Falling Without a Spiderweb

The superhero saga and the cramming of franchise-building junk in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" is garbage, but the camerawork and effects are an improvement on past Spidey iterations, including the first "Amazing Spider-Man" (2012). From the start, the camera is swinging and twirling between skyscrapers right along with its CGI-enhanced vigilante. It's a far cry from the modest deployment in "Spider-Man" (2002) of the cable-suspended "Spydercam." There are no static greenscreen views of the Green Goblin in this one; no, he looks ridiculous for entirely different reasons this outing. Plus, the slow-motion effects move with the camera this time, are more consistent throughout, and are relevant to the climax instead of merely looking derivative of a Zack Snyder trademark. Since superhero movies are largely about spectacle, this isn't a complete failure. Now, about the rest of the movie....

Vigilantes and criminals flying around and knocking each other about is only so compelling, so it helps when there's something narratively to ground it. Spiderman is promising relative to other comic-book series because it has a built-in meta-narrative, of Peter Parker's profession as a photographer, complimenting his spectacle in spandex by also being the recorder of that spectacle with the publication of his snapshots in the "Daily Bugle." Like Clark Kent and Lois Lane, but more visual instead of written--perfect for cinema. "Far From Home" (2019) succeeded in largely transferring this visual storytelling within the picture to the arch-enemy and the business of projecting images--films-within-the-film. Alas, such photographic reflexivity hardly factors in to the "Amazing Spider-Man" reboot. When not web-slinging, this Peter Parker spends most of his time in a will-they-won't-they teen love drama and combatting that out-of-control research lab, as well as playing with his crazy board and a secret subway car in his search of his father's work. Excessive and none too interesting.

There seemed to be some promise to the Electro villain, too. While nothing came of his being black, or having apparent psychological problems and feeling underappreciated, his first big confrontation with Spidey occurs in front of jumbo screens in Times Square. The police in this one also seem to be miraculously quick at partitioning off spectators outside the boundaries of these action sequences. It's like street theatre. Shot of Spidey shooting webs and Electro firing bolts, followed maybe by footage of people in peril, then it cuts back to Gwen Stacy and other bystanders occupying the space of our surrogate movie viewers inside the movie. Perhaps, a decent plot could've been made of the superhero and supervillain competing for flattering publicity as well as for whose fastest at using their powers to overcome the other. But, no, the picture quickly diverts from this tract in favor of some petty supervillain team-up.

"Spider-Man 2" (2004) added to the photographic storytelling that of Mary Jane as an actress, so an actress-playing-an-actress. This offered the opportunity for plays-within-the-play that could compliment and reflect the outer narrative. A photo-journalist and a thespian instead of just a couple high-school grads and amateur scientists. Maybe it's just a coincidence that the will-they-won't-they of the romance wasn't as tiresome there, either.

Another unique opportunity with this comic-book supe is that the movies usually portray him as a teenager. So, his discovery and eventual mastery of his powers can work as a puberty parable. Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" did quite well in this regard methinks. "Homecoming" (2017) added call-backs to past high-school movies. But, this Spidey is just some jerk who can't keep a promise and who is the catalyst for all this city destruction, from passing off the work his dad went to the trouble of hiding as his own leading to the lizard of the first movie, to stealing from a convenience store killing his uncle and burglarizing a lab creating his superpowers, which in this sequel inspire other wackadoos to seek revenge against him. The "Daily Bugle" is right; he's a menace.

The only thing worthwhile here outside of the spectacle is the pun in one scene of Peter and Aunt May literally hiding their dirty laundry from each other.