Movie Review #95: The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

This has been a really awesome year for summer blockbusters and an even better year for comic book movies. In april we were blessed with the best Marvel Cinematic Universe sequel to date in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. In late may Bryan Singer returned to the X-Men franchise to bring us a series highpoint with Days of Future Past. And earlier this month James Gunn surprised everyone with Guardians of the Galaxy.

All three of these films are certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with an 88% or higher. The Amazing Spider-Man 2, according to Rotten Tomatoes and fans, has been receiving the similar reception that last years Man of Steel had. Of all the Marvel movies to come out this year, this sequel has been the most forgotten about. People either seemed to love it or hate it. And being that I absolutely detested the first Andrew Garfield Spider-Man film, I stayed away from this film until its Blu-Ray release. So I went in expecting nothing, but what were my final thoughts on it?

In The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Peter Parker faces the struggle of balancing his social life, family, friends and relationship with the great power and great responsibility of being Spider-Man. Meanwhile a new villain named Electro surfaces with a personal vendetta against the wed-slinging wall crawler. At the same time we are (re)-introduced to Harry Osborn who for particular reasons, also has a vendetta against Spidey. And theres another villain (kinda) called the Rhino who doesn't have an issue with Spider-Man, he's just a villain because we need there to be a third one. Kinda. All while this happens, Peter and Gwen Stacey's relationship is put to the test when she is up for a scholarship at Oxford and could possibly be leaving him behind. Peter also does some digging into the deaths of his parents and to see if his father left him any clues behind. And as if we couldn't have any more subplots! We have, amazingly, another subplot! The same shadowed figure at the end of the last film returns and is forming The Sinister Six: An evil gang of super-villains out to destroy Spider-Man.

If you couldn't tell by now, this film is filled to the brim with more subplots than an ensemble romantic comedy. And as expected with any movie dealing with multiple story-lines, some are fleshed out while some other far more interesting ones are left undercooked.

Before I begin bashing the film I'll let you in on what is good because there are some good parts to be found. As much as I love the original Sam Rami Spider-Man trilogy, perhaps the weakest element was the romance. Here it is done excellently. The chemistry between Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone is unmistakable. Sure it travels into the schmaltzy/cheesy territory every once in a while, but their interactions are so strong that I honestly found it believable and likable. Even when it gets annoying from how adorable they're acting with each-other.

As expected, the visuals are excellent. Heck, they're probably the only part of this film that warrants the title of "amazing". The movie is expertly shot (on 35 mm film!) by Star Trek and future Star Wars Episode VII cinematographer Dan Mindel. The Spider-Man POV swinging shots are absolutely stellar.

The biggest and most critical flaw with this movie is the same issue I found with Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor: The Dark World, Iron Man 2 and Iron Man 3: The villains stink. It's the same problem with Spider-Man 3, they threw far too many villains on the screen at once and didn't care to flesh them out or make them interesting. Come to think of it, the only villain in Spider-Man 3 that really got shortchanged was Venom. The Sandman was fully established with a reason for being a criminal and New Goblin had a personal reason to kill Spider-Man. Even though Venom wasn't developed at all, two out of three isn't bad. But of the three villains in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, not a single one was interesting.

The first and arguably the main villain is Max Dillon a.k.a Electro, played by Jamie Foxx. He's a lonely nerd that works at Oscorp and is completely obsessed with Spider-Man. He's a psychotic fan in the truest sense. Like Kathy Bates in Misery but more awkward than scary. He gets turned into Electro after being electrocuted and falling into a tank of conveniently placed electric eels. Seriously, why were those eels there? Do all big businesses have vats of eels in the basement? I'm getting off track here...

Jamie Foxx does his best with the script, but when the script has his character underdeveloped and uninteresting... he's going to come off that way. The design of Electro is really unique and cool to look at, but I've been saying that about all of the weak Marvel movie villains.

