[7]

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was better than I was expecting. Unlike nearly all the Batman movies, the Spider-Man movies — both the Sam Raimi ones and these new ones from Marc Webb — succeed in keeping the hero upfront and interesting, the star of his own movie, you know? So I gotta give Spidey credit there. In fact, a lot of people are probably going to be disappointed with this latest Spider-Man flick because it’s more about character, back-story, and relationships than they might like. If you’re one of those people, please stop going to the movies. Stay home and play a video game. Because I found it so refreshing not to have shit exploding or zooming toward me for two straight hours.

It’s not that I especially loved The Amazing Spider-Man 2, but it was a holy welcome relief to watch a superhero flick that wasn’t as incessant and vacuous as the other Marvel movies (or a lot of summer movies for that matter). This movie has dramatic highs and lows, and it has attempts at character development and emotional engagement. The script, co-written by the over-praised and now split-up duo of Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, isn’t great, but it mostly works. It is wisely centered around Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy’s perilous relationship. But it also opts to tread where so many superhero scripts before it have failed: villain overload. I would have to say, however, that for a movie with two main villains and a few ancillary ones, it does a remarkable job balancing and integrating them.

I wasn’t quite sold on either of the villainous performances. Jamie Foxx’s Electro character is written a little too goofy for me (reminded me of Bane in the Joel Schumacher Batman and Robin), but at least he looked super-cool after his transformation. And Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborn plays the role so maliciously from the start, you have no doubt he’s going to go bad at some point. I’d like to have been more sympathetic toward his character.

When Garfield is Spider-Man in this movie, the character shines like I’ve never seen in any previous Spider-Man movie. And a few of his scenes with Emma Stone feel very natural — almost improvised (maybe they were). I suppose it helps that the two are dating in real life.

Webb does a terrific job staging a few of the action set-pieces. My favorite is the first show-down with Electro in Times Square. The digital character animation could use some finessing — some of the movement is too ‘perfect’ to be real, if you know what I mean. Something else I liked about this movie was that it dared to slow down the pace enough for me wrap myself up in certain moments. Those moments include a very well acted scene between Garfield and Sally Field (as Aunt May), and the romantic pinnacle of the movie, the calm before the storm — when Peter takes Gwen to the tippy tippy top of a suspension bridge at sunset.

And for every Hans Zimmer score I hate, oddly enough, there’s one I like. And I really like what he and The Magnificent Six (whoever they are) did for this soundtrack — melodic and inventive, particularly in the use of rap/chanting during Electro’s scenes. Zimmer could have phoned this one in, so I’m glad he took the time to be more melodic than he was in either Batman or Superman.

Sony/Columbia Pictures would have you believe, through their marketing efforts, this movie is an Avengers-style free-for-all. But that aspect is really an afterthought tacked onto the last ten minutes of the movie. And frankly, if that’s the direction they’re planning to take this character, I’ll be a little sad. It’d be a shame to see something a little different and a little special get hammered into the Batman/Avengers mold. I’d like to see these Spider-Man movies retain their color, ebullience, and intimacy.

With Chris Cooper, Colm Feore, Campbell Scott, Felicity Jones, Paul Giamatti, and Embeth Davidtz.