Even after the first Amazing Spider-Man, I often debated on who was the better Peter Parker/Spider-Man as I liked both Tobey Maguire, from the previous trilogy directed by Sam Raimi, and Andrew Garfield. Well I can safely say, that without a doubt, Garfield's performance in this film surely sealed the deal on who was the overall better Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker is very charming, charismatic, yet awkward and sort of a goofball, which the character of Peter Parker ultimately is. And as Spider-Man he is heroic, cool, funny, kind of a wisecracker, and obviously has a huge heart. Andrew Garfield has definitely represented this character perfectly, whereas Tobey Maguire, there definitely some flaws with him. Emma Stone is enchanting and highly charismatic as Peter's love interest, Gwen Stacy. Continuing from her stellar performance as the character in the first film, Stone still impresses and succeeds to deliver. Plus, the chemistry between Garfield and Stone is just perfect! The dialogue, deliveries, expressions, and romance the two talents and characters share are as solid as gold! The legitimate love the characters share with one another makes this couple easily one of the best superhero romantic couples to be put on screen, light years ahead of Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst! Jamie Foxx as Max Dillon/Electro at first seems like a copy of Jim Carrey's performance and character as Edward Nygma/The Riddler from Batman Forever. But here it really works, because even though it looks ludricous written on script, Foxx's performance sells Max Dillon's unstable and creepy personality, and as Electro, he continues to be literally chilling and uncontrollably unstable and intimidating. Dane DeHaan completely sells as Harry Osborn and blows James Francro portrayal in the Sam Raimi trilogy right out of the water! Every time Osborn appears, Dane captivates the screen with his presence, expression, and delivery. And it also so happens that he too shares great chemistry whenever he shares screen time with Andrew Garfield. When they share dialogue, it is totally believeable that these two were very good friends in the past. Plus, as a young man who's mind is continuously deteriorating and struggling to keep is sanity because of childhood hardships, being estranged from his father, and being in charge of a company that does not fully trust him, Dane DeHaan makes Harry Osborn a pretty disturbed and chilling character, like how I remembered him in printed Spider-Man comics. Sally Field is also very likable returning as Peter aunt, Aunt May. She too shares good moments with the film's lead in some rather touching moments. Each member of this cast gave solid to fantastic performances that are bound to be impressed by!
The action scenes are a spectacular to behold. For example, the opening scene wastes no time in giving what is considered to be one of the many highlights of the film. In the opening, the action is bright, fun, energetic, and creative. The same can go for the rest of the action scenes. They are beautifully choreographed and spectacle to look at. The score by composing legend Hans Zimmer is very well crafted, especially for the theme of Electro. The uneasy, loud, bombastic, and somewhat both techno and electric beats represent the character's unstable nature. The color palette of the film is thankfully bright this time around. One of the problems of the first film is that it was shot too much in the dark and a lot at night, so the action scenes that were supposed to be energetic just came across as not very engaging. But here everything is bright and pops out, even in the scenes that take place during the night time.
For me personally, I was able to follow the story just fine. Sure there were a lot of subplots to follow. But to be quite honest, all those sublopt, for me anyway were all very good and interesting anyway, so I find little to complain about. I was very much satisfied. I loved the story that was set about Peter and Gwen's relationship, where Peter had a dilemma in order to decide whether to stay away from her to protect her or her allow her to be a part of his life. I like Gwen's dilemma in choosing between a path that will lead her to a new and maybe promising love or a path where she gets to be with the guy she loves. I like following Peter Parker trying to discover the clues about his parents' secrets. And I like Electro's arc very much along with Harry Osborn's arc, witnessing a character study and just seeing someone slowly deteriorate into something nasty. There so many plots, yet each one succeed to at least connect and be intriguing character studies. The story provides a lot to love! The Amazing Spider-Man completes and succeeds in where the first film and the original trilogy had some flaws and gaps. Where the first film had good character study, a solid story, but missing a good amount of the fun and were the first two films of the original Sam Raimi trilogy were definitely fun and entertaining, there was a good amount of cheese and corniness that one would not stomach as much. Here we got the overall engaging story, interesting character studies, energetic entertainment, and of course the fun! This film really felt like a true Spider-Man story put to the screen. It is by far my favorite of the Spider-Man movies put together!
GRADE: AE
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