This was easily one of the films that I was waiting for this year. Aside from Godzilla and Captain America; I was pretty sure that Spider Man would be the best film of the year. The first one wasn’t as amazing as I had hoped, but it was still a pretty fun film. This one would have more action and the trailer was the best superhero film trailer that we’ve had in quite a while. The film makes some errors that keep it from being truly amazing, but it’s a film that I don’t regret checking out.

The plot involved Peter Parker, who is actually the Amazing Spiderman, has he tries to get through life. (Disclaimer, when mentioning Spiderman, I will not use the space. This is the way that I’ve always thought that it should be spelled) He decides to break up with Gwen when the film starts and then he begins to doubt whether this was the right call. Peter is also kept busy because several villains are after him. A gangster is around and there is a shocking new villain in town as well. Peter also finds out that Aunt May may not have told him the truth about his parents!!!

That’s not an amazing plot summary, but you don’t really need one for this film. They squeeze in tons of plot points and while the film is about two hours and a half, it may feel longer. There were several scenes where you may have thought that the film was going to end and then it didn’t. (Like the Dark Knight) It’s in a good way of course; the film didn’t really drag on. Time to go into a little more depth with the film.

I got worried during the first few scenes. We start out with some animals dying and then we find out that Spidey’s parents were actually pretty hardcore. I don’t think we needed this development for those two. Richard Parker attempts to be like Clark Kent’s father and I just can’t take him seriously. Parker’s mom helps out during the fight as well, but the parents are basically fighting James Bond! That scene came across as pretty generic and it wasn’t very interesting, but at least it was serious.

Which brings us to the next problem with the opening. After the sad and “shocking” scene, we get to see Spiderman swinging through the sky. He’s laughing and making Mario sounds, but it’s a complete 180. We just got through a pretty sad scene so we should have had some subtlety. A scene that wasn’t quite so happy before we get a really happy scene. The transition just happened too quickly and it’s hard to feel happy alongside Spiderman. The scenes were Spiderman is just flying through the city can also be a little too long. We get that they want us to see how great the special effects are, but we’ve seen Spiderman web sling dozens of times in the past. 5 straight minutes of close calls and daring maneuvers isn’t going to impress me.

The beginning may have been rocky, but things get better during the first fight scene. I’ll talk more about the fight scenes in a sec. Things get rocky when Spiderman shifts into his secret identity and then makes some big errors. Peter is being haunted by a ghost so we are supposed to sympathize with him. I don’t mind the decision…but then Peter goes back on it pretty quickly. Again, I’ll go into that a little more in a bit.

The Fight Scenes in the film are some of the best that we’ve seen in Marvel. They easily defeat the battles in The Avengers and are probably in the top 5 of all time. Aside from Man of Steel, I can’t think of a superhero film that had better action scenes. That’s major props to the Amazing Spider Man 2 and hopefully the third film can continue this. Spiderman is very quick and powerful so his battles should always reflect that. He looked pretty good in the first fight against Rhino, but he did let the bragging distract him a lot. It’s not very heroic at times, but he could have beaten the Rhino whenever he pleased.

The scenery also helped to make the battles really cool. Times Square is always ready for a superhero showdown and making sure that it was night time was a good move. Spiderman is also shown to be able to think quickly and save people in a split second. This portrayal of Spiderman helps to reinforce the idea that he could easily take down the Avengers. I want to see some feats for those guys in Avengers 2.

This film naturally had a lot of romance surrounding Gwen and Peter. It was pretty unnecessary and Peter could have ended things. They did break up during the opening minutes of the film after all. They should have stayed as friends after that instead of constantly flirting. It was partially why I didn’t like Peter’s portrayal in this film and I can’t say that Gwen was my favorite either. Romance doesn’t have to be a bad thing, but it’s rarely a good thing either. It’s just another subplot in a film that already has a lot of plot lines going.

The music for this film was very interesting. It felt very parodyish at times and then it would be awesome during other scenes. It was so topsy turvy that it makes the soundtrack a little harder to rate. I would say that it’s still above average for a live action film, but some of the tunes may make you sneeze. The best themes are during the fights and Electro’s main theme is pretty great. Then, we’ve also got some happy disney music and random beats that don’t make a lot of sense. You’ll likely walk out of the theater puzzled.

Spiderman looked pretty good during the fights. He made a controversial decision towards the beginning as he let the Rhino damage a lot of property so that he could make a few extra puns. Spiderman could have stopped him at any time, but instead he decided to mock him. The Rhino was eventually defeated, but what if people pulled the Man of Steel card on us? It’s definitely possible, but punning is Spiderman’s first job; preventing collateral damage is definitely second.

