With the recent rush to mimic Marvel’s shared universe, the
studios that own comic book properties are busy trying to put together a plan,
any plan that will give them multiple films all in the same world. The appeal
seems to be that it guarantees that people will go and see each of these films,
so that they can stay abreast of what is happening in the ongoing larger story.
Unfortunately Sony only own the rights to Spiderman’s world,
so they are apparently going with numerous spin offs and team ups of villains
and ambiguous characters like Venom.
The plot for TAS2 is
hard to explain as it never really settles in on one particular narrative
thread for long enough, nor does it focus on a particular villain long enough
to get to know him or hate him. For Peter, the main focus again is Gwen Stacey,
but this time in coming to terms with what the promise he made to her father at
the end of the first film and also realising that he and Gwen may be on
different paths.
As with the first film, the biggest strength is the
relationship between Peter and Gwen (Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, who are a
real couple), it is what the series and these films should have been anchored
on, but instead we are short changed in the moments they spend together. Yes,
there has to be more to a comic book film than a relationship, but when it is
this believable, it needs to be capitalized on.
Garfield is a more vocal Spiderman and does seem to enjoy
being him, in a similar way to how Downey Jr plays Tony Stark, which some
people don’t like. But Peter Parker isn’t Bruce Wayne. Garfield also does the
best with what is a muddled story that at time retreads a lot of similar scenes
to the first film and is filled with cheesy jokes which, credit to him, he
manages to pull off.
When the first film came out, a lot of people saw a
similarity tonally and visually with Batman
Begins, not a bad thing from my point of view, but some weren’t happy with
what it would mean for Spiderman, it was different from what they had seen in the
Sam Raimi trilogy. But because of the cast and how well their characters were
written with the well plotted story, it worked well.
But now the series seems to have moved into a mix between The Dark Knight Trilogy and the Marvel
Cinematic Universe. Unfortunately it doesn’t work. Serious moments are
undermined by underwritten characters, evil corporations and unexplained
motivations. This particular aspect of the film was a major step back for me.
As with any comic book film, there is a risk of over populating
the film with the villains, some do it well, some don’t. Spiderman 3 is often criticised for having to many and not focusing
on Peter and Mary Jane (here it is Gwen Stacey) or a coherent story.
For me, that film is nowhere near as culpable as TAS2 because at least there was an
attempt to flesh out their villains. Here, barring Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan)
whose motivation is very understandable, but his arc rushed, they just don’t
make sense and as a result aren’t interesting characters to watch.
There are some fun action sequences and good moments between
Peter and Gwen, but also a lot of wasted potential here. Chris Cooper, Jamie
Foxx, Dane DeHaan and Paul Giamatti are all wasted in tiny roles or clichéd
villain parts.
This film has, for me, damaged this series as well as
questioning the need for a Spiderman universe, he’s easily in the top three
comic book characters of all time and doesn’t need gimmicks or spin offs, he just
needs fantastic story telling.
A disappointment, much more Iron Man 2 than The Dark
Knight.
Director: Marc Webb
Writers Roberto Orci (script and story), Alex Kurtzman
(script and story), Jeff Pinkner (script and story) and James Vanderbilt
(story).
