On 5/13/2014 4:18 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:
> Having trouble figuring out the insane plot of the hot mess that was The
> Amazing Spider-Man 2? No worries. Our patented Spoiler FAQ is here to
> help decipher what the hell happened in all those weird, awkward scenes
> where Spidey wasn't fighting people. Spoilers ahead, obviously!
>
> What is The Amazing Spider-Man 2 about?
>
> It's about a man gifted with extraordinary powers who, through hard work
> and perseverance, finally manages to get his girlfriend killed.
>
> What?
>
> Lots of things happen in the movie � rarely with any kind of coherence
> or justification � but as far as I can tell the movie is specifically
> about Peter Parker, who 1) knows his relationship with Gwen puts her in
> danger and 2) promised Gwen's father, who Spider-Man also effectively
> got killed in the first movie, that he'd leave Gwen the hell alone, but
> keeps renewing their relationship until finally she's caught in the
> metaphorical crossfire of one of his battles and dies. To be fair, Gwen
> is also pretty set on getting herself killed.
>
> But what about all the villains in the film?
>
> Oh, they show up. They fight Spider-Man and star in some pretty great
> action scenes, but everything about the villains is completely random.
> It's impossible to get invested in their story because their motivation
> is so stupid. Let me put it this way: Paul Giamatti's Rhino, sans Rhino
> suit, is the first bad guy who shows up and his brilliant plan is this:
> To hijack an Oscorp truck carrying radioactive TMNT mutagen in the
> middle of the day in the middle of Manhattan, while somehow escaping the
> 50 cops cars chasing after him and his crew.
>
> And?
>
> Well, Electro and Harry Osborn/Green Goblin make Rhino look like
> Napoleon.
>
> How is that?
>
> First, Electro. If you've seen the trailers, you know the deal: Jamie
> Foxx is Max Dillon, a helpless shlub who works at Oscorp; one day
> Spider-Man saves him and he instantly becomes both obsessed with Spidey
> and completely unhinged, and then when he transforms into Electro � and
> I'll get to that in a second � Spider-Man says the cops won't shoot him
> and a cop shoots Electro and Max somehow blames Spider-Man and turns
> evil.
>
> So Electro's whole vendetta against Spider-Man is because one cop that
> Spider-Man couldn't possibly have been in contact with or stopped fired
> a bullet that didn't even hurt Electro because he's made of electricity?
>
> Yes.
>
> Ugh. What about Green Goblin's origin?
>
> Well, technically Harry Osborn has a decent motivation to hate
> Spider-Man, but Spider-Man's reason for giving Goblin that motivation is
> completely bizarre. It all starts with Harry's dad Norman.
>
> Norman Osborn is in the film?
>
> Yes, briefly. It turns out he has some crazy neurogenetic disease that's
> killing him and all his crazy research and the radioactive spiders that
> Peter's dad was working on and all the other crazy shit going on at
> Oscorp was because he was trying to find a cure. Oh, and also make
> biologically weaponized soldiers for the government, because he's evil,
> obviously. Anyways, Harry returns to watch his dad bite it.
>
> Where has Harry been?
>
> Norman shipped him off to boarding school at the age of 10 because he
> was some kind of massive disappointment� at 10 years old? And Norman is
> also pissed that Harry left even though Norman was the one who sent him
> away? It's a lot of shitty dad clich�s at once. That said, despite Harry
> being a complete failure unworthy of his father's love, Norman gives him
> complete control of Oscorp.
>
> Okay� but that's good, right?
>
> Well, yes and no. Yes because Harry has access to all his father's crazy
> secret projects � which, by the way, is literally in a folder titled
> "Secret Projects" � and no because that neurogenetic disease that his
> father succumbed to at the age of 50-something decides this is the week
> to put it into high gear and start giving Harry big neck zits. I should
> note that the movie doesn't acknowledge the disease's inexplicably rapid
> spread in Harry, Harry just decides he needs the cure in the next three
> days or it's all over.
>
> What's the cure?
>
> Well, it's either Spider-Man's blood or the venom of the radioactive
> spiders from the first movie. Since the spiders and all animal-hybrid
> test subjects were all supposedly destroyed after the Lizard fiasco,
> Harry asks Peter to ask Spider-Man for some blood to save his life,
> since Peter once took a photo of Spider-Man and must obviously have him
> on speed dial.
