The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a 2014 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. The film was directed by Marc Webb and produced by Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach. It is the fifth theatrical Spider-Man film produced by Columbia Pictures and Marvel Entertainment, the sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man (2012).
Based on the trailers & promotional materials, the producers of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 had indulged in misdirection to suggest that Spidey would be fighting THREE villains in this film viz. Electro (Jamie Foxx), Green Goblin (Dane DeHaan) and Rhino (Paul Giamatti). In that respect, there were concerns that the film seemed too similar to Sam Raimi’s flawed Spider-Man 3 which was bogged down by THREE villains as well.
In fact, as it turned out, that was not the main problem with ASM 2 at all. The issue with ASM 2 was that the story juggled too many plot threads and by the end of the movie, everything felt unnecessarily rushed. Let’s see, there was the Richard Parker mystery, the on-off Peter Parker (Garfield) – Gwen Stacy (Stone) romance, the threat of Electro, Harry Osborn’s dilemma and ultimately the machinations of Oscorp to create a villainous super-team, which will eventually become The Sinister Six.
The fight scenes were well choreographed (and looked awesome on IMAX), Garfield’s characterization of Spidey continued to be on the money and the Peter-Gwen chemistry was worth the price of admission. Unfortunately, the need to wrap up numerous plot threads was disorientating and the introduction of Green Goblin and Rhino near the end seemed like an afterthought. It did seem that the producers were working so hard for the movie to be a set up for The Sinister Six that they forgot (of didn’t bother) to get a proper handle on its main strength – the Peter & Gwen relationship.
It’s easy to understand SONY’s desire to expand the Spider-Man movie universe and to replicate the phenomenal success of Marvel Studios but if SONY is not careful, this objective might actually backfire badly. At this stage, who really wants to watch a Sinister Six movie anyway? Not me. And by the way, the lack of a post-credits scene was a huge disappointment.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is now streaming on Netflix.