The Knightly News

Starring Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spiderman and Emma Stone as his love interest Gwen Stacy, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 centers around Spider-Man’s two good-gone-bad villains, Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan, Lawless) and Electro (Jamie Foxx, White House Down).  The movie equally focuses on Peter Parker’s relationship with Gwen Stacy as the couple realizes they are drifting towards different paths.  These culminate in what the franchise deems Spider-man’s “greatest battle.”

(Zehra)

Although I have to agree that the film has its flaws, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is notable in other regards.  Take, for instance, the incredible chemistry between the two main actors, Garfield and Stone.  No doubt fueled by the fact that the two are in a real-life relationship, Garfield and Stone relay moments of cute banter and inevitable tension with a genuine feel.

Visual effects in the movie are often striking; for example, action scenes in the middle of Times Square are vibrant, and villains such as the electricity-powered Electro boast decent CGI work.  While the use of slow motion effects throughout the film is on the heavy side, it certainly makes for eye-catching shots.

The film’s storyline is predictable with action, romance, and some mildly successful comedy, but the second half of the movie is when Hollywood takes some big risks.  There is a controversial scene from the original Spider-Man comic’s storyline that most people believed would be cut from this film, but the screenwriters remained faithful to the original and included it.  The scene is definitely an interesting albeit fairly depressing plot twist, and I admire Hollywood for taking such a risk.  Whether you like superhero movies or not, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is worth a watch despite its shortcomings.

(Michael)

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 will certainly amaze you; I was amazed.  I thought it would be just as exciting as the last one, but, unfortunately, the romantic side of the movie droned on far too long.  Of course, there’s still your typical superhero action, but this “love story,” which is essentially Peter Parker trying to figure out how to balance his life between Gwen Stacy and Spiderman, is disappointingly overwhelming.

I was expecting Spider-Man’s “greatest battle”, as claimed in the trailer, but, instead, was given a film that wanted to be more than it could.  Director Marc Webb wanted to appeal to all audiences by incorporating romance with this action film, but his endeavor was thoroughly unsuccessful because the fight scenes were the only relatively exciting part of this movie.  The romance aspect overwhelmed any potential for an enticing superhero flick; The Amazing Spider-Man 2 simply overplayed the hand it was dealt.  When there wasn’t a fight scene taking place in the movie, I was suddenly able to answer the question of why there were only twelve other people in the theater on opening weekend.

(Hannah)

The Amazing Spider 2 has proved itself less than amazing in more ways than one.  I, for one, was looking forward to a film packed with both action and romance from one of Hollywood’s favorite in-real-life couples, Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield.  Unfortunately, the film, which seemed to drone on for well more than its two hours and twenty-one minutes, failed to showcase this innate chemistry.  The spark between Garfield and Stone is evident, but the storyline casts this strength to the shadows.  In fact, Gwen and Peter play the parts of awkward acquaintances for more of the movie than they do as lovers.  The ever-changing relationship between the two is given little onscreen time and provides for a slightly bizarre turn of fate for the film’s conclusion.

The ultimate mark of a super hero seems to be the ability to repeatedly save his love interest, a quality which Spider Man is stripped of in this sequel.  The lackluster love did not satisfy the usual romance that superhero flicks entail, providing reason not only for my disappointment, but also for the film’s ultimate disastrous ending.