THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2: RISE OF ELECTRO (2014) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

the amazing spider-man 2: rise of electro (2014) movie

Genre              |   Science Fiction

Classification   |   M

Running time   |   142 minutes

Released         |   2 May 2014 

cast

Andrew Garfield ... Spider-Man / Peter Parker
Emma Stone ... Gwen Stacy
Jamie Foxx ... Electro / Max Dillon
Dane DeHaan ... Green Goblin / Harry Osborn
Colm Feore ... Donald Menken
Felicity Jones ... Felicia
Paul Giamatti ... Aleksei Sytsevich
Sally Field ... Aunt May
Embeth Davidtz ... Mary Parker
Campbell Scott ... Richard Parker
Marton Csokas ... Dr. Ashley Kafka
​B.J. Novak ... Alistair Smythe

director

Marc Webb

writer

​Alex Kurtzman ... (screenplay) &
Roberto Orci ... (screenplay) &
Jeff Pinkner ... (screenplay)
 
Alex Kurtzman ... (screen story) &
Roberto Orci ... (screen story) &
Jeff Pinkner ... (screen story) and
James Vanderbilt ... (screen story)
 
Stan Lee ... (Marvel comic book) and
Steve Ditko ... (Marvel comic book)

cinematographer

Dan Mindel ... director of photography

music

​​Michael Einziger ... (as The Magnificent Six)
Junkie XL ... (as The Magnificent Six)
Andrew Kawczynski
Johnny Marr
Pharrell Williams
Hans Zimmer

film editor

Pietro Scalia

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box office result

Worldwide             $​​​​​​​​​​​​​708,982,323

Australia                 $​​​​​​​​14,859,113

North America       $​​​​202,853,933

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movie minutiae

The humorously hateful news boss J. Jonah Jameson, one of the most iconic characters in Spider-Man's mythos, was never mentioned in THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (2012). In this sequel he is spoken of frequently but never appears. The producers claimed they could not find an actor to measure up to J.K. Simmons' legendary portrayal of this character in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films. Stan Lee, the writer who came up with the idea for these characters and makes cameo appearances in all the films, has often said he would volunteer to play Jameson if he (Lee) were 30 or 40 years younger. Ironically, when casting SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME (2019), they could still think of no one better than Simmons, so he resumed his role as Jamison.

​The future of The Amazing Spider-Man franchise was widely reported to be incredibly confusing following this films release. In the build up of the film and indeed the few months after its release, it was confirmed that it would be followed by The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and a Sinister Six spin-off film, with Venom and an untitled female super heroine films as well as The Amazing Spider-Man 4 also confirmed to be in the works. However, in August Sony announced that The Sinister Six would take the place of The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and that the third in the trilogy would be pushed back to an unspecified date in 2018. Then, during a hack into Sony's email, it was revealed with much media coverage that Sony had approached Marvel Studios with a deal to share the rights of the franchise of which Marvel refused. During this period of time, it was also revealed that Sony wished to fire Andrew Garfield due to his speaking out of the production studio and refusal to meet them for company events. After a lengthy silence, Sony and Marvel revealed on 9 February 2015 they would work together to produce a new Spider-Man series (set in the "Marvel Cinematic Universe") and that The Amazing Spider-Man franchise was canceled.

When this Sony (Columbia) film was shown in theaters, a mid-credits teaser for Fox's X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST (2014), produced by 20th Century Fox, was included. Director Marc Webb violated a contract with Fox to make a film for them after THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (2012) in order to return to Sony for this franchise; thus Sony had to agree to promote Fox's X-Men movie for free. The scene, which was not included in the video release, is unusual for a mid-credits teaser, in that it is actual footage from the film it is promoting (the scene in Vietnam with Stryker/Mystique).

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related movies

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (2012)

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2: RISE OF ELECTRO (2014) MOVIE IMAGES

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THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2: RISE OF ELECTRO (2014) STORY SYNOPSIS

THE AMZING SPIDER-MAN 2: RISE OF ELECTRO sees the return of Peter Parker and his web-slinging alter-ego. This time he's up against at least three foes in the form of Electro, Rhino and The Green Goblin. The first AMAZING SPIDER-MAN film was released in July 2012 and surprised many with its strong global box office performance despite its relatively straight forward story. The film eventually finished $752 million worldwide and justified Sony's decision to announce the sequel even before the first film had been released.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2: RISE OF ELECTRO sees Andrew Garfield reprise his role as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, Sally Field as Aunt May and Dennis Leary as Captain Stacy are also returning for the sequel. Joining the returning cast are Jamie Foxx as Electro, Paul Giamati as Rhino, Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborn, Chris Cooper as Norman Osborn.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2: RISE OF ELECTRO (2014) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 1 May 2014

​​Pop Movee Rating

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2: RISE OF ELECTRO works very hard to achieve two very different objectives...

The first objective is to tell the developing love story between Peter Parker, played by Andrew Garfield, and Gwen Stacy, played by Emma Stone.

The second objective is to set-up this new Spider-Man franchise with a backstory that allows future movies to bring in an array of villains to battle Garfield’s Spider-Man.

