The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Part 2 of 2)

 The Amazing Spider-Man 2  (Part 2 of 2)

 It’s like Sony wanted to top load this second movie with so much stuff in order to compete with Marvel’s movies.  There are a lot of set-ups that aren’t necessary.  I just feel that the overall movie is weakened by all the subplots.  And, some of the subplots are just dropped and never fully payoff.  It is clear they want to make more Spider-Man movies, but it needs to be done organically.  

You can also see where the studio took to cutting certain things while adding other things.  Mary-Jane Watson was supposed to be in the movie and even had some scenes, but was completely dropped from the movie.  In this case, it was probably a good idea to drop that subplot. 

The Green Goblin is almost an after thought for most of the story.  Heck even shows up right after the threat of Electro.  Harry Oswald is in the movie a lot, but the movie doesn’t integrate his relationship with Electro that well and it feels like the “team up” from Spider-Man 3.  Dane DeHaan is good in the role, but I needed more and a stronger motivation for him to behave in such a villainous manner.  Perhaps, his disease started to affect his mind?  However, he was short-changed too.

I also felt the relationship between Peter and Harry was a bit rushed too, given this character is new to the franchise.  Somehow, we are to believe these two had a relationship years ago.  At least the Sam Raimi’s movies set up their relationship within three movies. 

I believe the movie would have been stronger with just the Electro storyline with some world-building minor points here and there.  The concept of an electronic man could have been explored to its fullest with just the story just on Jamie Foxx’s character.  Instead we get the story about his parents, Gwen Stacy’s father (ghost), the Osborn Corp shady deals, the romance subplot with Harry’s assistant and the Russia villain (Rhino). 

The other problem is some of the CGI during the last battle is bit to computer-ish for my taste.  It feels like Sony ran out of money to render some of the CGI shots, such as the airplanes.  I guess they didn’t want to spend too much money. 

Then, there is that corny little kid “Spider-Man” scene.  I can’t believe they put that into the movie. 

The narrative is a jumbled mess, but they got Spider-Man character right.  The movie had potential to be a better movie, but studio interference has really harmed the story.  If Sony makes another movie, strip down the story and focus on a villain and less subplots. It is still entertaining just troubled. 

Grade: C