Dane Dehaan plays Harry Osborn and his on-screen friendship with Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker is more natural that with Tobey Maguire and James Franco. But if there is one element of the Sam Rami films that is infinitely superior it is the development of Harry Osborn. Let me show a brief timeline of Harry's development in the original trilogy:

FYI, spoilers ahead. You've been warned.

• Spider Man (2002): Harry (played by James Franco) is introduced. His friendship is established with Peter along with his relationship with his father Norman Osborn. The film ends with his father being killed and him vowing vengeance against Spider-Man for what he's done.
• Spider-Man 2 (2004): Harry takes over Oscorp and learns Spider-Man's identity. The film ends with him discovering his fathers weapons and armor as the Green Goblin. Hinting that he will take up the mantel and follow in his fathers footsteps.
• Spider-Man 3 (2007): Harry becomes the New Goblin, tries to kill Peter but loses his memory. He gets it back by the end of the film to save Peter and tragically dies.

Let's compare this timeline with what happened to Harry in The Amazing Spider-Man 2:

• The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014): Harry is introduced. His father dies after sharing one conversation with him on his deathbed that lasts for less than five minutes. (Serious waste of a perfectly good Chris Cooper cameo). We learn of a genetic illness that is slowly killing Harry. Peter is re-introduced to Harry. They reminisce on their friendship as kids, (which would have been nice to see!) Harry asks Peter for Spider-Mans blood to heal him of his disease. Spider-Man says no and Harry becomes psychotic at the drop of a hat. Takes an experimental cure that turns him into an actual Goblin. He fights Spider-Man for slightly longer than five minutes and ends up in prison. And all of this happens over the course of this two and a half hour movie.

If I could describe this in one word, that word would be "rushed". Sam Rami took his time telling Harry's story over the course of three films. Here, you can tell the writers were wanting to get Harry's story over with so they could move on to the Sinister Six spin-off film. Which, to be fair, does sound like a more interesting film.

And as for Paul Giamatti as The Rhino... never-mind. It's not even worth talking about a character that even the screenwriters themselves forgot about. Don't believe me? Just watch the movie. You'll understand what I'm talking about.

James Horner, the composer of the first Marc Webb film, is replaced by Hans Zimmer of Man of Steel, The Dark Knight and Pirates of the Caribbean fame. I expected some great themes after Horner's forgettable score. That is not the case. As it turns out, Zimmer composed the score with the help of Pharrell Williams and former lead guitarist of The Smith's Johnny Marr. An interesting team to say the least. The final product is one of the most awkward and bizarre musical scores I've ever heard. Particularly in the villain theme music for Electro. It sounds like a bunch of creepy whispers played over some really crumby pseudo-dubstep. It's almost unlistenable.

Final Report: While it's far and away from one of the worst Marvel movies ever made, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a mess nonetheless. It's shot nicely on 35 mm film, the visual effects are undeniably impressive and the romance is strong, but the story suffers from an overabundance of villains and subplots. All of which are either underdeveloped or hinted at with zero payoff whatsoever.

And yet, surprisingly, I liked this film more than the first Amazing Spider-Man! The main reason I hated the first Andrew Garfield movie was because it failed to bring anything new to the screen. In this sequel, something new was brought to the Spider-Man universe that we hadn't seen before. And while it wasn't presented and executed as well as it could have been, it still made for a more interesting chapter in the Amazing Spider-Man franchise nonetheless.

Movie Review #94: Hercules (2014)

Hey look! A movie that no one is talking about! Well what better time is there for me to share my thoughts on a film that everyone will probably forget about ever seeing!

Dwayne The Rock Johnson stars as the demigod Hercules. The son of Zeus has completed his 12 labors and is now, essentially, a bodyguard for hire. He and his other muscular, battle-ready comrades are called by the Thracian king, played by John Hurt, to fight a group of rebels that are attacking the city.

