The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

[The Dark Knight]

It's incredibly frustrating and annoying to see people  saying TASM2 'sucked' around the internet. They must have seen another movie than me. For someone to seriously say the film 'sucked', meaning 90% or higher is worthless trash, says to me they're making nothing more than an emotional reaction. A competitive reaction against the previous series. I just can't take those 'sucked' comments seriously.

What also gets me is how people are so scared and embarrassed by 'cheese'.  What's the problem? How about we have no humor at all in movies for fear of offending people with 'cheese'. Humor is a big part of Spider-Man and his charm, yet people must want dour brooding. It's all there in the comics, but put it on the big screen and people freak, and somehow twist this into a negative. It happened with Raimi's humor and now with Webb's.

[The Joker]

'Cheese' was something often brought up by the ASM faithful as a detriment to what Raimi did with his trilogy. As I cannot even begin to tell you how often I would see fans, on both sides of the fence (ala Burton fans vs Nolan fans), bicker back and forth, with, more often than not, the ASM/Webb supporters continually remarking how ASM was so much better than anything Raimi ever did because the material was taken more seriously, and how 'cheesy', 'cornball', and 'camped up' the Raimi films are in comparison.

The problem with that, is that Spider-Man has always been a character that has implemented humor. Some incarnations more so than others, but it's not a character that lends itself to 'dark and gritty' as some would probably like. ASM did have humor, yes, but the tone of the film was very much attempting to differentiate itself from the lighter touch of Raimi, and as a result, brought about a film that was taking itself more seriously, and as some would say, influenced to some degree by the Nolan Bat-films ( which is highly probable since now, everyone wants a 'shared universe' thanks to the success of Avengers ).

After having seen ASM2, and I'll be honest, I haven't been checking out where the comparison argument is now with the Webb vs Raimi camps, but the ridiculous argument that the Raimi films were just typical hollywood cheese fluff is especially now completely moot. I believe someone understood that a Spidey film should be a bit less serious, and as a consequence, we received a film that, atleast as the portrayal of Spidey goes, felt much truer to the character than it's predecessor's (ASM) interpretation.

Overall, I don't believe ASM2 'sucked', nor was I exactly 'underwhelmed' by it either, but at the same time I definitely did not think it was particularly amazing either. I pretty much lump it with Spider-Man 3, which I find enjoyable for what it is, but essentially very easy to see just how it, along with ASM2, could have been better if the decision to not factor so much into a single film hadn't come to pass....

[riddler]

I guess my biggest complaint about the Raimi films besides Maguire is that they didn't get the humour right; spider-man himself was rarely funny. There were also too many scenes which were unintentionally funny (audience laughing at the film not with the film).

It is important to note that there are two sets of hate camps for this film; the Raimi fans and the Nolan fans; the latter of which hate on every comic film which Nolan is not attached to but especially one like this which does everything different from a Nolan film.

[Edd Grayson]

I guess my biggest complaint about the Raimi films besides Maguire is that they didn't get the humour right; spider-man himself was rarely funny. There were also too many scenes which were unintentionally funny (audience laughing at the film not with the film).

This.


I haven't seen TASM 2 yet but if they got the humor right I know I'm going to like it more than the Raimi films.

[johnnygobbs]

I guess my biggest complaint about the Raimi films besides Maguire is that they didn't get the humour right; spider-man himself was rarely funny. There were also too many scenes which were unintentionally funny (audience laughing at the film not with the film).

This.


I haven't seen TASM 2 yet but if they got the humor right I know I'm going to like it more than the Raimi films.

I wouldn't say any of the comedy in TASM2 was side-splitting, but then again I don't think any of the jokes in the comic-books was incredibly hilarious either.  However, this Spider-Man does have a light-hearted side and makes various wisecracks at the villains' expense, something that was missing from Tobey Maguire's comparatively dour Spider-Man.  Tonally it makes a big difference.

[riddler]

I guess my biggest complaint about the Raimi films besides Maguire is that they didn't get the humour right; spider-man himself was rarely funny. There were also too many scenes which were unintentionally funny (audience laughing at the film not with the film).

This.


