Sunday, May 4, 2014

The More or Less Amazing Spider-man 2


Full disclosure: Spider-man is hands down my favorite superhero. I've always found Peter Parker to be a much more interesting and sympathetic character than Bruce Wayne or Clark Kent, arguably the only two heroes that match or eclipse Spider-man in popularity. I also love the webslinging, wisecracking, and the general radness of his superpowers. The Amazing Spider-man 2 delivers on both of these in a huge way. In this installment of the rebooted Spidey universe, Peter Parker (The Social Network's Andrew Garfield) freshly graduated from high school, is still struggling to come to terms with his parent's sudden disappearance, and his being Spider-man putting the woman he loves, Gwen Stacey (Easy A, and The Help's Emma Stone) in danger. His Aunt May (Forrest Gump and Lincoln's Sally Field) is struggling to find a way to send her beloved nephew to school and care for him in the absence of her husband. Peter's troubles are only intensified when his childhood friend, Harry Osborn (Chronicle and Place Beyond the Pines's Dane DeHaan) returns from boarding school to visit his dying father, Norman (The Muppets and American Beauty's Chris Cooper) and New York is threatened by a new villain, the once overlooked technician Max Dillon turned sentient lightening bolt, Electro. (Ray and Collateral's Jamie Foxx) We are also introduced to The Green Goblin and Rhino here.