The Amazing Spider-Man 2

[tehjeff 15]

Never has one movie made so little sense.

 

It makes the original Spider-Man trilogy look fucking amazing. The script is so lazily written, the movie is just a collection of things held together by spit and string and it is just insane that something so big and important to a studio can get so little attention.

[seanotron 2307]

Definitely suffered from heavy edits (like the first one) and I could have gone without the Harry Osborne subplot, but there's no Emo Spiderman doing jazz hands down the sidewalk.

[tehjeff 15]

Ultimately the movie suffers from this lack of jazz hands.

[Game of Scones 5812]

yeah, the amazing series has been pretty bad, and seems to be getting worse

[tehjeff 15]

The first one wasn't fantastic but it was bearable.

 

This one is just really sloppy. There is so little effort given in developing anything, and even the action scenes suffer because they are tailored to 3D viewing. Things just happen in the movie, and at the end I just felt like I watched a really, really long trailer because I was shown a lot of important shit but I had no context or development to work with.

[RyanSz 3140]

This movie pissed me off on so many levels. First you have the issue that plagued Spiderman 3 in that it didn't know if it wanted to be campy or deathly serious. You have the whole familial issues with Peter and Aunt May and him stalking his ex but this is followed by a fight scene with Electro in Times Square that has a backing track of carnival music and Spiderman hosing down Electro while wearing an old style fireman helmet. The campy stuff was so over the top it was horrible and the serious stuff made me somewhat interested if not for the fact that Garfield is so much more naturally emo than Maguire was at his worst. Rhino was a ridiculous character made only for the hopeful tie-in movie with the Sinister Six, and the suit was horrible because it's basically Spidey fighting a Transformer, which is unfortunate considering some of the other designs for the suit were more in line with recent comics/cartoons and would have been plausible for the character.

 

And considering how this movie didn't really light up the box office domestically and mixed reviews, it's not shocking that they delayed the third movie back to the year they were planning on releasing the fourth film.Also doesn't help it's the lowest grossing of the series despite IMAX, 3D, and inflated ticket prices.

[Kylinsky 7]

If I was in charge of Marvel, I'd be livid to see them pissing away their biggest character on poorly written, poorly paced clusterfucks like this move.

 

It is almost as if the Gwen and Peter relationship aspect of the movie was written separately from the villain side of the movie. The Gwen story was the only part of this movie that kinda worked. The villians and their motivations however, were as amorphous and nonsensical as the villain of Green Lantern.. so when one of them dramatically raises the stakes, for no real reason, it was met by me with complete indifference.

 

The motivations of the villians are paper thin at best.

 

Harry Osborne is never depicted as evil, until he very end. Why he goes from a desperate and dying kid to a flat murderer is fuzzy at best.

 

Electro goes from being Spidey's autistic fanclub president to a mortal enemy over time square screen time...really.

 

And The rhino is just an incomprehensible throw-away character with no relevance to the plot, but he made the trailer anyway.

 

Ultimately, this movie is really boring, and a sad answer to the question; Why can't Spiderman be in an Avengers movie?.

[seanotron 2307]

this is followed by a fight scene with Electro in Times Square that has a backing track of carnival music and Spiderman hosing down Electro while wearing an old style fireman helmet.

 

Oh see, that image is the epitome of what Spider-Man is about. I got ridiculously happy when I saw that.

[IHugKittens 53]

Harry Osborne is never depicted as evil, until he very end. Why he goes from a desperate and dying kid to a flat murderer is fuzzy at best.

 

Electro goes from being Spidey's autistic fanclub president to a mortal enemy over time square screen time...really.

 

Exactly my biggest issue, villains become villains just like that, for no reason at all, except just so they can be evil. At least in the Sam Raimi Spider-man films they had SOME depth and motivation. Also SPOILERS, what is up with the Doc Oc tentacles and all that stuff revealed at the end? Does that mean in the sequels super villains will have even less character development, just random people with bionic stuff stuck to them?

[RyanSz 3140]

 

Exactly my biggest issue, villains become villains just like that, for no reason at all, except just so they can be evil. At least in the Sam Raimi Spider-man films they had SOME depth and motivation. Also SPOILERS, what is up with the Doc Oc tentacles and all that stuff revealed at the end? Does that mean in the sequels super villains will have even less character development, just random people with bionic stuff stuck to them?

 

Yeah they are pushing for a Sinister Six spinoff for I believe a 2016 release, though that may be up in the air after this sold like a lead balloon. I thought Jamie Foxx was the best part of the movie, but that's not saying much. At least with his character you saw that he was schizo or something along with having an unhealthy obsession with Spiderman. What didn't make sense was that when he got his powers he somehow felt he should be the center of attention over his idol, when all he really wanted was to be a part of Spiderman's life/world. And the only thing that really made me show emotion in this whole movie was the ending involving SPOILER Gwen's death because in a movie that was pretty lax on what it wanted to be as either a comedic or serious superhero movie all of a sudden as a pretty realistic killing of a major character. I thought they were going to show the web being too short and her falling out of eyesight to Spidey, but instead they show her bouncing off the fucking cement ground and then blood trickling from her nose, I can only imagine how parents were pissed at trying to discuss this with their surely traumatized kids.

