RECENT WATCHES: The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

Sony originally hoped that “The Amazing Spider-Man” would be their “Twilight,” a massively popular fantasy/romance that had huge cross appeal with both young women and men. Instead, blockbuster movies were changed forever a few weeks before “The Amazing Spider-Man” came out by the release of “The Avengers.” Now, superhero team-up movies and cinematic universes were what every studio wanted. The series quickly moving forward, Sony retrofitted “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” with these goal in mind. This humble 200 million dollar superhero sequel was now going to be the lynch pin for an entire web of spin-offs. These hugely ambitious plans were doomed pretty from the start, “Amazing Spider-Man 2” becoming a punchline before it was even released. But is the film really that bad?

A year after becoming Spider-Man, Peter Parker is still learning to balance his personal life and superhero life. He loves Gwen Stacy but wishes to respect her father's dying request, afraid his enemies may hurt her. He is still investigating his parents' disappearance, discovering they had connections with Oscorps. He reunites with old friend Harry Osborn, heir to the Oscorps fortune. Harry has his own problems, as a genetic disease passed down from his father is threatening to turn him into a human goblin. He hopes Spider-Man may provide the solution to his problem. Meanwhile, Oscorps engineer Max Dillion, who has an unhealthy obsession with Spider-Man, suffers an accident and becomes a being of pure electricity, dubbing himself Electro. Through the power of superhero sequel bloat, all these plot threads come together.

Even the people who liked the first “Amazing Spider-Man” agreed that the subplot centered around Peter Parker's parents was a dead end. Proving that Sony was truly rushing into this without thinking things through, “Amazing Spider-Man 2” still devotes a long portions of its run time to this subplot. It even opens with a lengthy flashback, the elder Parkers fighting a hitman on an airplane, that feels truly disconnected from the rest of the film. Peter's dad apparently left a calculator full of secrets to his son, leading to a secret subway train full of further secrets. It reeks of desperation, of a nascent franchise desperate to build a mythology out of anything. (Considering “Spider-Man” comics are absolutely packed with mythology, this really shows you how badly Sony fucked things up.)

The things that really worked about the first “Amazing Spider-Man” were the relationship between Peter and the women in his life. The sequel screws this up too but it still manages to be one of the stronger aspects of the film. Peter breaking up with Gwen is a ridiculous excuse for romantic melodrama. The way he handles being in love with Gwen but being unable to be with her – basically stalking her – sure is an inelegant solution. Yet the romantic chemistry between Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone remains absolutely fiery. Similarly, Aunt May is drawn into the whole ridiculous Peter's Parents plot. Sally Field still gets a really touching monologue mid-way through the film, explaining how her bond with him is more important than his vanished parents.

Much of the criticism directed at “Amazing Spider-Man 2” dealt with its villains. As depicted in this film, Electro is an extremely dorky Oscrops employee with a disturbing fixation on Spider-Man. (This is very different from his comic book origin as a blue collar worker turned career criminal with massive powers.) This includes talking about the hero whenever he gets the chance, decorating his apartment with his pictures, and imagining an elaborate friendship between them. When Spider-Man is forced to fight the dangerously disorientated Electro, he immediately turns on his hero. From there, he spends some time with a cartoonish mad psychologist and develops a god complex. You'll notice that's a really strangled character arc and it doesn't play any better in the film. A wildly miscast Jaime Foxx plays the pre-transformation Electro in a very goofy manner, as an exaggerated nerd. Post-transformation, his performance is mutated beyond human recognition by CGI.

The new series' close proximity to the Raimi trilogy did not stop the first one from killing Uncle Ben again. Similarly, even though “Spider-Man 3” did the entire “Harry Osborn becomes the Green Goblin” plot again, “Amazing Spider-Man 2” redoes that one as well. In some ways, this is actually one of the parts of the film that works. Peter and Harry were close friends when they were both younger, explaining how a bullied nerd could be friends with the richest kid in school. Dane DeHaan is appropriately petulant and confused as Harry. His scenes with Garfield have a nice, relaxed energy to them. Yet everything else pertaining to Harry is a disaster. Giving him a disease that mutates his physical appearance was such a dumb (and overly literal) way to reinvent the character. The tangled mess of plot points that has him turning into the Green Goblin, rolling in magical blood and a conveniently placed high-tech battle suit, could not be more of a mess.

The action scenes were another highlight of the first film and “Amazing Spider-Man 2” does build on those positively. After that ridiculous Richard Parker: Action Hero prologue, the film begins with the kind of sequence I've always wanted to see in a Spider-Man movie. Mainly, a brief segment devoted to Spider-Man taking down a B-list villain. While on morning patrol, Spidey derails an elaborate bank robbery attempt by a gangster soon to be known as the Rhino. (Played by a delightfully over-the-top Paul Giametti.) It's a brisk, funny, and inventive sequence, balancing humor and fast-paced action in just the right way. Marc Webb does continue to produce dynamic visuals, making sure to sneak in plenty of acrobatic poses for Spidey as he spins through the air, using his webbing in all sorts of novel ways. “Amazing Spider-Man 2” also has maybe the best Spider-Man suit ever created for a live action movie, for what that's worth.

So the film is absolutely a mess. However, at least it's a relatively watchable mess, including lots of decent action and interaction between characters we are semi-invested in. The final battle between Spider-Man and Electro, which nicely brings Gwen Stacy into the fray, seemingly takes the film out with a solid climax... And then “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” keeps on going. Within the movie's final twenty minutes, it shoves in a dozen more events. An entire adaptation of “The Night Gwen Stacy Died” is forced in, Peter's grief at loosing Gwen so suddenly almost working. An extended epilogue is added from there. The Sinister Six are gratuitously set-up for a future sequel. The Rhino appears. Spider-Man is convinced to come out of retirement, his grieving of his dead girlfriend occurring over the course of a montage. An already overstuffed movie totally overwhelms viewers right as they are going out the door, draining any sense of satisfaction from the narrative.

The film didn't just leave the door open for a sequel, it was punching holes in the walls before it even got close to the door. The studio hoped “Amazing Spider-Man 3,” obligatory team movie “Sinister Six,” and “Venom” would follow. Oh yeah, Felicity Hardy is in the movie too, potentially setting up a “Black Cat” spin-off as well. At some point, Sony totally lost its mind and started announcing all sorts of crazy bullshit, like an “Aunt May” prequel movie. It was all for naught, of course. Despite making over 700 million dollars worldwide, “Amazing Spider-Man 2” was declared a failure and the character would be rebooted again in just a few years. It turns out, building an entire cinematic universe around a mediocre sequel to a movie nobody wanted in the first place isn't a great idea. Despite some positive attributes, the sequel is unquestionably a complete fiasco. [5/10]