Perhaps the main reason this movie isn't generating any buzz is because it's directed by Brett Ratner. If you're unfamiliar with that name, let me briefly inform you. He's probably one of the most hated directors working today. Not because he consistently churns out bad movie after bad movie, but rather for his offscreen reputation which I'm not going to delve into at all. I personally think that judging a director by his actions rather than the movies he produces is the exact opposite of what a movie reviewer should do. I said in my Maleficent review that I don't care for Angelina Jolie as a person, but I praised her performance as the highlight of the film. And that is the case here. Brett Ratner might be a jerk in real life but he knows how to shoot action.

I was expecting this film to be a complete Zach Snyder, Matrix/300-esque ripoff that we've seen time and time again recently with an overabundance of CGI and slow-motion fight scenes. To my great surprise, no! The fight scenes were well choreographed, the slow-motion was used very sparingly and the majority of the CGI was used on the few animals and creatures seen in the trailer. It was actually rather refreshing to see on screen.

I am a huge fan of Dwayne The Rock Johnson. He's the modern action star of my generation and probably the coolest celebrity alive. While he might not be the greatest actor, he does his job well enough as Hercules. It's entertaining watching The Rock hit people with a giant stick. Is it just me, but does he look more like Conan the Barbarian than Hercules? While watching this film I couldn't help but find a resemblance between The Rock and an early 1980's era Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The supporting cast is completely expendable. Hercules has a posse of sorts with other warriors and I don't remember a single one of their names. The only one I actually enjoyed was Ian Mcshane. I couldn't be able to tell you if your had a gun pointed at my head, but he had a few good lines and a rather interesting character trait with that being he can see how he is going to die. Which leads to some interesting situations that I enjoyed seeing.

Honestly, I'm not gonna waist much time on this film. It's not terrible, but it's not memorable. It kind of reminded me of G. I. Joe Retaliation in the sense that I completely forgot that I saw a movie ten minutes after leaving the cineplex.

Final Report: The action scenes might be filmed in a more traditional way and The Rock is always fun to watch, but the bottom line is that Hercules is neither as inventive or as fun as it should/could have been. It comes off as both dull and boring, but it's mostly just a waste of time.

Movie Review #93: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

At first I found it to be rather unusual that the tagline to the first Guardians of the Galaxy poster was "You're Welcome." But when I walked out of the theater today, I realized that the tagline meant something along the lines of,
"You just saw one of the funniest, action-packed movies of the year just now. You're welcome."
Ah, now it all makes perfect sense.

Guardians of the Galaxy is the last (and easily the most hyped) Marvel movie of the year. It is also the biggest gamble the studio has made since.... well, ever! It's a risky and ambitious project to adapt to the silver screen because prior to this films release and inevitable success, no one had ever heard of these guys! Heck when I heard that Marvel was going to make a movie called Guardians of the Galaxy, I thought they were talking about that Zach Snyder animated movie The Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'hoole. Does anyone remember that film? I never saw it, but that was the first thing that came to mind.

Nonetheless, the first trailer made it loud and clear that this movie was gonna be something completely different from all of the other films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe from the tone and visuals. And talk about a breath of fresh air because Guardians of the Galaxy is everything we wanted it to be and then some!

For a film as off-the-wall as this, the plot is pretty straightforward. Chris Pratt plays an outer-space outlaw named Peter Quill a.k.a Star-Lord. He is on the run from an intergalactic super-villain named Ronan the Accuser played by Lee Pace because Quill stole something that he wants. And what he wants will give him the power to destroy the galaxy. Star-Lord comes across an assassin named Gamora played by Zoe Saldana, a revenge-hungry psychopath played by WWE star Dave Bautista, a giant tree-like creature called Groot played by Vin Diesel and a foul-mouthed, gun-smokin', genetically modified Raccoon named Rocket played by Bradley Cooper. Forming the Guardians of the Galaxy.

I am a huge science-fiction fan. I crave movies that take place in outer-space and on strange planets. And we get so much visual eye candy that it was like looking through the Hubble Telescope at the most colorful galaxy in the sky! This is without a doubt the most visually unique comic book film I've seen since Hellboy: The Golden Army. The futuristic technology, spaceships and weapons were all designs that I hadn't seen before. Guardians of the Galaxy doesn't just have the distinct, colorful visual style of The Lego Movie, it also has the characters and humor too!