I haven't seen TASM 2 yet but if they got the humor right I know I'm going to like it more than the Raimi films.

I wouldn't say any of the comedy in TASM2 was side-splitting, but then again I don't think any of the jokes in the comic-books was incredibly hilarious either.  However, this Spider-Man does have a light-hearted side and makes various wisecracks at the villains' expense, something that was missing from Tobey Maguire's comparatively dour Spider-Man.  Tonally it makes a big difference.

The spidey comics are not laugh out loud funny but he is a real smart @$$ constantly taunting the bad guys in costume. They're light hearted. Maguire wasn't funy, the best joke he made was "here's your change" during the bank fight. Now the daily bugle scenes, those scenes Raimi got right. There's big shoes to fill there with J Jonah Jamiexon.

[johnnygobbs]

I guess my biggest complaint about the Raimi films besides Maguire is that they didn't get the humour right; spider-man himself was rarely funny. There were also too many scenes which were unintentionally funny (audience laughing at the film not with the film).

This.


I haven't seen TASM 2 yet but if they got the humor right I know I'm going to like it more than the Raimi films.

I wouldn't say any of the comedy in TASM2 was side-splitting, but then again I don't think any of the jokes in the comic-books was incredibly hilarious either.  However, this Spider-Man does have a light-hearted side and makes various wisecracks at the villains' expense, something that was missing from Tobey Maguire's comparatively dour Spider-Man.  Tonally it makes a big difference.

The spidey comics are not laugh out loud funny but he is a real smart @$$ constantly taunting the bad guys in costume. They're light hearted. Maguire wasn't funy, the best joke he made was "here's your change" during the bank fight. Now the daily bugle scenes, those scenes Raimi got right. There's big shoes to fill there with J Jonah Jamiexon.

I loved those JJJ scenes too.  I think the only way for the new franchise to get round filling J K Simmons boots is to present JJJ as a darker, less loveable character this time around (i.e. the kind of guy who might feasibly hire the Scorpion to take down Spider-Man).  Portray him as a bit of a tyrant with a deep-seated hatred of Spider-Man (possibly through his tragic backstory, from the comic-books, in which his wife was killed by a vigilante).

[Edd Grayson]

I think Jameson's wife was killed by a masked man only in the 90's cartoon and that's why he hated masked vigilantes like Spider-Man. In the comics he was just jealous of Spider-Man. I like the 90's cartoon reason better.


I liked JK Simmons's JJJ as comic relief, it's one of things Raimi got right. I wouldn't mind seeing Jameson again in TASM 3, done differently. I was actually disappointed they didn't include him in TASM.

[johnnygobbs]

I think Jameson's wife was killed by a masked man only in the 90's cartoon and that's why he hated masked vigilantes like Spider-Man. In the comics he was just jealous of Spider-Man. I like the 90's cartoon reason better.

I thought it was part of the comic-books too, but maybe it originated in the 90s TV series.  In any case, I trust your knowledge of Spidey's background is superior to mine (although I do know a fair bit too). 

Also, like you I like the idea of JJJ's hatred being linked to his wife's death.  It gives him a complex sense of pathos that partly excuses his often judgemental nature where Spidey is concerned.

I liked JK Simmons's JJJ as comic relief, it's one of things Raimi got right. I wouldn't mind seeing Jameson again in TASM 3, done differently. I was actually disappointed they didn't include him in TASM.

JK Simmons made such an impression I guess the makers of the reboot felt it would be too soon to bring the character back as played by a new actor (and as much as I love Simmons' performance I do think the reboot should be entirely fresh and cast a new JJJ).

I agree with you about JJJ as comic-relief, but since TASM has already improved on the comic-relief aspect overall, specifically in terms of Spider-Man's gags, I think the reboot can afford to introduce a more serious, even slightly darker JJJ.  Not a proper villain of course but certainly someone who has a very complex, deeply antagonistic relationship with Spider-Man.
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[Edd Grayson]

I'd like to see a more serious JJJ as long as they don't change him too much from the classic character.

They could even have him be involved in the creation of a supervillain, like he did with the Scorpion in the comics and the cartoons.