The Amazing Spider-man 2 (2014) review

The Amazing Spider-man 2 is, of course, the sequal of The Amazing Spider-man. Still starring the Stonefield couple, Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker a.k.a Spider-Man and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy. Personally I like the first movie more than this one but I honestly can't pinpoint why. Haha.

--- SPOILER ALERT ---

This sequel opened with a bit of history of Peter Parker's parents, about the night they left Peter, and about their death. It seemed like Peter's Dad was recording a video explaining his action or something and uploading it to "Roosevelt" before he was killed. No explanation about what "Roosevelt" was tho. But later on Peter figured out everything, including his dad's reasons bla blah, I don't really see the significance of this story line, tbh.

Shift to present day, Spider-man was still roaming NYC, saving the day from villains, although actually he's supposed to be at his graduation ceremony. There're some comedic bits throughout the chasing action. During the villain-chasing, Spider-man saved a guy named Max (Jamie Foxx). He's kind of a loner guy with no friends, and since Peter saved him, he became sooo obsessed with being Spider-man's friend. A bit creepy.

Moving on to the graduation. Gwen Stacy was seen giving a speech at the ceremony. Oh I need to say this. The first 20 minutes or so of this movie was FULL OF FORESHADOWING. So for those who are really shocked to find out about the ending of this movie, ????? I mean, are you even watching? It's crystal clear. Here let me explain:

• Peter kept on getting this vision of Gwen's late father looking at him. We know in the first movie that Gwen's Dad didn't want Peter to date her anymore since it could be dangerous for Gwen's safety. And well, Peter kept on seeing his "sad" face, very telling.

• Gwen's graduation speech. I don't recall the whole exact speech since I watched the movie last Sunday, but basically Gwen was saying things like "what makes life valuable is that it won't last forever, what makes it precious is that it ends" or something along that lines. HOW WAS THIS NOT CLEAR ENOUGH??? Her speech basically foretold her own fate.

• Peter broke up again with Gwen because of his vow to Gwen's Dad. Later on, Gwen got an offer for a scholarship or something from Oxford, so she would be moving to England. When Peter tried to stop her, Gwen said something like "maybe we're on a different path". Another foreshadowing? Not as strong as the speech, but still.

• PLUS, if you've seen the old spider-man movies, the ones with Tobey Maguire, then you should know that Peter Parker's love interest will be Mary Jane Watson a.k.a MJ. Even in the comic books, correct me if I'm wrong since I never read the comic, Gwen Stacy was "only" Peter's first love. I loooove the chemistry between Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, so yeah it's sad to know that we won't be seeing much, if any, of their interaction on the next sequel. But I'm also glad that the movies stay on the same track with the comic book's plot. 

Let's get back to the movie. Harry Osborn (Dane DeeHan) came back to town. He was Peter's childhood best friend, and also the son of Oscorp's owner, Norman Osborn who just died because of a disease he claimed to be an "Osborn curse". Harry was also showing symptoms of the same disease so basically he spent the entire movie being obsessed with finding the cure for his disease. 

Later he found out about spider poison (that made Peter a Spider-man) that might help him, so he asked Peter if he could get Spider-man to meet him, so Harry could ask for his blood. Peter (Spider-man) refused, since he's not sure what his blood could do to Harry. Harry took this the wrong way, tho, causing him to hate Spider-man.

Meanwhile, Max got in an accident at Oscorp involving seemingly modified electric eels, so then he turned to an electric monster named Electro. At first he was not exactly bad, only wanted to be given attention. But then he caused a big chaos in Times Square, blackout, electrical explosion everywhere so Spider-man had to stop him. In Electro's mind, Spider-man took away the attention given to him, so he started to hate him. 

Something I noticed in Spider-man universe, it seems that almost all major villains first started as a friend of Peter's and then turned to enemy because of a certain reason. It gives viewers some kind of a back story, a reason why they turn evil. Unlike other franchise such as Captain America or DC's Batman or Superman, in which the villains are mostly originally evil, without reasons related to the hero.

