Amazing Spider-Man 2 Non-Spoiler Review: Funny, Powerful, And Entertaining

When the first reviews hit from the early international release of Amazing Spider-Man 2, they were mixed to a degree with some loving the film and others hating it. Because of the harsh reviews by some, I went into Amazing Spider-Man 2 with somewhat low expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised by the film. In every sense of the word, Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a better film than the first film that launched the reboot. In a nutshell, Amazing Spider-Man 2 was funny, powerful and entertaining. While watching an early screening that admittedly likely drew more hardcore fans than the general screenings will, the audience laughed, applauded, and cheered during the film. This is not to say that Amazing Spider-Man 2 was a film without flaws, because it did have a few. Some of the villain segments did come across as a little over-the-top and too much on the slapstick side. An early segment with Spider-Man chasing Paul Giamatti's character Aleksei Sytsevich was a little silly in the Batman & Robin way. Also, Jamie Foxx's character Max Dillon was too much of a caricature of a nerd at times. However, despite these flaws, Amazing Spider-Man 2 really nailed it where it counted. There were some genuine laugh-out loud moments, particularly in scenes where Peter Parker was interacting with either Aunt May or Gwen Stacy. The overall storyline was much better than the original film. Despite having three villains, Amazing Spider-Man 2 didn't suffer from villain overload like Spider-Man 3. The plot was woven together in such a way that the emergence of the different villains felt natural and was easy to follow. The special effects were much improved over the first film, and the action sequences were intense and colorful. In fact, while 3D adds little to most films, Spider-Man is one of those rare characters that seems to be built for the 3D format. The extra money for a 3D showing is actually worth it for this film. In most cases, the acting was spot-on. Garfield was superb in his interaction with the rest of the cast. The chemistry between Garfield and Emma Stone was one of the highlights of the movie. Dane DeHaan was also remarkable strong as Harry Osborn. DeHaan brought to Osborn the type of sinister villain charm that Tom Hiddleston brings to Loki, which is high praise indeed. After getting past the early silliness of Max Dillon, Foxx also hit his stride later in the film, transforming Electro into a formidable threat for Spider-Man. One of the things to stress about Amazing Spider-man 2 is that it gets better as it goes along. The silliness of some of the early scenes, quickly give way to an intense, emotionally-driven, and compelling storyline. In particular there is one classic scene that will be familiar to comic book readers, which the film pulls off to near perfection. Since this is a non-spoiler review, we won't go into details hear, but Amazing Spider-Man 2 delivers one of the most powerful, heartbreaking, and tragic moments in comic book movie history with emotional intensity. Garfield is nothing short of brilliant in this particular scene, and the one scene alone is worth the price of admission. Overall, Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a definite step in the right direction. It should leave most fans excited for what comes next with Amazing Spider-Man 3.