I saw Amazing Spider-Man 2 on Saturday morning after a long day on Friday. We had an event for our youth group on Friday and I was pretty much at church from 10:00am until 1:00am. The exhaustion caused by the long day and my general lack of interest in ASM2 didn’t get me very excited to wake up and watch ol’ Webhead.
In spite of the sleep in my eyes and the lack of excitement in my heart, I really enjoyed Amazing Spider-Man 2. I didn’t really like the first Amazing Spider-Man because it spent too much time on the origin story. ASM2 got beyond the origin story and even used the different plot about Richard Parker’s involvement with Oscorp to make me care more about Peter Parker.
Andrew Garfield is great as both Peter Parker and Spider-Man. He’s great as the reluctant Parker, not wanting to hurt those he loves. And he’s even better as Spider-Man, capturing his wit and humor better than Tobey Maguire ever did.
It did feel a little redundant having Harry Osborn show up and turn into the Green Goblin again. And, as JoBlo.com said, some of Jamie Foxx’s scenes as Electro felt like they were pulled from a Joel Schumacher Batman movie.
The strongest part of the movie, though, had nothing to do with Spider-Man or his villains. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone have a web full of chemistry and it certainly comes across in their portrayals of Parker and Gwen Stacy. I loved all of their interactions; they made me actually care about the characters. It’s good to care about the characters, but I don’t know if they should overshadow the super hero elements in a Spider-Man movie.
Here are some other thoughts I had while watching Amazing Spider-Man 2.
Our Pasts
I didn’t like that Amazing Spider-Man claimed to tell the untold story of Spider-Man and then told almost the exact same story. It threw a wrinkle in that Peter’s dad worked for Oscorp and may have had something to with the radioactive spiders. That story was left hanging but was addressed in Amazing Spider-Man 2. A big part of the movie is about Peter attempting to find out the secrets of his past and why his parents left him. I was mildly intrigued my Peter’s search for his past, but much more intrigued with how our pasts affect us. The good and bad of our pasts are always going to shape our futures. We can allow our pasts to weigh us down and hinder our potential, or we can learn from our mistakes and allow God to redeem our brokenness.
Friends
Peter not only has a great relationship with Gwen Stacy in Amazing Spider-Man 2 but I also appreciated his relationship with Harry Osborn. It seemed a little forced, but there was a moment when the awkwardness in their relationship was broken by them making fun of each other. As a guy that is definitely how I interact with my other guy friends. Joking and making fun of each other puts us in a place to have serious discussions and conversations. We all need to have friends that will be there for us when we want to laugh or cry. And it’s probably best if the friends we find don’t turn into super villains bent on killing us.
Service
Spider-Man is a living example of Uncle Ben’s axiom: with great power comes great responsibility. I know things have gotten a little off the rails with Spider-Man in the comics in recent years, but in the movies he’s still just a normal guy trying to be responsible with his great powers. There are some heart-pounding action scenes in Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Spidey always goes out of his way to ensure the safety of innocent bystanders. Spider-Man serves the people of New York City, which turns him into their champion, in spite of how the police feel about him. Even if a radioactive spider has never bitten us, we can still go out of our way to serve those around us.
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Amazing Spider-Man 2. I don’t know how I feel about Sony attempting to craft their own cinematic universe with upcoming movies focused on the Sinister Six and Venom. The best thing ASM2 had going for it was Andrew Garfield and he’s bowing out after Amazing Spider-Man 3. I’ll continue to be wary of future Spider-Man movies, but for now I think Spider-Man is pretty amazing and spectacular and sensational and superior.
What did you think of Amazing Spider-Man 2?
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