I mentioned before about Gwen leaving for England. After a while, finally Peter decided to follow her, claiming Gwen to be his "path". A few romantic, sappy moments later, Electro stroke back, now attacking the city's power source causing blackout all over the city. 

Of course Spider-man beat him after some intense battle that filled the screen with electric blitz, but Spidey was not alone. This time Gwen Stacy assisted him, by turning the power back on, causing Electro to explode due to over-charged. Is this the end? Nope.

Harry Osborn was not satisfied until he found the spider's poison. He found out that Oscorp actually kept a bit in some sort of a secret place. Unfortunately, just like Peter said, the poison didn't do well for Harry. It turned him into a hideous goblin like creature, who then used a armor suit and flying board. Yes, he turned into the Green Goblin.

Right after the end of Spider-man vs Electro battle, Green Goblin came to the power source and started the final battle. Harry as Green Goblin figured out that Spider-man was Peter Parker, so he used Gwen as his target to provoke Peter. After another epic battle, with less explosion and more flying/punching action, of course Spider-man won the battle. BUT, he was too late to save Gwen's life. Oh. To be expected, but her death still looked tragic.

RIP Gwen Stacy. I really like your character, you're like young Pepper Potts. If we compare Gwen's character to the old MJ (Kirsten Dunst), I like Gwen waaaaaay more.

Peter was devastated after Gwen's death. It was shown that he visited Gwen's grave for a long time. Funny thing, seasons changing was shown on screen, it seemed like it's been a year, but then viewers were told that it was only 5 months after the event. Spider-man was no longer existing. But then Peter re-watched Gwen's speech, mainly about hope, and photos of Gwen and Peter were shown, very dramatic, so he got back up and went back to be the city's superhero.

--- SPOILER ENDS ---

Personally, I felt like Green Goblin's story was too forced in this sequel. Viewers basically only get a few minutes of Green Goblin in this movie, for one final battle versus Spider-man. It felt very, idk, rushed. Like, maybe yes we can see the part where Harry turned goblin-like, but the epic battle should have its own epic screen time. In the old Spider-man series, Green Goblin was a major part of Spider-man heroic career. I'd prefer if there's only Electro and some other minor villains in this movie, save the Green Goblin for the next installment perhaps. HOWEVER, since in the end Harry didn't die, so maybe we'll see more of Green Goblin next year. Also based on some spoilers I got, the next villain will be Dr Octopus? Sounds good.

A few other things I need to say about this movie.

First, Jamie Foxx. Standing ovation maaaan, I totally didn't see Foxx in both Max and Electro. Also kudos to the make-up, digital image dept. Even physically, I couldn't really see Jamie's face when he's Electro. Cool.

Dane DeeHan a.k.a Harry Osborn a.k.a Green Goblin. First thought, this boy looked soooo young, like a college graduate kid. Plus I thought his age difference with Andrew Garfield was far. Since I was more used to James Franco as Harry, and Franco always looked old even back then. Boy, how wrong I was. DeeHan was actually 28 years old, only 2 years younger than Andrew, and he is actually older that Emma Stone. Whaaaaaat.

Emma and Andrew, strong chemistry just like the first movie. Maybe being a couple in real life helps a lot haha. Also I like Spider-man goofy, sassy character even more in this sequel. Peter also had many hilarious lines in this sequel. Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker was too emo, too gloomy for a teenager.

Effect and graphic was great. Especially whenever there's Electro on screen, and everything started to became electrically disturbed, exploded, lights everywhere. Pretty. Oh also I watched it in IMAX 3D format, so the battle scenes, Spidey's flying around New York buildings, were even more entertaining. 

I give The Amazing Spider-man 2 hmmm 4/5 noise. I still think the history of Peter's parents and Green Goblin arc in this movie was kind of unnecessary. If it's how it was written in the comic book then well Idk, but yeah. Other than that, music, effects, characterization, GREAT.