Now that the origin story has been told for a second time in Sony’s blockbusting Marvel re-launch, the ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ sequel gives Marc Webb the chance to weave his own arachnid adventure with the wanton abandonment of Andrew Garfield navigating his way through the concrete labyrinth of New York City.
His first foray into the world of Spider-Man was solid enough fare, weighed down by familiarity and an adherence to a narrative told infinitely better by Sam Raimi, so it’s no surprise that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a reactionary, sprawling great tangled web, veering from the brilliant to the banal, but always retaining an unbridled sense of big-screen enjoyment.
With Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) in full swing as the friendly neighbourhood spider, other aspects of his life are beginning to weigh him down: his promise to the dying father of his girlfriend, Gwen Stacey (Emma Stone), has him conflicted about whether to stay together and risk her safety. The fate of his parents also preys heavily on his mind, with Aunt May (Sally Field) reluctant to divulge any information surrounding their deaths. And with the growing prominence of Oscorp raising further questions, as well as reuniting him with childhood friend and would-be Green Goblin, Harry Osborne (Dane DeHaan), the last thing Spidey needs is the emergence of Jamie Foxx’s supercharged bad guy Electro to appear and start tearing up Times Square.
With all that going on you wouldn’t be surprised if this wound up like Raimi’s out-of-control Spider-Man 3, or even worse, Batman and Robin, but fear not, because any quality issues arising with Webb’s sequel are not related to over-indulgence in serving the villains. In fact it’s quite the opposite, in that they’re given extremely short shrift.
Paul Giamatti’s Rhino is a ludicrous bookend, only really included as a footnote for a potential Sinister Six (Spider-Man’s nemesis collective) spin-off movie. Dane DeHaan is fantastic, excelling as a requisitely reptilian sociopath, walking the fine line between sanity and desperation, so it’s perhaps something of a disappointment that his transformation to mutated bad guy happens so quickly and is then only briefly utilised during a rushed finale. A similar fate befalls Jamie Foxx: intriguing as a skittish, pitiful super-fan, he is afforded one huge set-piece before being put on hiatus and being rolled out to utter cringe-worthy one-liners whilst smothered in CGI.
Webb is clearly more comfortable dealing with the human elements of this fantastical world, and that is never more evident than with the film’s central romance. It’s perhaps no surprise considering he’s responsible for one of recent memory’s best romantic movies, (500) Days of Summer, that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 really sparks into life whenever Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are together on-screen. A traffic stopping sequence may irk fanboys, but it oozes class and charm, and the flitting between playful flirting and dramatic exchanges add real heft to how the narrative plays out.
It helps that for all that may have been average about the first instalment, Andrew Garfield’s casting is as good as any in the cinematic Marvel canon. He may have inherited the suit from Tobey Maguire, but he’s made the character his own, mastering the introspective musings and the cocksure quick quips in a way that his predecessor never could. His Spider-Man is as close to the one who occupied those monochrome square boxes since the 1960s as possible.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a bright, colourful antithesis to most moody costumed actioners, and a vast improvement on the first film, one that thrives on the electricity of Garfield and Stone, rather than any sparks created by Electro and Co.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Director: Marc Webb, USA
Time: 142 mins, 2014
Cast: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Sally Field
Release Date: UK April 16, USA May 2
3 stars out of 5