I will admit that it’s not very heroic, but we have the Avengers for heroics. Spiderman is just an average guy who got super powers and then decided to help people. He still remembers the bit about Great Responsibility, but maybe he just forgot in that scene. It happens to the best of us and Spiderman still made sure that no humans were hurt. He was literally amazing during the fight scenes and the freezes in the film helped to show that. When the film would stop the time, we could see things from Spiderman’s point of view. He’s definitely a capable superhero and still one of Marvel’s finest. I would make a whole paragraph about how they didn’t use his spider sense to its fullest extent, but I’ll wait for the next film. This is one problem that never leaves the franchise.

Peter Parker…is not nearly as cool. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from him. I don’t mind the actor, but he just does not look like the real Peter Parker from the comics. Aside from his looks, Parker continues to make the wrong calls. I’m okay with him breaking up with Gwen so that he could keep the promise that he made to her father. (Even though he should just have stayed away from her in the ending of the first film if that was his intention) What’s not okay is the fact that Peter decides to start following with her and he obviously wants to get back together.

Peter can’t keep swinging back and forth like that. It’s not a good move and it also makes things tough on Gwen. Forgetting that his house didn’t have a chimney was a pretty big lapse in judgment as well. There is a plot involving Harry Osborn and Peter doesn’t make the best call and he doesn’t word it very subtly either. It involves choices of death or possible death and Peter doesn’t choose the latter. Parker did have some good scenes in the film. He took down the grunts who were after Gwen and he made sure to help a kid that was being bullied. It’s the little things that help at times, but the final scene doesn’t count because he was in Spiderman form.

Gwen Stacy is one of the main characters of this film and she has to endure Peter’s emotional tornado. She also can’t stick to the decision as she invites him to become friends again, but it doesn’t really work out. Peter started the flirting, but she went along with it so it’s all the same in the end. Gwen proves that she’s smarter than Peter in some areas and she can mildly fight so I still say that she’s a huge improvement over Mary Jane. I think it would be cool if she just forgot about Peter Parker and decided to become a superhero, but the world may not be ready for that yet.

Harry Osborn is one of the big players as well and things don’t look good for him. At one point, the shocking revelation of what’s going to happen to him is so shocking that he doesn’t even finish his pizza. Everyone has turned against him so it’s time to turn against them! His goblin form is as ugly as it looked in the trailers so I didn’t like that form. Harry was a decent character when he was in Harry form, but he doesn’t make for an epic villain. He’s out of Spiderman’s league so he’s not much of a threat. Hopefully he has as much composure as the CEO did when he went out.

The Rhino isn’t likable in the slightest and he’s really just here to be defeated by Spiderman. He’s completely out of his league and he can’t back up his tough talk. He has his “epic” moment where he almost fights a kid, but that’s the only time where it looks like he may take the win. The film gives us a few name drops for other characters, including Black Cat, Vulture, Doctor Octopus, Smythe, etc. I’m hoping that they throw all of those guys into the next film so that they can afford to cut Rhino out of the next one. Let’s keep the D listers in the comic books folks…

Electro was a pretty likable guy in this film. I actually liked him during his Max days and he always tried to do what was right. After Spiderman saved his life; Max was finally able to be happy. Nobody came over to celebrate his Birthday party, but he believes that Spiderman baked it. We’ll never know for sure, but it definitely made Max’s day. Aside form Gwen Stacy, everyone else is really mean to Max and they make it their job to ensure that he has a terrible time. I definitely can’t say that I would want to be in his shoes. He does find out that someone is not telling the truth when the person claimed to be Spiderman!

As Electro, he’s a pretty big threat. He’s not quite as upbeat or happy anymore, but his raw power is incredible. The cops started the fight and then Electro decided to end it! I was rooting for Spiderman, but Electro is definitely cool. His friendship with Spiderman wasn’t as deep as he had thought since Electro turned his back on the wall crawler so quickly. I suppose that they just weren’t meant to be friends. Overall, Electro reminded me of Walter Mitty as far as characters go and I definitely hope that he comes back for a sequel. Maybe not as Electro, but as Max Dillon!

Aunt May wasn’t that good in this film. She refused to tell Peter about his past and she wouldn’t even let him do his own laundry. She also didn’t want to tell Peter about her nursing position, but then she quickly uses it to throw Peter into a guilt trip. She just wasn’t likable in this film and I find myself missing the old Aunt May. At least she will probably tell Peter about more secrets in the next film.

Norman Osborn doesn’t appear for most of the film, but his short role is pretty fitting. He makes sure to take a few shots at Harry and then he shows him the despair that Harry will have to endure. Norman doesn’t appear after that scene, but it was pretty powerful. Norman is always pretty mean and the film really tried to capture that. You can’t really say that he’s likable, but he was memorable.