The result of attempting to balance these two objectives is a film that is too long and, by the end, feels as if it has not advanced much further than where Peter Parker and his alter-ego were at the end of his first film. By no means is it a bad film; it’s just not great. Central to the film’s challenges is the story; which is in need of focus and a more disciplined structure.

In a play lifted straight from their previous writing efforts, most notably the J.J. Abrams ‘Star Trek’ films, screen writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (both part of the STAR TREK (2009) and STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS (2013) writing team) open the story with two set pieces that “drop” the audience in the action from the very opening moment of the film.

The film opens with a flashback piece designed to broaden the story-telling scope for this second movie and features Richard and Mary Parker, played by Campbell Scott & Embeth Davidtz. It clearly establishes that the Parker’s were involved in a larger conspiracy with Norman Osborn, played by Chris Cooper, and that Peter may – hopefully – learn the truth about what happened to his parents.

The film cuts back to the present day to show Spider-Man chasing down Russian terrorist Aleksei Sytsevich, played by Paul Giamatti. This second set-piece is absolute filler, serving only to introduce Giamatti in a way that is pure franchise-building and has very little to do with the film’s immediate story.

With these two expository pieces done, the movie brings Peter and Gwen together at their High School Graduation ceremony and gets the present-day action moving.

The scenes between Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are easily the best element of what THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2: ROSE OF ELECTRO has to offer its audience.

​Director Marc Webb is blessed by circumstance in that his two lead actors in this film are a real-life couple and there’s an easy, genuine chemistry that makes it a pleasure to watch how their inter-actions over the course of the film.

Emma Stone is especially good and she brings a lightness that helps lift Andrew Garfield’s performance. Literally lurking in the background however, is the spectre of Gwen’s father, played by Dennis Leary, who died at the end of the first film. The promise that Peter made to Captain Stacy – to keep Gwen out of what Spider-Man does – weighs heavily on him in this film and much of what informs Peter’s thinking is driven by how he can keep Gwen safe.

For most of the film, this part of the story works...

There is one set-up, where both Peter and Gwen are at Oscorp, that feels contrived but, the majority of the time, Kurtzman and Orci, along with fellow writer Jeff Pinkner, get the dynamic between the two leads right.

Marc Webb and Cinematographer Dan Mindel do a reasonable job of capturing these relationship ups and downs and the film works best when the camera is still and allows the actors to do the work.

Oscorp itself, once again, plays a very important part in this film. Both Jamie Foxx’s Electro and Dane DeHaan’s Harry Osborn are by-products of Norman Osborn’s less-than-ethical endeavours in the field of bio-engineering.

Jamie Foxx starts the film as Max Dillon, a low-level employee of Oscorp who believes that the company he works for has appropriated research work he has done on a significant engineering project. After being left to fix a potentially catastrophic problem, which no one else seems to believe is that big an issue, Max has an unfortunate accident that sees him attacked by a group of not-so-nice bio-engineered electric eels. The accident leads to the creation of Max’s self-proclaimed character of Electro.

Jamie Foxx’s performance in this film is a real problem.

He’s not quite believable as Max Dillon, an awkward geeky guy who loves Spider-Man, and he’s so one-note as Electro that his performance is out-of-step with the other leads, all of whom do their best to deliver their lines in an adult manner that makes the audience sympathise with their situation. It’s no longer acceptable for film-makers to deliver one-note villains that may be fun for actors to play but are tedious for the audiences to watch. Even in a comic book film like THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2: RISE OF ELECTRO the villains should be written and portrayed with motivation that informs their action; not just because they can wreak havoc and destruction for the sake of it!

Fortunately, Dane DeHann’s Harry Osborn gets it. His performance is more measured and his motivation is very clear. Afflicted by a family illness, he believes that the only way to be cured is for him to be injected with Spider-Man’s blood. This leads to another moral dilemma for Peter Parker. He wants to help save his childhood friend, but he knows giving him his blood may have unforeseen implications that his alter-ego will have to deal with in the future. Harry’s reaction to not getting what he wants leads directly to the film’s climax where every main character pays a price in some way shape and form. 

​The problem with THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2: RISE OF ELECTRO is that, by the end, it doesn’t feel as if it has progressed Peter’s story very far. He is still confronted by the same demons he had at the end of the first film.

The very end of the film sees the introduction of Rhino into the fray, as Paul Giamatti’s character is busted out of prison, but even this sequence feels awkward. There’s nothing organic about it and it’s been written purely to service franchise-potential and not the film itself. The scene feels as if the film’s producers have eschewed the Marvel post-credit sequence in favour of a tacked-on scene that is part of the movie and tells the audience another film will be released because Sony have already announced to the world that there will be at least another two Spider-Man movies, along with stand-alone Venom and Sinister Six stories.

Therein is the problem of THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2: RISE OF ELECTRO. Too much time is taken with establishing a “universe” for the ongoing franchise and not enough time is spent on telling the ongoing story of the hero! 

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2: RISE OF ELECTRO (2014) USEFUL LINKS

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - Wikipedia
​The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) - IMDb
​The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) - Rotten Tomatoes​

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