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

 

Yeah they are pushing for a Sinister Six spinoff for I believe a 2016 release, though that may be up in the air after this sold like a lead balloon. I thought Jamie Foxx was the best part of the movie, but that's not saying much. At least with his character you saw that he was schizo or something along with having an unhealthy obsession with Spiderman. What didn't make sense was that when he got his powers he somehow felt he should be the center of attention over his idol, when all he really wanted was to be a part of Spiderman's life/world. And the only thing that really made me show emotion in this whole movie was the ending involving SPOILER Gwen's death because in a movie that was pretty lax on what it wanted to be as either a comedic or serious superhero movie all of a sudden as a pretty realistic killing of a major character. I thought they were going to show the web being too short and her falling out of eyesight to Spidey, but instead they show her bouncing off the fucking cement ground and then blood trickling from her nose, I can only imagine how parents were pissed at trying to discuss this with their surely traumatized kids.

One of my big problems with "Spider-Man 3" was that Gwen Stacy was in it, but did absolutely nothing Gwen Stacy-like. She was just a female character that was there to be "the other woman" basically. Meanwhile, you had Elizabeth Banks RIGHT THERE the whole fucking time in a bit part as Betty Brant, who had also been a romantic interest for Pete in the past. So yeah, I was annoyed that Gwen DIDN'T die in her last incarnation, but her dying in THIS version of the franchise seemed tonally wrong, and her reason for being in danger being totally contrived.

 

Hey, if she already had such an awesome job at OsCorp, WHY did she need to worry about getting into a good school? Also, in the end, she was basically just there to hit a switch or push a button, right?

[seanotron 2307]

One of my big problems with "Spider-Man 3" was that Gwen Stacy was in it, but did absolutely nothing Gwen Stacy-like. She was just a female character that was there to be "the other woman" basically. Meanwhile, you had Elizabeth Banks RIGHT THERE the whole fucking time in a bit part as Betty Brant, who had also been a romantic interest for Pete in the past. So yeah, I was annoyed that Gwen DIDN'T die in her last incarnation, but her dying in THIS version of the franchise seemed tonally wrong, and her reason for being in danger being totally contrived.

 

Hey, if she already had such an awesome job at OsCorp, WHY did she need to worry about getting into a good school? Also, in the end, she was basically just there to hit a switch or push a button, right?

 

I think they should have waited until ASM3 to kill her (if they were so determined to do it). Garfield & Stone's chemistry is off-the-charts and something that pretty much everyone agrees is the best part of these movies. Cutting it off so quickly seems like they're just shooting themselves in the foot. And it's really insane when you consider the original version of this movie was going to introduce Shailene Woodley as Mary Jane. That would have been such a bad idea I can't even fathom how they got beyond the spitball stage.

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

 

I think they should have waited until ASM3 to kill her (if they were so determined to do it). Garfield & Stone's chemistry is off-the-charts and something that pretty much everyone agrees is the best part of these movies. Cutting it off so quickly seems like they're just shooting themselves in the foot. And it's really insane when you consider the original version of this movie was going to introduce Shailene Woodley as Mary Jane. That would have been such a bad idea I can't even fathom how they got beyond the spitball stage.

They seem to really have no blueprint for this thing at all. They planned to get more into the parent stuff in the first one only to push it back to this one, and then they include the parent stuff in this one and plan to do Mary Jane before deciding to axe THAT and push it back to whenever. I think it really hurts the films going into them by already knowing this, because you know there's just going to be more set-up for the NEXT movie, and even then it might still be jettisoned. I mean, it's not like we're finding this out now when it's hitting DVD through the extras or anything and that the information is avoidable. It's pretty well-documented and well known months and months before the movie's even finished. The more Sony pulls this shit, the dumber they're going to look, because I'd be surprised if they can even get Shailene Woodley back, what with her being a much bigger deal now.

 

I'm starting to wonder if they've given up, if Sony's INTENTIONALLY driving interest down now to damage the character for Marvel for whenever they get the movie rights back. Same goes for the Fantastic Four over at Fox. From what little I've seen on the new take of that, it doesn't even sound like it's a real thing.

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

My feelings are... mixed, but from the myriad of complaints in this thread, it's just obvious that this film didn't work. Some of the stuff you guys are complaining about are what I enjoyed, and some of the stuff I would complain about are things others are saying they liked. All this proves is that nothing worked the way it was supposed to and nothing felt fully realized. If half your audience thinks half your movie is stupid and the OTHER half of the audience thinks the OTHER half is stupid, well, you just have an entire audience of people going, "meh."

