Friday, August 22, 2014

Quick Reviews: The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Yes, one of the biggest movies of 2014 (so far) was also a 'Eh, I'll wait for Netflix' case.  Big whoop- wanna fight about it?!?

After the 'It's alright, but I'm not sure it was necessary' film that was The Amazing Spider-Man, I was on the fence about the Sequel.  What sealed the deal for me was the Trailer.  It was big, loud and looked neat- but it also looked too busy.
Now that I've seen it, I stand by that assessment.  The individual parts are not necessarily bad, but there is way too much.  This is a short summary of all of the Plots/Set Up involved in this nearly 2 and a half hour film...
The film is so chock full of things happening that major characterization is basically broken down into three Scenes of Electro/The Goblin with Peter/Spider-Man.

They could do more but...we needed to have the Aunt May becomes a Nurse Sub-Plot and the drama of the Air Collision bit (seriously, they stole from The Asylum!).

Having said that, there is some good fun to be had.  Ha ha- he's not supposed to be wearing that hat.
I don't want to be THAT guy, but the film is kind of a mess.  If you are a casual moviegoer, you may not notice the kind of stuff that bothered me.  The flashy and fun aspects may help you ignore the structural issues.  The big source of the problem: Marvel Studios.  They didn't have anything to do with the actual film, but there success has scared the other Studios like Fox, Sony and Warner Brothers.  With Marvel now in Phase 2, the others are playing catch up.  The Wolverine had to tie right into the next X-Men film (which was good) that is supposed to set up a bunch of other things.  The Amazing Spider-Man went from a small tease (The Mystery Man) to flat out setting up a half-dozen villains!  Let's not even talk about the Man of Steel Sequel that will involve Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and, probably, Vibe.  Holy crap- take your time!  Speaking of taking your time, the film is nearly two and a half hours, but still cut stuff.  They cut a whole Character (Shalene Woodley's Mary Jane) and a number of Scenes (deemed too creepy).  This does raise a question: why did other stuff merit inclusion?  Did we need to see Spider-Man fight a man who would later become The Rhino?  Did we need to have the Goblin pay-off now when it could have made a strong and shocking opening?  For all the good Peter/Gwen bits, there is just so much set-up and forced crap.  For me, this was alot of flash with little substance beneath it...
A big, bloated Summer Blockbuster in all of the best and worst ways.  Since Marvel has done well, I guess Sony, Fox and Warner Brothers are just going to keep overreaching though...

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