The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Film Review. Picturehouse @ F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHann, Sally Field, Campbell Scott, Paul Giamatti, Embeth Daviditz, Colm Feore, Felicity Jones, Marton Csokas, Louis Cancelmi, Max Charles, B.j. Novak, Sarah Gadon, Michael Massee, Helen Stern, Stan Lee, Jorge Vega.

For all the good Toby Maguire and Kirsten Dunst bought to the Spiderman films of the previous decade, there is huge appeal in watching Andrew Garfield play the Marvel Comic book hero and the excellent Emma Stone as the immensely enjoyable Gwen Stacy in the latest Amazing Spider-Man film.

Where Toby Maguire had the look, the stance of one Marvel’s greatest creations, he didn’t quite have the gravitas to pull off the self-loathing that Spiderman portrayed over the years in the comic books and graphic novels. He didn’t quite live up to the point of the utter control needed in which carry the mantra of “With great power, comes great responsibility” and whilst Kirsten Dunst was exceptional as Mary Jane Watson, they both pale slightly into the background in the passion and angst that both Mr. Garfield and Ms. Stone apply to the two roles.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 sees Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy continue to be involved together but the promise made to Captain Stacy at the end of the 2012 outing is conflicting the issue and the happiness that could be the two students is causing them further grief and torment but as ever in the Marvel universe, the great cosmic joke is about to play yet another hand and turn a Spider Man devotee into a master criminal and a true danger to the people of New York.

Max Dillon, played by the engaging Jamie Foxx, is a put upon employee of Oscorp Industries and after an accident in which would kill any other man, one of first members of the Sinister Six is reborn as Electro. Jamie Foxx is a pleasing addition to the film as he brings a kudos to the character that on the face of it was never that big a deal in the comic books, losing out constantly to the likes of The Green Goblin, Mysterio and of course Venom. Mr. Foxx has transformed the appeal of one of the less magnetic criminals to grace the pages of any of the Spider-Man series of books to one whose very power dominates the film in ways that even 10 years ago might have seen executives and script writers think twice about his inclusion. The twin aspect of power without control and the underlying thought of energy waste commands the cinema goer to think twice about what is really behind the lights dimming and the huge profits maintained by power companies.

Where Jamie Foxx is quite rightly a huge bonus in the film and brings excellence to a character that had always seemed more lame than great, the same unfortunately cannot be levelled against Dane DeHann and his portrayal of Harry Osbourne and The Green Goblin. In a film where each person carries the film forward, the unfortunate Dane DeHann gets perhaps the raw end of the web in what seems a rushed drawing of a great villain. Unlike James Franco’s portrayal of a man slowly descending into the madness that ate away at his father, this version of The Green Goblin is a damp and unenthusiastic extra which in all fairness could have been left completely out of the film.

Where the film excels though is in Andrew Garfield’s and Emma Stone’s portrayal of the two young New Yorkers. The script really gives Mr. Garfield the chance to shine in a way that Toby Maguire was left floundering in. The humour and the pathos, the tragic and the wit all enclosed in a man who emulates Hamlet as his most tortured is excellent and with the graphics being a huge part of the film it really is an overload of the senses in which to wallow as a fan of the comic book industry.

Although not everything in the film sits right when sat in the darkened cinema, it certainly is a great addition to the Marvel universe cinematic adaptions and shows that the tie-ins, the film mutations of some of the greatest stories played out on paper have a long life ahead of them.

Ian D. Hall