 

With a year that brought us Guardians of the Galaxy, Winter Soldier, and Days of Future Past, the fact that what used to be the most popular superhero franchise (in its Raimi heyday... even if I disliked those films a hell of a lot) pales in comparison to all the other blockbuster options is proof that this movie is worthy of a podcast episode. The guy who directed Tromeo and Juliet made America care about a psychotic Racoon more than Spider-Man. James Gunn deserves an Oscar and the people involved in this franchise deserve to sit in a dark room feeling ashamed of themselves.

[VinsanityV22 500]

Only wanna see the crew do this if they can get Besser as a guest.

 

There was an episode of Improv 4 Humans where Matt Besser talked about how he didn't understand the hate being targeted at ASM2 (like, right after it released, if I remember right?). His thinking was that, he liked them having more villains, because it meant no wasting time on retelling the origin story yet again (which I agree with) - they just get to the action. Which doesn't really deal with practically everyone else's thinking being, "They're just going to screw up everyone, not develop anything, and have far too messy a script to do anything right".

 

My point is, if they do ASM2, Besser should be guest, so he can see what the rest of the World sees in this messy, awful, disappointing, overstuffed, undercooked sequel

 

The lowest earning Spider-Man movie in the entire series so far.

 

Plus I just like Besser, and he hasn't been a guest on HDTGM yet: http://www.earwolf.c...on/matt-besser/

 

EDIT: It was the episode where Besser was guesting on "Who Charted?" with Armin Weitzman co-hosting alongside Kulap to fill in for Howard, not Improv 4 Humans.

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

There's a good way to throw in extra characters though, and there's a bad way. The new series thinks that just because they throw Harry out there that that's enough, that they can blow through about three movies worth of possible storyline and set-up because it's Harry and he was in the other movies, so we know who he is, BUT the whole point of this reboot in the first place was to tell a different story and forget what happened before. There needs to be time spent making us give a shit about the character one way or the other, because he's technically a new character. It's one thing if you have Beetle, Grizzly, Shocker, Spot, or even Rhino just appear and do their thing out of the blue, as they're just a bunch of clowns in super suits, but you need to take your time with the big bads, or at least make their time count.

[tehjeff 15]

I feel like there were no arcs to the major players. So Peter and Gwen are together, then they aren't, then they are. But in between there is very little happening in regards to their relationship aside from one scene where they meet and talk about being friends, and basically the next is them getting back together and confessing their love. What was the point of the entire thing? If you wanted to add weight to her death then I'd have almost preferred them be together the entire movie because then the impact would have been greater.

 

Saving it for the sequel would make sense, I guess, but really I think they should have done it in the Sinister Six film. This movie gave no time to developing their relationship and what his being Spider-Man does to it. In the original trilogy Peter and MJ are having issues because 1) he cannot split his time between being a hero and being Peter to a degree that would make for a good relationship, and 2) eventually his celebrity overcomes hers and that adds friction. Those are legitimate concerns with which to add drama and tension! In ASM2 it's just "i see ur ghost dad and i really didn't care about his last warning until now bye".

 

Electro could have been really cool, but they didn't want to give the character enough screen time to really see that sort of development. He seems bumbling and nerdy, but Spider-Man awakens this obsession in him and we see that turn from lighthearted to being legitimately scary -- THAT would have been great, to where maybe he puts other people in danger to draw Spider-Man out so he can help him save the day, etc.

 

The entire movie just felt like a waste of money and characters. Like...what is the next step? Are they going to move onto MJ? Is the Sinister Six really the next big element? Just more villains? That isn't exciting after getting this clusterfuck.

 

It's also really annoying how much the Rhino is featured in everything when he is literally in it, in the suit, for 20 seconds.

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

In addition to knowing what WASN'T going to be in the film so early on, I really didn't like that they'd already announced like three more Spidey movies and the Sinister Six movie before this even came out, because I started wondering how important THIS one could be. It's sort of reminiscent of when Marvel Studios proper announced their slate of planned Avengers projects after "Iron Man" was such a success, but more forced. That said, "Iron Man 2", as much as people like to shit on it, was a much better sequel, did a lot more world-building, and is more important in the overall scheme of things.

[Darian 19]

this movie was complete garbage

I like Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker but the story was inane and the villains were terrible...

[Kickpuncher 5012]

Just saw this. Yeah. No bueno.

 

Billion-dollar idea - Re-re-boot of Spider-Man where it takes place in the 1960s and the characters wear colorful costumes and it's fun.

[seanotron 2307]

Garfield recently confirmed that the studio took a hacksaw to the story

 

http://www.thedailyb...ider-man-2.html

[jarrycanada 2483]

I still haven't watched any of these movies, are they worth my time?

[Kickpuncher 5012]

Garfield recently confirmed that the studio took a hacksaw to the story

 

http://www.thedailyb...ider-man-2.html

 

Oh, so it needed to have MORE stuff going on and be LONGER than 140 minutes? Cool.

[RyanSz 3140]

 

Oh, so it needed to have MORE stuff going on and be LONGER than 140 minutes? Cool.

Wow Garfield has his head way up his own ass.

[Kickpuncher 5012]

To be fair, there's a decent chance that the interview was conducted on Monday.