Chris Pratt is perfectly cast as the wise-cracking Peter Quill. Pratt expertly walks the line of womanizing scoundrel and lovable underdog. I mean how can you not love a character that gives himself a nickname because no one else does? Zoe Saldana is also a lot of fun as Gamora. She and Pratt have feisty chemistry together. Dave Bautista really surprised me as Drax. Is his acting terrific? Not really. But come on, they didn't cast this professional wrestler for a deep, tour-de-force performance. They needed a buff dude that can get angry at the drop of a hat. And he does that very well. And it's awesome. What is perhaps the most interesting aspect these three lead characters share is that they all have interesting, heartfelt and surprisingly emotional backstories. Which was something i didn't expect all three leads to have!

But regardless of how terrific Star-Lord, Gamora and Drax were, everyone who walks out of this movie is going to be talking about Bradley Cooper as Rocket Raccoon. Talk about getting lost in a role! This character might be a thief on screen, but he steals every scene he's on screen!

Vin Diesel as Groot is essentially the Chewbacca of the movie. He might not say much, but you'd be surprised how emotive and likable of a presence they made a walking, 8-foot tall tree. The only words he can say are "I am Groot" and only in that specific order. And like Han Solo with Chewbacca, Rocket can understand Groot and I found it extremely funny how he was able to have essentially a one-sided conversation with a character that says the same thing over and over again.

I am a lover of film scores and while Tyler Bates score is fine, it's completely overshadowed by the absolutely fabulous soundtrack! The song choices for certain scenes add another level of comedy that just makes it even funnier. Ever since that first trailer debuted I haven't been able to get Hooked on a Feeling by Blue Swede out of my head. And I'm not complaining!

I have but two issues with the film. Ronan the Accuser is your typical, one-dimmensional, generic baddie with no backstory or character arc. The only things kind of cool about him is the actor that plays him and the way he looks because his costume and makeup are terrific. What is it with Marvel movies and their villains recently? This is the tenth movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and we've only had one really terrific villain in Tom Hiddleston as Loki.

Luckily, my second issue is more of a personal flaw than an actual drawback. With this being the last Marvel Cinematic Universe film until The Avengers: Age of Ultron, I was hoping there would have been a post-credits scene teasing about what was in store. What we got instead was Howard the Duck. And I am not even joking. I guess writer/director James Gunn thought it would be rather clever to include such an obscure 80's science-fiction reference, but I was disappointed. Again, a very small issue I had in a movie that was filled with so much great stuff!

Final Report: Guardians of the Galaxy might sound ridiculous on paper and look even more ridiculous in the trailers... and that's because it is. And that's precisely what makes it so terrific! It knows exactly what it is and just rolls with it. It has all the comedy, colors, emotion and Chris Pratt of The Lego Movie, with a hysterical on-screen team and a toe-tapping soundtrack to boot!
Hooked on a Feeling? Nope. I'm hooked on this movie.

Movie Review #92: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)

I"ve finally gotten around to seeing Dawn of the Planet of the Apes! The only reason it took me so long is that Transformers 4 left such a bad taste in my mouth that I've been frightened to set foot in my local multiplex since. Just kidding! The real reason is that I've been flat broke all month because I had spent all my money on Taco Bell. And sadly, I'm not joking about that...
But I was going to see apes ride horses in the theaters one way or another! It just took a lot longer than I wanted it to.

If you went back in time to 2011 and asked any movie reviewer what their top 10 most anticipated films of the summer were, I'd bet you that not many people would be really looking forward to Rise of the Planet of the Apes. But to everyone's surprise, it was actually a really awesome movie! The film received stellar reviews from critics and fans alike and went on to do well at the box office. And three years later we now have our highly anticipated sequel!

