“I am Spider Man. With great power comes great
responsibility.” That’s how the first of
this comics franchise ended, with the boyish Toby Maguire concluding his romp.
“The Amazing Spider-Man 2” (directed by Marc Webb) is the
second of the franchise remake with Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker (not to be
confused with the tiger Richard Parker). In most scenes, Garfield’s face looks
a bit aged and furrowed – he’s 30 now, but one expects Garfield to look like an
angel forever. He looked “younger” on
SNL this weekend than in the film.
The Marvel story has some real substance. The Parker family’s solidarity continues, as
the script emphasizes that Peter was raised by an aunt when the parents
failed. He still keeps his secret in his
family bedroom. Emma Stone plays class
valedictorian.
The “villainous” Oscorp has replaced Con-Ed, and probably
would do a better job with the power in another Hurricane Sandy. When the corporate patriarch dies of “retroviral
hyperplasia” the smooth-skinned son (Green Goblin) Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan)
takes over the company as a teen CEO.
But he is dying of the same thing, and enlists Peter to find Spider Man
got him the spider serum that will heal him.
But the biggest challenge to public safety come from Electro
(Jamie Foxx), who becomes a living flux gun, capable of shorting out the power
grid as if he were a living EMP machine.
New York loses power a few times during the film, and some of Times
Square comes down. Harry enlists Electro
to save him when Peter can’t.
Garfield does portray a wonderful personality in the role. I wondered if some other actors like Reid Ewing or Timo Descamps could have played it. Then I thought, it would be harder to cast Harry. DeHaan was laconic enough -- you still want better for him and he doesn't seem like a bad guy. But it would he hard to imagine either of the other two actors in a "bad guy" role at all. (No, in "Judas Kiss" I don't see "Shane" as bad.)
Garfield does portray a wonderful personality in the role. I wondered if some other actors like Reid Ewing or Timo Descamps could have played it. Then I thought, it would be harder to cast Harry. DeHaan was laconic enough -- you still want better for him and he doesn't seem like a bad guy. But it would he hard to imagine either of the other two actors in a "bad guy" role at all. (No, in "Judas Kiss" I don't see "Shane" as bad.)
The closing credits have a bizarre epilouge which I did not get.
I saw the film in 3-D in a large auditorium at Regal in
Arlington VA. The Regal trademark short
(on a space station) looks good in 3-D.
Picture: No, a different character in Times Square, my trip, Jan. 2014.
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