The last time Spider-Man swung into sight, it was to fight a lizard man in a lab coat and cozy up to a living doll. The lizard landed in the clink, but the doll, Gwen Stacy, is back for the good of Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield) and the franchise. As played by Emma Stone, who has the zing of a screwball heroine and the depthless eyes of an anime character, Gwen brightens The Amazing Spider-Man 2, a sequel that, until a late, lamentably foolish turn, balances blockbuster bombast with human-scale drama, child-friendly comedy and gushers of tears.
This may be the wettest superhero since Aquaman splashed through the HBO show Entourage. Then again, Spider-Man, aka Peter Parker, created at Marvel by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in 1962, has always been an emotional guy, having entered comic-book legend as a bespectacled high school bookworm who was orphaned, shunned and generally misunderstood: He wasn't an extra-terrestrial, just an above-average, alienated adolescent. When, in an early issue, Peter tries to persuade some kids to visit a science exhibit with him (they laugh and leave), the text spells out his problem and his appeal: "For some, being a teenager has many heart breaking moments!" And while a radioactive spider bite scrambled his genetic makeup, his juvenile sensitivities remained.
Andrew, who's making a career out of playing delicate flowers, fits the role, suit and moist sniffling fine. He's a stronger, more restrained actor, as well as a better crier, than Tobey Maguire, who had the role in the three films directed by Sam Raimi (the first one hit in 2002), before the "Amazing" sobriquet was tagged on. Resurrected just five years after Raimi's final installment, the reborn franchise did the job, "won" the opening weekend, placated the fans.
Directed by Marc Webb, whose one other feature was (500) Days of Summer, a romance with a sting,The Amazing Spider-Man did well enough to effectively guarantee that Sony Pictures Entertainment, which has the property, would continue to pump this well until it's dry. And, indeed, two more sequels have been announced.
It seems axiomatic that the superhero costume is more important than the actor filling it, and that's true to an extent, although perhaps only for comic-book die-hards and movie executives. For the rest of us, talent matters, as demonstrated by the chasm separating the Dark Knight films and failed adaptations like Green Lantern. Kirsten Dunst's wistful turn as Mary Jane in Raimi's trilogy did much to humanize the series and helped put a personal touch on an industrial product. As Gwen, Peter's other historically romantic foil, Stone performs much the same duty in Webb's movies, as she effortlessly charms Peter (and you) and brings him to tears.
In the comic book, both women have played a part in Peter's life, but apparently that's more than the franchise's male screenwriters and directors could handle. So, with Mary Jane nowhere in sight, it's just Gwen and Peter, dewy lovers discovering each other between spasms of mostly bloodless violence. Webb has some fun with the image of Spider-Man swinging through the urban canyons, and there are moments - as when the image freezes on the tucked, airborne Spider-Man, ready to spring into action like an Olympian - in which the movie taps into the giddy freedom and near-unboundedness that the character's physical transformation has brought him. Special effects have become so persuasive that it now looks as if there were a real person flying through the air, rather than computer-generated pixels. That said, somebody needs to work on that sticky pale fluid that shoots from Spidey's wrists and that at times looks distinctly X-rated.
Once he comes down to earth, though, the movie does, too, with scenes of heavy destruction that quickly grow monotonous. Many of these involve Oscorp, the evil corporation that symbolizes dehumanizing capitalism (kidding!) and that breeds yet another unhappy employee turned monster turned Spider-Man foe, Max Dillon, aka Electro (Jamie Foxx). Their first big blowout, in the actual Times Square, arrives like clockwork at the one-hour mark, and, despite some pretty streaks of electric blue and the location's texture, is as overly long and busy as most blockbuster battles. Webb slows down the action here, too, which makes details and gestures pop; it's a nifty effect, familiar from The Matrix and commercial advertising, and it suggests how Spider-Man sees the world.
That world, according to screenwriters Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Jeff Pinkner, who share story credit with James Vanderbilt, has an almost rhythmic predictability: Spider-Man fights a villain; Peter hangs with family and friends; repeat. Fans will note canonical details, like the Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane, while civilians may find themselves comparing Dane DeHaan, who plays Harry Osborn, Peter's friendly nemesis, with James Franco, who had the role in Raimi's trilogy. Franco was then a near-ringer for James Dean, which dovetailed with Raimi's nods to Rebel Without a Cause; in this movie, Harry registers as more of a neurasthenic dandy with a dreamy, disquieting otherworldliness that can bring to mind the young David Bowie.
Webb's directorial signature is most evident in Peter's intimate scenes with Gwen, Harry and Aunt May (Sally Field), which have a natural intimacy that can make this superhero movie feel unusually grounded in real life. These scenes warm up the movie, but they take a toll, because, like innumerable other male heroes, super and not, Peter has difficulty straddling the domestic sphere and the world beyond. In some action movies, that can be a source of humor, if often at the expense of the little lady impatiently tapping her foot while her guy saves the world. Such is the case in a scene in which Peter answers a call from Gwen while in the midst of a melee.
It's an amusing moment but disappointing. Gwen deserves better: She's too appealing and crucial to the series to be the subject of mockery, including her boyfriend's. It isn't necessarily Webb's fault, but the scene serves as a brief, irksome reminder that most women in the big comic-book movies continue to be consigned to supporting roles, and especially antediluvian ones, good for ogling and saving and not much more. Gwen is actually more interesting. That's because, unlike some other superhero stories in which godlike heroes live and love among ordinary folk, Peter remains a strongly human presence. As a superhero, he carries impossible weight on his slim shoulders, but it's life itself that presses down on him with its burdening guilt, regret and sorrow.
That's part of what keeps The Amazing Spider-Man 2 moving nicely, at least until a late, badly handled turn for the grim. This blunt, uncharacteristically violent development is true to the source material, but it's a bummer and a blown opportunity, both narratively and in terms of how the male and female characters work. Filmmakers who adapt beloved texts are invariably criticized, no matter what they do, and that's particularly true of superhero movies, because the fans exert such claims on the material. There's something amusing about the corporate owner of a superhero brand being held near-hostage by the love of the comic-book true believer, yet it's hard not to think that this fanatical love can be as creatively inhibiting as the company bottom line.
Visionary filmmakers like Christopher Nolan take their movies where they want, and if the results are strong enough, please buffs and agnostics. Webb seems to have been hired mostly to keep Sony'sSpider machine going, a tricky task, given that the character doesn't have the mythic grandeur and gravity that make Batman and Superman seem endlessly exploitable. Peter is a superhero, but he's also another mopey teenager. Rhys Ifans, who appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man, has compared Spidey to another grade-A moper,Hamlet. It goes without saying that Hamlet isn't only a character; it's also a bulletproof literary classic with a lot of good lines. It also goes without saying that while some superheroes are born great, others need to have greatness thrust upon them.
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