This time around the apes have taken over and the only humans left are those immune to the virus. Caesar and the rest of the apes have been in the wild for roughly ten years. They've been living peacefully until they encounter a group of humans for the first time in many years. The group, lead by Jason Clarke and Keri Russell, was trying to get to a hydroelectric power dam to bring the lights back to the rest of the survivors living in San Francisco. Which leads the humans and apes to work together and help each other out. But that's just the gist of it because the story is much more complex, compelling and emotional than that. And that is a very good thing.

If I had to pick out one or two flaws with Rise of the Planet of the Apes, I would say that the human characters weren't very interesting. Probably because the apes are just far more interesting. I might like James Franco and John Lithgow as actors, but in that film I did not care about what there fate would be. In Dawn of the Planet of the Apes however, I genuinely cared for the human characters! Jason Clarke is a great actor (see Zero Dark Thirty for further evidence). His character might not be the most fleshed out, but he has a genuine likability about him that made me want to see him come out of this safely. The rest of the human cast, consisting of Keri Russel, Gary Oldman and Kodi-Smit Mcphee, give fine, if forgettable performances. There's nothing bad about them per say, but none of them really stood out as much as Jason Clarkes'. Speaking of stand-out performances, let's get to the real stars; the apes!!!

We've all heard of the phrase "Less is More" at least once or twice in our lives, right? That quote really comes into play during the first ten minutes of this film. There isn't a single audible line of dialogue during that period of time. It's just the apes communicating with one another using hand gestures and occasional grunts. Those ten minutes allow us, the audience, to become immersed in the environment and the atmosphere with the help of some steady handed cinematography and a terrific score by Michael Giacchino. In a summer blockbuster like this, long drawn out quiet moments aren't exactly what you would first expect, but that is what gives this film the extra mile and my respect.

And while there are quiet, intimate moments, there are more than enough action-packed, heart-pounding, apes riding horses while firing machine guns moments to be had! Particularly in the thrilling third act that both pumped my adrenaline and tugged at my heartstrings. The film cost $170,000,000 dollars to make and not a single dollar was spent unwisely. Weta Workshop, the visual effects company behind Avatar, King Kong and The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films, has really outdone themselves with what might be their most impressive work yet. But motion capture work is only as good as the performances given by the actors being animated, and this film brilliantly showcases a scene-stealing Toby Kebbell and an Oscar-worthy Andy Serkis.

There are many terrific actors working today that desperately deserve recognition from the Academy and Andy Serkis, no questions asked, tops that list. He has wowed and amazed us for years with his legendary portrayal of Gollum that elevated the art of acting into a whole new galaxy of class. And his performance as Caesar is quite possibly his best work to date. He commands such an unparalleled presence on screen in this film. When he speaks, motions with his hand or just doesn't do anything at all, our eyes are focused on him, anticipating what he will do. He's also able to convey so much emotion just from a look in his eyes. That's why motion capture is a tool that should be used to animate creatures instead of people, because you can get human-like responses from animals with motion capture. When you try to use motion capture to animate humans, they end up appearing more like dead, soulless, stiff ghosts rather than people. Yes I'm looking at you Robert Zemeckis.

The only times Serkis is not the center of attention is when Toby Kebbell as Koba appears. Who is Toby Kebbel you may ask? He's an English actor not primarily known for motion capture acting like Andy Serkis. Why do I bring that up? Because he delivers the best, non-Andy Serkis motion capture performance I've ever seen. He plays the ape from the first film that was tortured and experimented on and he has a bit of a temper. Well when I say "a bit", I mean more like a seething hatred and prejudice of all humans. There was a particular scene, that I will not spoil, when he switches emotions from calm and collected to loathsome detestation in the blink of an eye. It's was incredibly shocking and actually quite terrifying. And I loved every minute he was on screen.

Final Report: With exciting action sequences, stunning effects, a great villain, a powerful performance by Andy Serkis and more apes on horses than you can shake a stick at, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes improves upon its 2011 predecessor in every possible aspect! Making this "The Empire Strikes Back" of the series.

Sorry for the long wait. I saw this film a week earlier than this but had a bad case of writers block every time I approached my keyboard. Better late than never I guess.

Expect a Guardians review very soon.