goblin just might be the worst one yet! !

This brings us to the Rhino, who is totally revamped with so much body armor, they might as well call him “Tank” instead of “Rhino.” I have no idea why a talented actor like Paul Giamatti took this part.
Now, here’s the frustrating part about AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2. The movie didn’t have to be so bad. In fact, if you cut out all the jokes from the first half of the movie, and well, if you cut out most of Jamie Foxx’s scenes, the movie wouldn’t be that horrible.
There are 3 questions I ask of every super-hero movie. 1) Does it stay true to the comics? 2) Does it treat the hero seriously or make him out to be a joke? And 3) Does it embarass the hero or his fans?
Sadly, with ASM2, the movoe fails on all 3 counts.

Nope, this movie doesn't make Spidey look stupid at all!

But it's not all bad. There are actually things in this movie that are better than any Spider-Man movie that came before. Spidey’s costume in this movie is the most faithful recreation of the way he looks in the comics that we have yet seen on film. (Best of all? Spidey ditches the SILVER BOOTIES that he wore in the last movie!)

No more SILVER BOOTIES!

The web-slinging scenes are the best yet, and they don’t have that “fake/ video game/ CGI look” that plagued the Sam Raimi movies.
This is the first Spider-Man movie in years where Spidey does not remove his mask in the middle of a battle. You might think I’m exaggerating, but go back and watch the original trilogy. The more famous Tobey Maguire became, the more scenes there were of him going into action as Spidey, without the mask on.
I get it that if you hire a famous actor to be in your movie, you want to show his face as much as possible, but damn it, Spidey is currently the only Marvel super-hero in the movies who actually has a secret identity, so it’s nice to see that some effort is made to protect his identity.

Mask? What mask?!

The biggest flaw in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 is that it picks up on a  plot thread that never should have been dangled in the first movie. In that film, a dying Captain Stacy begs Peter/Spidey to stay away from his daughter, and Peter agrees to honor the wish of this man whom he admires so much.
So what does Peter do in ASM2? He goes back on his word, ignores the request of that dying man, and continues to pursue his relationship with Captain Stacy’s daughter - which directly results in her death.
So basically, the makers of this movie proved that they completely don’t understand the core principle of what makes Spider-Man the hero he is -- you know, the whole “Power/Responsibility” thing?

Smile, kid! You get to live while everyone around you dies!

Remember that lesson young Peter learned in the first movie about being responsible, otherwise the people closest to him could die? Yeah, it turns out he learned nothing! He makes the same mistake again in the second movie. Only this time, it’s worse, because he’s actually breaking a promise he made to a dying man in order to continue to be that same irresponsible jerk!
(There must be a special corner in heaven reserved for all the people who died because they were close to Peter. And most of them have the last name of Stacy. If I were Gwen’s  mom, I would stay as far away from Peter as possible!)
Why should this whole plot thread never have been? Because all they had to do was what stick to what happened in the comics, and this all could have been avoided.
If you’ll recall, when Captain Stacy died in the legendary AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #71, he did not ask Peter to stay away from his daughter. In fact, it was quite the opposite. He asked Peter to watch over Gwen.
So instead of going with that whole contrived “stay away from my daughter” angle, they could have gone with original “take care of her” angle, and then at least Peter Parker’s actions in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 would make him look more heroic, and he wouldn’t look like a hypocritical jerk.
Gwen makes it clear early on that being with Peter is the thing that makes her happiest, and you can see it makes no sense for a girl to break up with the boy she loves so soon after the death of her father. Unfortunately, Gwen’s rebellious spirit is what dooms her.
She might as well have a sign on her that says, “I make my own decisions in this movie so whatever happens to me, I deserve it!”
Gwen’s role in this movie is basically the same role that Gwyneth Paltrow had in IRON MAN  1 -- basically, she tries to help out the hero by throwing a switch at the crucial moment and saving the day.
I get that the filmmakers are trying to give super-hero girlfriend’s something to do in these movies besides getting kidnapped and rescued, but there must be something else they can do besides throw a switch at just the right moment. Didn’t Gwen do the same thing in the first AMAZING SPIDER-MAN movie?

Could this be the face of J. Jonah Jameson?

The filmmakers play fast and loose with Spidey’s powers. In one scene, Spidey uses his webbing to fix a kid’s toy. Um, aren’t they forgetting the fact that Spidey’s webbing always dissolves in an hour, so as soon as that kid gets home, his toy will be broken again? Spidey, you cruel bastard!                                              We don't get to see J. Jonah Jameson in this movie, which is a shame, because he is an important part of he Spider-Man mythos. Reportedly, director Marc Webb is having a hard time casting the part. My old pal, (and former Spider-Man editor) Jim Salicrup once suggested Bruce Willis as JJJ, and I still think that's a  great idea.It would be a fun way to add some star power to the franchise.

Wouldn't it be fun if this girl became the Black Cat?

There is a girl in the movie named Felicia, and it seems like she might turn out to be the Black Cat, but apparently the scenes hinting at this ended up on the cutting room floor. The movie is already overcrowded with costumed characters, but still, it might have been fun to see the Black Cat on film, instead of the tired old plot about the Goblin trying to kill Spidey's girlfriend, which we've seen on film before. Another missed opportunity.                                                                                                                                        AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 seems to wrap up most of the loose ends from ASM1, which really makes one wonder how this could be a trilogy. Unless it turns out that Peter’s parents are not really dead (we never saw their bodies) Hey, maybe Peter’s parents could come back in the third movie and then they could die at the end, so Peter can be responsible for more tragedy. Way to learn your lesson, Peter!
ASM2 does set up a possible spin-off movie starring the SINISTER 6, but considering that fact that every Spider-Man movie has made less money than the one before it at the U.S. box office, you have to wonder if there is any audience at all for a Spidey movie where Spidey presumably barely appears, if at all.
And so, once again, my favorite super-hero is left in the hands of filmmakers who just don’t get the character. The way I see it, only possible way for them to salvage the next movie is for them to bring back Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy’s clone. Or they could have her play Mary Jane.

TOBEY MAGUIRE -- still crying!

Andrew Garfield plays Peter Parker as much less of a nerd and much more of a regular guy in this movie. In that sense, I guess you could say ASM 2 is showing Peter more as he appeared in the “clean & cool” John Romita era than in the nerdy Ditko era. I like how Garfield doesn’t play him as a whiney crybaby the way Tobey Maguire did. The only problem I have with Garfield is that he occasionally slips into his British accent and it is very distracting.
After Gwen’s death in the movie, Peter takes five months off from being Spider-Man. How convenient it is that there are no super-villain attacks in NY until the very day Peter decides it’s okay for him to be Spidey again.
(Either that, or, during the previous five months, there were numerous super-villain attacks on NY, but Peter just refused to go into action as Spidey, which means once again, he was using his power irresponsibly!)
I can’t wait till this trilogy ends and we can start Spidey over again., Maybe next time they will get it right!
The word “amazing” is tossed around a lot in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2, as in, “You look amazing!" “I feel amazing!” At one point, Jamie Foxx’s character decides that the only reason Spidey keeps getting bad press is because ol’ Web-Head needs to change his name to “The Amazing Spider-Man.” (Yeah, it’s that kind of movie.)
“Amazing” is not a word I would use to describe this movie. But I guess people wouldn’t go to see a movie called “The Mediocre Spider-Man.” Or “The Disappointing Spider-Man.”  
Perhaps a better title would have been, “The Amazing Waste of Time.”

I wish these 3 guys had been in the movie...