For about two-thirds of its overly long running time of 2
hours and 22 minutes, “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” doesn’t have any villains,
which results in something much akin to a soap opera. Peter Parker (Andrew
Garfield), aka Spider-Man, wrestles with his parents abandoning him as a child,
his fear that his girlfriend Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) will be injured if she
stays with him and his awkward reunion with a childhood friend, Harry Osborn
(Dane DeHaan), who believes he needs Spider-Man’s blood to cure him from a
disease that’s killing him. Meanwhile, one of Oscorp’s loyal electrical
engineers, Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx), has an accident. After being electrocuted,
he falls into a tank of mutant eels and is repeatedly bitten by them. Of
course, he doesn’t die, but becomes a super villain called ‘Electro.’ The
screenplay explains a lot of things, but it doesn’t explain how Max knows he’s
Electro or what Max wants to do with all the city’s electrical power once he
gets it. Electro is imposing, all blue and glowing, but he’s just around to
provide some spectacular CGI battle sequences with Spider-Man. The real villain
is The Green Goblin, but he doesn’t show up until near the end.
The real-life couple of Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone
display believable on-screen chemistry, but half of the time Garfield’s Spidey
is too much of a smart aleck. Dane DeHaan’s transformation is more inevitable
than tragic and his Green Goblin comes across as a generic homicidal maniac.
However, the last 15 minutes, which seems more real and unexpected, saves the
movie from being a by-the-numbers superhero flick. It’s unfortunate that the
overall result is an overstuffed production that could have benefited from
better writing. 5/2/14
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