MOVIE – 4 Reasons Why Amazing Spider-Man 2 is Now my Favorite Spider-man Movie.

Finally got around to watching Amazing Spider-Man 2. It’s now my favorite Spider-Man movie and this post is all about the four reasons why.

I didn’t get to watch Amazing Spider-Man 2 in theater even though I wanted to.  I recently bought the Blu ray version and watched the movie. It was a long movie.  I ended up watching it in two parts, only because I watched it at night, it was really late and I  had to get up early the next day.

I stopped it at the hour and thirty minute mark and really didn’t want to stop the movie.  I was really enjoying it.

I finished watching the movie the next night.

Why the Movie Isn’t Great

Before I begin though, I wanted to point out the “elephant in the room.” This movie is NOT the best told Spider-Man movie.  That honor belongs to Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2.

I’m not saying that Amazing Spider-Man 2 is the greatest Spider-Man movie, I’m saying it’s my favorite.

Amazing Spider-Man 2 has one critical flaw that practically ruins and taints the movie, namely, the Green Goblin.

The very fact that he’s in it at all ruins the movie.  Not because he’s a bad villain, but because he’s shoe horned into the movie at the end in such an awful way that it ruins the movie.

The movie is about two hours and thirty minutes long and the Green Goblin is in it for about ten minutes.  It’s incredible that in those ten minutes he pretty much manages to single handedly ruin the movie. It’s very disappointing.

However, there’s two hours twenty minutes of perfectly fun movie here.  If you focus on that instead of the crappy ten minutes of Goblin, then you’d see where I’m coming from.

Why it’s My Favorite Spider-Man Movie

Alright, so if the movie isn’t perfect, why is it my favorite?  Why is this my favorite instead of one of the Raimi movies? After all, it seems like the majority people like the Raimi movies and hate the Mark Webb ones.

Well, here are my reasons:

1. Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker

I really like Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker.  I found him much more likable and relate-able than the Sam Raimi version.

In the Raimi version, Peter is a buffoon.  He’s a big clumsy goof.  He’s an awful lot like Jar Jar Binks.  People like that Peter because he makes them laugh and you feel bad for Peter.

In the comics though, Peter is never a buffoon.  If you read the very first Spider-Man comics drawn by Steve Ditko, you’d see that Peter is a smart, normal guy, who happens to be really into and really good at science. Because of this, he’s picked on by Flash Thompson and his girlfriend Liz.

Not only that but because of the way he’s treated, Peter in those comics is often an angry, emo, vengeful guy, who sometimes comes off as a jerk. Flaws he has to get over.

In the Ultimate Spider-Man comics Peter is written by Brian Michael Bendis as a normal but brilliant, kid who’s into science.  He’s not a goof or buffoon and he’s very likeable.

In The Amazing Spider-Man 1 and 2 Peter is portrayed by Andrew Garfield as a normal, and brilliant guy who also seems a bit anti-social since he doesn’t seem to have friends.  People seem to think he can be taken advantage of. As can be seen in that scene where the pretty girl tries to get him to do her boyfriend’s work.

He’s not a goofball, he’s just an “ordinary Joe.” I like that about him. We also see that he’s brilliant because he develops web shooters after becoming Spider-Man, in the first movie. Which is just like in the comics.

The Amazing Spider-Man movies also did something I thought was smart and necessary to Peter. It rebooted the series so he could be younger.

Peter works a bit better as when he’s younger. If he’s still in high school or even a freshman in college.  The Peter in Spider-Man 2 has just graduated high school. He’s still young and trying to figure out his place in the world.

Garfield’s performance is fun, sincere and believable. He’s also a very funny and sometimes awkward guy.

Peter is shown to be a good person, and a very smart guy.  This is a Peter I can identify with and he also rings true to the Peter from the comics.

I will also add here that his relationship with Harry Osborn is really nice in this.  There’s some really great tension in the movie between the two of them but you can also see that they’re friends.

I think that was done really well.

2. Emma Stones Gwen Stacy

Not only is she pretty, she’s smart too.  Smarter than Peter in fact.

She’s also funny, courageous and very confident.  She has goals and seems like someone who’s going places.

From the moment she first came on screen in Amazing Spider-Man 1, you start to like her.  Emma Stone does a wonderful job portraying her.

You can tell that, if Peter wasn’t in her life, she’d still be okay.  She doesn’t need to be in any kind of relationship.  She doesn’t need to be saved from her life.  She has a great life from the start.

She just happens to also be attracted to Peter and you WANT her to like him.

3. Peter and Gwen’s Relationship.

Spider-Man comics really worked best when they’re a combination of romance comics and superhero comics. Amazing Spider-Man 2 really captures this.  Amazing Spider-Man 1 also did this well though.

The relationship between Peter and Gwen really works in this movie. First, it works because, as I’ve said above, both Peter and Gwen are likeable people to begin with.  When they get together you understand why they like each other.

You can see that they complement each other.  They have he same interests, they make each other laugh, and they generally have a good time together.  Their relationship feels sincere.

It’s nice to see them together. You like them together.  It makes the movie fun.

There’s nothing false of forced about their relationship.

4. The Portrayal of Spider-Man

I think Amazing Spider-Man 2 has the best portrayal of Spider-Man in any movie.

From the first moment I saw him on screen I couldn’t can’t help but smile. First, he looks the part.  His costume looks great.

Second, as he swings through the city, you can tell he’s having a blast being Spidey. He’s also hitting as many comic poses as the animators can cram into every shot.

Not only that but you get the thing that was missing in the Raimi movies, Spidey’s banter. As he’s going around preventing crimes all over New York, he’s cracking jokes.

It screams Spider-Man.  This the Spidey I always wanted to see in the movies.

There’s even a scene where he’s modifying his webshooters in order to help him confronts the movie’s villain.  This is classic Spider-Man. This is the kind of thing Spidey did in the comics.

He also protects little kids and tries to give other people confidence.  This is the most likeable portray of Spider-Man there’s ever been.

More Good Than Bad

For all these reasons, Amazing Spider-Man 2 is now my favorite Spider-Man movie.  Most of the movie is full of what I wrote about above.

I didn’t write about Jammie Fox’s Electro.  He’s a decent villain and a good foil for Spider-Man to fight against.  The best part of the Electro scenes is how they emphasize how cool Spider-Man is.

He just let’s Spidey be Spidey, and in that respect, he’s  a great villain.

The Rhino is a good bad guy for the same reason.  He makes Spidey look cool.

The bad guys just make the good stuff about Spidey in the movie come out more.  Like I said at the beginning of the article, the weakest link in the movie is the Green Goblin. It felt rushed and taints the way you perceive the other good stuff in the movie.

Have You Seen It?

What do you think? I know this movie gets  a lot of hate from people.  I understand their frustration, but I also can see past the flaws.

Have you watched this movie? If  you have, what do you think?

If you haven’t, why not?

Sound off on the comments below.