BY ELLEN ROSSOW
Email
Two years after the release of the first film of the franchise, Andrew Garfield is back as Spidey in “The Amazing Spiderman 2.”
While the film didn’t beat the $95 million that “Captain America” opened with in the box office, the movie still did well, and for good reason.
The film follows the story of Peter Parker as he deals with the struggles of juggling relationships and his responsibilities as Spiderman. He also has to deal with finding out new information about his estranged father, his old friend Harry Osborn and, of course, battling a plethora of evil villains.
This installment of the Spiderman saga featured numerous villains, which to the average Marvel lover had potential to make or break the film. Personally, for this reviewer, the vast array of villains found in “The Amazing Spiderman 2” were overkill and produced unnecessary confusion and an overuse of action sequences.
Even though the variety of villains acted as somewhat detrimental to the film as a whole, the rest of the film made up for it.
It seemed as though one of the film’s most important villains was not the glowing electric man, “Electro” or even the mutated “Green Goblin,” but Peter Parker himself as he faced a plethora of internal issues.
The romantic elements of the film also made it enjoyable, as the relationship between Peter and his girlfriend, Gwen Stacey, swung on webs of its own throughout the film. The realism with which the relationship is handled throughout the film made that element one of the strongest of the movie.
Throughout the film, Peter was faced with the issue of handling loss, a theme which served as not only an undertone, but a major plot point. In the last film, Peter struggled with the loss of his parents who abandoned him as a child, as well as the loss of his uncle. In this film, Peter deals with the potential loss of his girlfriend as their relationship gets rocky, as well as the potential of her leaving New York.
The development of relationships throughout this installment of “The Amazing Spiderman” franchise was, to this reviewer, the strongest part of the film. If attention had been paid to the villains in the way it was to Peter’s inner struggles, the film would have been stronger overall.
To conclude, “The Amazing Spiderman 2” was an effective and interesting superhero film, but it does not have its villains to thank for its success.