Personally, I have had a fear of spiders my whole life. Something I live with, I guess. Go ahead, judge me. One thing I never thought I'd find myself being afraid of is a movie. But, nevertheless, I fear there may be an Amazing Spider-Man 3 succeeding the true horror that is this film.
Marc Webb (coincidence? who knows) is at the helm for Spidey's second round in the ring that actually stays true to Stan Lee's beloved comic books. Unfortunately, he has produced what seems to be a disappointing and sub-par look into Peter Parker's life in the red and blue suit. Webb needs to get himself a new casting director for the third installment and ask the studio for a special effects team with a college degree. Too harsh of me? I don't know maybe a little bit. Go out and see it. But keep reading...
I'll come right out and say it, the best part about this movie is the acting talent of Mr. Andrew Garfield. He caught everyone's eye in The Social Network, showed he had legit potential in The Amazing Spider-Man, and is now flanked by a flawed supporting cast. Garfield adds a cool touch to the character of Peter Parker that was never Tobey Maguire's strength and his American accent is something not to be ignored as a British actor. He has many little scenes in this film that really suck the audience in (Note: one part where he saves a young boy from bullies) especially with added humorous one-liners that fit him perfectly. He gives you the sense of definitely being able to trust someone like this whether he is a comic book character or not. But, it is very easy to become detached from this character when he is forced to read the kind of dialogue that was in this script. Alex Kurtzman's (Transformers) writing is the biggest bummer of this whole movie. Who am I to judge, right? As a student of writing, I have a bit of an idea of what bad writing looks and sounds like. This material included.
Apart from Garfield, there's the ever-delightful Sally Field playing Peter's worrying, trustworthy, and loyal Aunt May. Emma Stone is really nothing to write home about reprising her role as Parker's love interest, Gwen Stacy. Dane DeHaan is a creepy and emo Harry Osborn. He pulls it off and comes off as strikingly intimidating but it is very hard to get past his voice that is not far off how I sounded in 8th grade. Then there's Jamie Foxx. He's given us incredibly electrifying performances and even has an Academy Award for his portrayal as Ray Charles. So, what in God's name is he doing playing an electric Smurf? Foxx plays Electro, an obsessed Spidey-Fan turned arch-rival. He is the greatest victim of the dismal dialogue and a complete 180 from the acting we're used to seeing from him, plus, the weak dub step that accompanies his blasts add factors to the equation. It just doesn't fit.
In the end, it's safe to say that there's a lot this movie searched for and apparently its web became too big to handle. Over-reaching at it's finest. Sorry, Spidey. GRADE: 6.5/10
