Film Review | Amazing Spider-Man 2

It may be a tad too cartoonish for its own good at times, but this breakneck-paced superhero sequel is too much fun to deny.

Andrew Garfield swings back into action for this Spider-Man sequel.
Andrew Garfield swings back into action for this Spider-Man sequel.

It may be a tad too cartoonish for its own good at times, but this breakneck-paced superhero sequel is too much fun to deny.

Weird science and absent fathers propel this sequel-of-a-reboot forward, and that’s just as well: from his 1960s comic book incarnation onwards, it’s what Marvel Comics mainstay Spider-Man was all about.

Following on from the surprisingly decent reimagining of the Spider-Man mythos by director Marc Webb (!) back in 2012, Amazing Spider-Man 2 sees our affable adolescent hero Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) – granted superpowers by an ‘accidental’ encounter with a radioactive spider – ease into his role as New York’s web-slinging, skyscraper-coasting ‘friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man’, making good on his late uncle’s ethical imperative to use his newfound superpowers responsibly by gleefully dispatching of the city’s criminal element.

But all is not rosy. Though Peter has found true love in his high school sweetheart Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) – she even knows his super-hero secret identity – he can’t shake off the fact that he promised her dying father George Stacy (Dennis Leary) that he would keep her well away from Spider-Man business.

At the same time, while Peter’s aunt, May (Sally Field) struggles to carry on without her husband, Peter himself grows more and more curious about the truth behind his parents’ disappearance. The story he’s always been told was that the couple left Peter in the custody of his aunt and uncle before disappearing mysteriously.

But the reappearance of an old friend, Harry Osborne (Dane DeHaan) – heir to the ominously powerful scientific organisation Oscorp – leaves a potentially dangerous trail of breadcrumbs for Peter. All links seem to point to the fact that his father, Richard (Campbell Scott) had a hand in revolutionary research as Oscorp that may have led to his disappearance.

With Harry being left at the helm of Oscorp while succumbing to the same hereditary disease that took his father’s life, he gets it in his – bratty and manic – head that an infusion of Spider-Man’s blood is the only thing that could save him.

And things can only get worse when yet another super-powered menace is brought into the equation. If a bristling Harry employs the services of Electro (Jamie Foxx) – a put-upon Oscorp engineer turned into an electrical powder-keg after a workplace accident – things will get ugly indeed.

With its pile-up of convenient freak accidents, briskly paced amidst equally brisk action – which is, in turn, peppered by a zany, goofy sense of humour throughout – Webb’s sequel is very much an old-school superhero adventure distinct from the ‘gritty’ Dark Knights and Men of Steel of this world.

But it’s also tonally different to the grandiose sweep of Marvel Studios’s Avengers and its ancillary solo superhero outings (Spidey remains a Marvel Comics property, but movie rights to the character are still retained by Columbia).

That’s not to say Webb – helped along by screenwriters Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Jeff Pinkner – doesn’t ratchet up the tension.

Electro – a cackling villain draped in green-and-yellow spandex in the comics – is transformed into a mother-of-pearl Frankenstein’s creature that’s by turns menacing and beautiful and, coupled with masterful effects work, makes for a truly great ‘stunt’ villain that delivers the money shot set pieces with panache.

It’s clear that Webb has more of a budget to play with this time around, and this is evident from the film’s post-prologue opening shot, reintroducing us to Spidey as he balletically swoops across the New York cityscape, making good on the 3D-compulsory viewing option. 

Fans of the source material will be left on tenterhooks for a particular plot point to rear its ugly head this time around. Without spoiling anything, I will just say that Webb stretches the tension to near breaking point, and that the ensuing script decision lends a welcome edge to the well-oiled rollercoaster ride.

The downside of its cavalier attitude to plot mechanics – you probably won’t care, but there is an over-reliance on grotesque scientific accidents to move things forward – is that sometimes it all just feels a bit random.

This is yet another reminder that unlike its fellow superhero counterparts, Webb’s Spider-Man universe remains an essentially cartoony one, and while Garfield and Stone have enough chemistry between them to carry them through and humanise their teenage lovebirds stereotypes, DeHaan – for one – doesn’t fare too well. The promising young actor (Chronicle, The Place Beyond the Pines) has a spiky, androgynous look that suits the character and his evolution, and he knows how to pace his aggressive streak well. But his tantrums don’t convince, escalating purely for the sake of plot convenience.

But though uneven, Webb’s film is also a prime example of how a summer blockbuster should work: well-paced action sequences, an endearing romance at its heart and something to lose – and regain – by its end.

Also: the promise of greater things to come. Its coda appears to lead directly into the – inevitable – third instalment, and it’ll be interesting to see how Webb matches the ambitious challenge he’s set for himself.