This sequel's got legs
Film review: The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (12a)
Running time 142 minutes
Rating:****
Given the number of back issues of Marvel Comics, it is actually quite surprising that there are only planned to be around three sequels to the first Spider-Man movie, of which The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is the second. What is also surprising is how cleverly the filmmakers have angled the movie towards a target audience of young teens – given that this is the very audience that anecdotally at least dislikes spiders the most. Still, I’m sure that won’t bother the above-mentioned audience much, given the amount of teen eye-candy (male and female) on show, and how the film – when it is not consumed by special effects stuff – is dealing with teen angsts such as unhappy romance, lost parents, and the perennial ‘who am I?’ question. For the girls there is the statuesque and wholesome Andrew Garfield (Spider-Man/Peter Parker), while for the boys there is the fresh-faced but tempting Emma Stone (Gwen Stacy). I rest my case with the evidence that every single person in the audience for the film (apart from me of course) was under 20 and clearly found the film to their liking – as, in fact, did I. The film opens with a flashback to a video message left to Peter by his father, explaining why he had to vanish as he had discovered some dirty secrets within OsCorp, and continues with a shot of the dying Mr Osborn telling his son Harry (Dane DeHaan) to continue his medical research, as the disease that killed him will also kill Harry in due course. To continue the structure of opposites in the film, the public debate over the question of Spider-Man – Wonderful Public Hero or Dangerous Vigilante – continues to rage, with Peter continuing to battle with his love of Gwen versus the promise made to Gwen’s father to leave her alone. Meanwhile, the next super villain is padding up and adjusting his cap and gloves, ready for a knockout innings. This time it is Electro, (Max Dillon/ Jamie Foxx), a hapless technician in OsCorp, who harbours a deep respect for old Spidey which then turns to hatred when he falls in a tank of electric eels and becomes a human battery (you couldn’t make it up, although someone obviously did). After knocking some holes in a world-famous landmark, Electro meets up with Harry Osborn, who by this time has consumed a hoped-for cure for his illness but instead transforms him into our old favourite, The Green Goblin. There are some surprisingly touching moments during the inevitable battle, such as when one of the main characters tumbles from a skyscraper, and overall the characters are well portrayed, while the special effects more than live up to their brief. Just continuing the recent classification argument, if the same criteria that made Captain America: The Winter Soldier a 12a were applied to this film, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 would surely be a PG. Regardless of that, this is a well-crafted offering that will appeal to a wide audience, including those hard-to-please teens, while families with younger children will get plenty of fun out of it too.
