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Release date:
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May 1, 2014
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Director:
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Marc Webb
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Cast:
Language:
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Andrew Garfield,
Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Sally Field, Dane DeHaan, Paul Giamatti, Dennis Leary
English
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There’s a point in last year’s Man of Steel, when Clark Kent in his pre-Superman childhood days
uses his superpowers to save another kid from an accident. Much to his
confusion, instead of gratitude
he evokes fear in that child. “People are scared of what they don’t
understand,” his foster father played by Kevin Costner explains to him.
Sometimes, undeterred by
that reaction, the object of fear goes on to become Superman, Spiderman or some
other enemy of evil; sometimes that reaction combined with self-doubt brings
out negativity, as it did with Lizard, the bad guy from the first instalment of
this film series, and Electro from The
Amazing Spider-man 2.
In a nation where a
debate on Section 377 is raging; where politicians in election season are
trying hard to net votes by invoking fear of the “other”; where efforts are on
to demonise Muslims, secular Hindus, homosexuals, hijras, feminists and anyone whose ideology, personal choices or intrinsic
characteristics can be used to paint them as aliens; in such a nation at this
point in our history, Electro from The
Amazing Spiderman 2 is a telling and poignant villain.
He doesn’t choose to
become what he becomes. He is just a brilliant scientist going unnoticed by his
colleagues until one day he is bitten by a tank-full of gigantic electric eels
and mutates into a human generator of electricity. He didn’t seek out the power
that came to him accidentally, nor is it his fault that he doesn’t at first know
how to control it. “I just wanted people to see me,” he cries out helplessly
when by-standers on the streets of New York react in horror as he himself first
becomes aware of his own might as a mutant. But people’s fear compels him to
protect himself, and that’s when all hell breaks loose.
This happens part-way
through the film. The Amazing Spider-man
2 starts with a flashback to Peter Parker’s childhood and his parents’
murder. That being dealt with, we are back with Peter (Andrew Garfield) where
we’d left him in The Amazing Spider-man:
a youngster living with his Aunt May (Sally Field). Peter graduates with his girlfriend
Gwen Stacey (Emma Stone) and becomes a photographer whose calling card is that
he has provided pictures of Spiderman to The
Daily Bugle. Gwen becomes an intern at Oscorp, the company for which
Peter’s dad had worked before his death. Remember Oscorp is where Lizard was
born when the scientist Curt Connors injected himself with a serum containing
genetically modified lizard DNA.
As Spidey continues to
fight crime in New York, he’s also battling the worry that his work could some
day put Gwen in danger. Meanwhile, his childhood friend Harry Osborne (Dane
DeHaan), son of Oscorp founder Norman Osborne, returns to New York and urgently
needs to find Spiderman for his own personal reasons. He turns to Peter for
help, not knowing the truth about Spidey. It’s also around this time that
Electro (Jamie Foxx) is born.
Director Marc Webb efficiently
negotiates the multiple strands in the screenplay without allowing it to appear
convoluted at any point. American superhero films seem fixated on a
powers-being-handed-from-father-to-son narrative, but Aunt May here is no
silent spectator. For that matter, Gwen is no sidekick to Spidey either. She’s
a feisty equal partner who fires him for daring to take a decision on her
behalf in a bid to “protect” her. It is her scientific mind that provides Peter
with a solution to combat Electro’s powers. And it is she who is the centre of
many of the film’s most touching scenes. Through her we even discover that our
Spidey is a feminist, that he’s not one of those guys who expects his girlfriend
or wife to follow him across the world wherever his career may take him while
she puts her dreams on hold.
Garfield and Stone are
both lovely to look at and excellent actors. Their beauty, charm, charisma and
undeniable chemistry might have sustained a much thinner screenplay. Here, with
the backing of strong writing, they effectively convey to us the romance,
companionship, sexual sparks, heartache and heartbreak involved in their
relationship.
The two leads are
backed by a supporting cast of wonderful actors though it has to be said that Oscar
winner Jamie Foxx is given short shrift. We see little of him in his
pre-Electro avatar, and as Electro we can barely decipher his face. Still,
that’s not as bad as the embarrassingly insignificant role played by Irrfan
Khan in the last film. On another front, it’s sad that superhero films rarely
get the attention of awards-givers. If it weren’t for past trends, I’d have put
my money on Field getting a bunch of Best Supporting Actress noms by year-end.
The screenplay of The Amazing Spiderman 2 has considerable
depth, but it’s not without its flaws. First, it skims over the reason for
Electro’s animosity towards Spiderman. Since we are not drawn into their
enmity, that takes away much of the edge from their confrontations. Second,
some of the satellite scenes needed to have been better written and directed,
such as that awkwardly handled one in Aunt May’s hospital room when the lights
come back on and she acts like a boss which in fact she is not, as is evident
from an earlier conversation she had with Peter. Third, Garfield and Stone are
so much more interesting than Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst who played Spidey
and his girlfriend in Sam Raimi’s film series, yet this film like the first Amazing Spider-man, sorely lacks that
one defining moment of burning romance akin to that electrifying upside-down
kiss in the rain that has immortalised Maguire and Dunst.
TAS2’s special effects and
action are top-notch though the music fails to stir. Overall, it is a high-adrenaline
experience, zipping from one crest to the next to the next, leaving the viewer with
little time to think or complain. In short, The
Amazing Spiderman 2 is great fun.
Rating (out of five): ***1/2
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CBFC Rating (India):
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U/A
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Running time:
MPAA Rating (US):
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142 minutes
PG-13 (for sequences of sci-fi action/violence)
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Release date in the US:
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May 2, 2014
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Poster and videos courtesy: Sony
Pictures Entertainment