>
> But aren't Peter and Harry friends? Why doesn't Peter just give him the
> blood?
>
> Well, it's complicated. First of all, they were friends when they were
> 10, and then Harry got sent away, and came back a decade later and then
> suddenly they're BFFs, and then Harry tells Peter he needs Spider-Man's
> blood and Peter gets all weird about it.
>
> But why does he get weird about it?
>
> Peter's afraid it will kill Harry.
>
> Harry is already dying.
>
> A good point. One Harry makes, actually. But Peter's also worried it may
> have� other effects.
> Unfortunately, that's what a large part of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is �
> dumb, inexplicable coincidences.
>
> Can I ask you about a random assortment of these bizarre coincidences
> individually?
>
> You certainly may!
>
> Why did Peter Parker's dad hide subway tokens in his calculator? Even if
> they were some special "get into the secret" lab coins, isn't sticking
> them in a calculator infinitely more suspicious than if he just carried
> them in his pocket like a normal person?
>
> Probably.
>
> How the hell did Peter's dad get a special lab in an abandoned NYC
> subway station? It couldn't have been through Oscorp because then Osborn
> would have had it ransacked looking for the research. And if you're
> making a hidden lab in an abandoned subway station, why on earth would
> you bother to make it look like a subway car? Especially when anyone
> with a view of any of the windows � the windows, by god � can see it's
> Okay, that was� fun. But the movie can't be all random coincidences, can
> movie, because giving someone smart the armor would be� less good than
> giving it to an idiot?
>
> Sigh.
>
> That's not the worst part, though! See, earlier in the film, Spidey
> rescues a little science project kid from getting beaten up by bullies
> ad walks him home and compliments his project. It's actually a sweet
> moment, and a really good Spider-Man scene.
>
> Okay�
>
> Well, when the Rhino comes back in his new duds, Peter has quit being
> Spider-Man for several months to feel bad about getting his girlfriend
> killed. Aunt May has a talk with Peter where she essentially tells him
> "The best thing you can do is hide all the things that remind you of
> your deceased loved ones in the closet, and try to not think about
> them."
>
> The hell?
>
> I don't even know, man. But anyways! So The Rhino is rampaging through
> NYC, although he's really just hanging out in one location and shooting
> police cars. Now, there are huge crowds watching this from behind police
> barricades, because of course when a man in a giant suit of armor with
> two huge machine guns on its arms is trying to shooting randomly at
> people, everyone would just there stand and watch. Well, that nerdy kid
> from before is there on the front line with his mother, and this little
> idiot decides to go confront Rhino.
>
> No, seriously � the hell?!
>
> So course the cops manage to restrain the mother from grabbing her kid,
> but no member of the police force sees this kid toddle the 30 or so feet
> from the barricade to stand directly in front of the Rhino. The kid puts
> on his Spidey mask, the Rhino seemingly respects his new-found foe as an
> equal, then Spidey shows up and the Rhino kindly lets Spidey and the kid
> have a short conversation and fist bump before the two of them finally
> battle.
>
> My god.
>
> There are so many bizarre, insane things happening in this scene. It
> didn't just break my suspension of disbelief, it shot it gangland
> execution-style, and buried it in a shallow grave out in the woods.
>
> Anything else worth mentioning about the movie?
>
> I think Electro might be fucking the movie's soundtrack. Because
> whenever he's onscreen the music literally just starts chanting
> whatever's in Electro's head, and it's fucking insane. I have to assume
> the character and the soundtrack are in some kind of relationship, and
> that's why Electro gets this special treatment.
>
> Was The Amazing Spider-Man 2 amazing or not?
>
> Well, if you use amazing without any of its normal positive connotations
> � is in, "I was amazed by this movie, both because of the quality of its
> action scenes and its ridiculously nonsensical plot," then yeah, it was
> pretty amazing.
>
You completely left out super-selfish Aunt May and the fact that as a
smart science major, Gwen Stacy understands how to shut down and restart
the single power station that serves all of NYC.
--
FSogol