Rated PG-13
Starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Sally Field
Directed by Marc Webb
The Story:
Peter Parker (Garfield) returns to graduate from high school and move on to college. After the events from the first movie, he feels that it is time to say farewell to Gwen Stacey (Stone) before something bad happens to her. Ah, but fate is fickle, and with the changing of the guard at Oscorp, and a tragic incident involving Max Dillon (Foxx), Peter wishes he was only facing the Lizard this go round.
I don't get all the hate directed towards this installment, or this reboot.
I stand by my assessment that Marc Webb has created a much more coherent universe for Spidey to swing around in.
Garfield and Stone are head and shoulders more invested into their characters than Maguire and Dunst ever managed in their trilogy.
I've heard complaints that there were too many villains and the plot was too convoluted to follow, and again I must shake my head and wonder if I was watching a different movie.
Now, was it perfect?
No. Marvel Studios had superhero perfection locked down this year with Cap 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy.
Even the X-Men franchise got collectively better this summer.
A minor quibble, I've never cared for the Electro redesign or what they did with his powers. I like the yellow and green costume, but that didn't totally derail the film.
So what went wrong with Spidey 2?
Here's my guess, and spoilers for those that haven't gotten around to seeing the movie yet, or have zero knowledge of what happened in the comics back in the 60s...
Gwen died.
It was haunting and poetic the way they worked it into the movie, and in the end it was indeed very well done.
However...
When you own the characters and are already able to diverge from the comic continuity to tell a great story...
Webb and the writers could have EASILY not killed Gwen, at least in this installment. After all, it was nearly a decade in real time before Gwen died at the hands of Norman Osborne.
So as you see: 1) There was no rush to kill Gwen. 2) Norman's death immediately changed history so that Gwen did not have to get bumped off so soon, if ever.
This death would have been better served when it was time for Stone (and Garfield) to move on from the franchise.
This franchise had "date movie" potential for a superhero movie and by the 2nd of a planned trilogy, the rug is pulled out from under that idea.
That's just my opinion. What's done is done.
Either way, I'll be back for the next installment. I'm still digging this reboot way more than I ever did with Raimi's installments.
Final Grade: I'm still sticking with a B+
Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I'll pick it up one of these days.
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