Movie Review: The Amazing Spiderman 2

Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dana DeHaan Directed Marc Webb Rating: * ? There is an element of pronounced look-ma-no-hands exhibitionism bordering on narcissism in the way Garfield plays the eponymous Spiderman, the NCY do-gooder who spins a web across the Manhattan skyline. Alas, the spin that he gives to the over-the-top tale of Good Versus Evil seldom crosses the territory of a trippy trip through a toy-factory. Everything is larger than life and over-the-top here. Director Marc Webb who comes to us with the latest slinky and svelte segment of the Spiderman franchise from the world of music videos, gives an atrociously mis-punctuated interpretation to the tale of the innocent boy who wants to save humanity from evil. But who is going to avert the more imminent catastrophe that awaits this excessively accessorized and flabby franchise? There is a distasteful smell of decadence in the proceedings, as though the flamboyance has run its course and has been revived by cosmetic energy. Though the spectacle looks excessively vivacious and quite often uncontrollably shrill, it is underscored by a clumsy attempt to portray “normal lives” as conceptualized in Peter Parker’s relationship with his Aunt May (Sally Field) and with his sunny-faced pug-nosed girlfriend Gwen (Emma Stacey) who is as self-important as Priyanka Chopra in Krissh 3. Ms Stacey’s performance belongs to the desperately-seeking-salvation variety. These actors have seen better days. Krissh 3 reminds us of Vivek Oberoi who has dubbed in Hindi for Jamie Foxx’s weirdly wired-up character. Foxx plays a dysfunctional character named Electro who gets energized by an electrical accident industrial accident. By the time Electro sets out to put all the lights out in NYC, the film’s pulverized plot-line too is pretty much plunged into darkness. That light you see cutting stylishly across the frames is no more than an ersatz celebration of bonhomie in a world completely devoid of true joy meaning or wisdom. The Peter Parker-Gwen Stacey love story is filled with infantile banter about how to remain friends when the relationship threatens to dissolve under the pressure of his moonlighting job. All through the film Garfield’s character tries to make his super-hero avatar look “normal”. It isn’t easy being a world saviour cruising the skyline at the speed of sound while pretending it’s all part of a day’s work. Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker is in perpetual search of an identity. When he turns into Spiderman he makes a lot of self-effacing jokes which are more prophetic than humorous. The saviour is finally a joke played on civilization which has given up on true heroes and must now depend on callow teenagers who can somersault in the skyline without scraping the skyscrapers. For all his lofty plans to save the world Spiderman’s vision is as embarrassingly juvenile as the lines he is given to mouth. Close behind Garfield is Dane deHaan as Peter Parker’s best friend. An evil industrialist’s heir apparent deHaan plays a character desperately seeking a safety route to playing Spiderman’s main adversary. DeHaan’s Harry Osborne is let down by the script which doesn’t grow. It groans. Dialogues can lift a film far beyond the plot. We see this happen in this week’s Hindi release Kya Dilli Kya Lahore. In The Amazing Spiderman 2 the written lines only add to the intrinsic tedium of a plot that refuses to take itself lightly, all the while pretending to be dismissive of its own ambitions. The dialogues range from the self-important to the annoyingly fatuous. While the three scriptwriters, putting their heads together in the vain attempt to make the material rumble in spectacle, come up with nothing better than cheesy salvation for a race which thinks life is a video game played on the smart-phone, the special effects department comes up with nothing smarter than the comic-book heroes and villains silhouetted against vertiginous buildings. Even without climbing those heights we are left giddy anyway. It doesn’t matter how shallow the take on the life and times of Spiderman this time might be. The audience is given a huge dose of visual effects to lull the senses into a feeling of an impending storm. They will love it. Although the final impression is that of a super-hero who lost his relevance. Better luck next time.