Eschewing typical super hero movie formula Amazing Spider-man 2 delivers an experience much more authentic of comics and offers the most character accurate take of Spider-man yet.

Struggling to juggle his real life with the life of a wall-crawling super hero, Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) finds his hands full when new villains emerge and his inability to keep his promise to stay away from his girlfriend Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) further complicates things. Add in new information regarding his father’s work and why his parents left and Spider-man has his hands full just as his old friend Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) comes back to mourn his father’s death (Chris Cooper) and take over Oscorp. That is to say nothing of emerging threat Electro (Jamie Foxx) who wants to get back at the world in general and Spider-man in particular. Spidey has a lot on his plate.

The Amazing Spider-man 2 has a lot of moving parts and a lot of characters to deal with which is often a death knell for super hero movies as villain bloat serves to undermine the focus and confuse the narrative. Going into this film with trailers showing Rhino, Electro and the Green Goblin I was very nervous that director Marc Webb was steering us into another disaster like Spider-man 3 but the tweaking of normal super hero movie structure saved the movie while making it feel much more like the source material.

Typical super hero movies tend to place a lot of focus on villains and the story is derived from how the super hero beats the villain in a mostly reactive way. The hero is there to stop the villain and the villain is there to mess with the hero. When you stack a bunch of villains in there it becomes a mess because the story fragments and loses focus. Where Amazing Spider-man 2 is different is that the focus of the movie is squarely on Spider-man/Peter Parker. This is Peter living his life and struggling with his relationships and sense of belonging. The villains are there and they are important to the story but they do not dominate the story and the movie is not about how Spider-man defeats Electro and the Green Goblin. This makes a big difference as there is actually a bit of meat on the story’s bones and the characters are given some room to grow and change.

One of the best things about Spider-man as a character has always been his reliability. He has super powers and dresses in a costume but he also has real problems. He gets sick, has problems at work…real mundane human things. Previous iterations of the story have touched on these aspects before but they really hit here because the film spends more time developing Peter and who he is. It shows him struggle with right and wrong and with what he wants versus what he feels he should do. The story moves beyond the death of his uncle and gives us a more fun Spider-man who is settling into his powers and the confidence that comes with that. There are problems and drama but he isn’t constantly mopey or angry. In short he is well rounded and well developed.

In the comics, Spider-man’s arcs don’t usually focus on just one villain or conflict. There are usually a bunch of things going on all at once he has to deal with and some smaller time villains will have to be dealt with while the larger story plays out. Yeah, Venom might be out there but first he has to deal with Hydro-man’s dumb ass. Such is the plight of the street level hero. That is the sort of thing that happens here. Spider-man isn’t just around in case some super-powered lunatic shows up to blow up Times Square and the rest of Peter Parker’s life doesn’t stop just because Paul Giamatti is hijacking an armored car. There are  a lot of characters and a lot going on but none of them derail the central story which is about Peter Parker trying his best to make all these moving parts work without getting anyone he loves killed. That is what the movie is about and what a lot of Spider-man comics are about at the core.

The Amazing Spider-man 2 isn’t completely comics accurate as far as the details go. The Green Goblin we see here is created very differently than in the comics and this is a new version of Electro as well. What the movie nails, and this is the important part, is the essence of the character and how it all feels. In previous iterations Spider-man has been largely silent with one or two quips and jokes told while dealing with enemies. Here we have a Spidey who jokes and taunts while pulling off crazy moves and miraculous saves. The action itself also feels perfect for Spider-man and doesn’t sacrifice any of the dynamic acrobatics of the comics. The character finally feels right and if changing some origin details are the compromise we have to make then I am happy to do it.

I have spent a lot of time talking about the character and story points but I don’t want to give the impression that it is slow moving or boring. The action set pieces here are just about perfect and spot on to the characters involved. The choreography of the fights is absolutely fantastic and the effects used to achieve it are equally impressive. The action is both creative and exciting and is honestly something I never thought we would get to see from a live action movie. In contrast to some other super hero movies, the action never becomes mind numbing property destruction porn but rather stays tight and watchable with a clear view of what is going on.

The performances are great here with Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone again showing palpable chemistry and enormous comfort in their characters. They play the emotions just right with commitment and form a solid foundation for the rest of the film. Jamie Foxx does a great job of offering an initially meek Max Dillion who is obviously odd and off but he never slips into caricature and when the transformation is made to Electro, Foxx lets those aspects inform the character’s anger and hurt. Dane DeHaan gives another terrific performance as Harry Osborn who is decidedly different than James Franco’s take on the character. This is a tortured and angry Harry who is handed with some harsh realities he is not equipped to deal with. Sally Field hits it out of the park as Aunt May and once again reminds why you hire Sally Field for this sort of role.

Conclusion [10 out of 10]

This is going to be a divisive film for some people who go in expecting more of the same that we have been given from Spider-man movies and who cannot see past the story structure or crowded character roster. I suppose I can understand the discomfort but as a long time fan of Spider-man comics I submit that this movie gets it the most right of all the films made and is more pure a Spider-man story than I have ever thought to hope for. If you don’t like this film I have to believe that on some level you just don’t like Spider-man as a character or a comic. This is very much how the comics tell stories and it is very much the character we have grown to love there. There are a lot of details here I wish I could talk about and praise but I can’t do that without spoilers. Suffice it to say I wouldn’t change anything about the Amazing Spider-man 2 and I am thankful for a movie that finally gets it.