One thing that I have to note is that the film seemed aware of the 60’s memes. If you don’t know about the Spiderman memes, then you haven’t truly appreciated how epic Spiderman could be. The movie borrowed the fireman joke and the “Nobody will recognize me if I put on a coat” memes. Naturally, the film gives us context so that he has a reason to do these things, but it was a nice addition anyway. More films should look at the memes and acknowledge them in some way.

I may as well compare the film to the original trilogy since we’ve come so far. I easily prefer this to the original Spider Man 2, but it gets defeated by Spider Man 3. As far as characters go, Peter Parker, Aunt May, Norman Osborn and Harry Osborn as not as good as their original counterparts. Gwen Stacy defeats her former self, but that’s mainly due to a lack of screentime. It’ll be hard to defeat the original trilogy, but this film was a good start. Both trilogies are essentially tied if we just pit the first two films against each other. The Amazing Spider Man may have been slightly ahead or slightly behind the first Spider Man film. It’s a pretty tough decision to be honest and that’s why we need to see how The Amazing Spider Man 3 does. I’m expecting big things from it once again!

Be warned that the film makes some pretty big changes from the trailer. Remember when Harry let Peter know that Oscorp was spying on his parents? That is not in the film at all and Harry doesn’t even mention how they will (literally) change the world. (They cut the world “literally” from some of the trailers) I don’t like it when films remove scenes form the trailer because it feels like those scenes were fake. It’s as if they were only around so that you could go and watch the film. It’s false advertising at its finest!

Overall, The Amazing Spider Man 2 is a fun action film. I give it props for being such a light hearted superhero film that is full of action. In that sense, it’s similar to the Avengers and that’s a good formula to follow. Unfortunately, Peter Parker didn’t help the film with his constant mind switching and the music wasn’t the greatest at times. The 60’s Spiderman memes will continue to live through this film and it definitely could have been worse. The action scenes alone are enough to make this film worth a watch. The film does have a habit of suddenly shifting from happy to sad to happy scenes, but you just need the ride the waves as they come. I recommend checking this film out while it’s still in theaters. It’s not quite as good as Captain America, but it’s much better than critics would have you believe. I wasn’t really disappointed with the film by the end and the action scenes were as great as I had hoped.

Overall 7/10

After checking out the rest of the films in this franchise; it’s only natural that I watch the latest installment. If you’ve seen my previous reviews…then you’ll know that I’m not really a fan of the series. Still, Smaug got a lot of hype and maybe he could single handily save the film. A guy can hope right? Time to see if this film was a cut above the rest!

It wasn’t. I usually leave that for the end, but it could be an interesting way to start off the review. After I discuss the plot; I will discuss how the film could have improved and gotten away from the negatives that buried the other films. If I’m lucky, the director will notice these pointers before it’s too late to alter the final entry in the franchise.

In one of the plots; Bilbo and friends want to infiltrate Smaug’s lair so that they can steal the ultimate jewel and get the rest of the rebels to join them. It will be a tough ordeal, but they are confident that Bilbo can succeed. If only Bilbo’s “friends” were actually on his side….. Meanwhile, Legolas and Tauriel decide to take down a lot of Orcs. They take many of their opponents down with ease and they are definitely excellent at hand to hand combat. Legolas needs to take down the general and he may have to fight the army on his own because Tauriel has things to attend too. Finally, Gandalf The (not so) Brave decides to check out some rumors. Is it possible that Sauron still lives? Let’s just say that Gandalf looks pretty awful in his subplot.

All right, we’ve got the plot out of the way. Now, we can discuss what holds this franchise back. Let’s start with the classic Animal Violence. There’s not much to say about this negative. The only way to improve upon this mistake is to completely get rid of those scenes. We don’t need to see the animals get hurt and the riders should lead off into battle without horses. Animal violence is easily one of the biggest mistakes that a film can make and this series typically pulls it off.

Next up, the fight scenes. This film had a lot of action and yet…I didn’t care for the fight scenes. There are two main reasons for this. One, it’s old style action, which means that they’re just clanging swords and stabbing each other. There isn’t much in the way of choreography and you can’t get into the fights. We all know that the orcs are just going to be slaughtered and that the elves are going to take an easy win.

The action is mainly bloodless, but they try to make it as violent as they can. From “epic” sword stabs to complex maneuvers that make you feel bad for the villain. Blows under the belt, to the eye, or anywhere like that are basically not fun to watch. I’d rather have a classy fight where both opponents give it their all. Villains don’t play fair, but we don’t need to see both sides stoop to such levels to win a fight.

Fixing this problem should be easy in theory. The fight scenes would look better if they weren’t so ancient. Instead of trying to make the fights violent without blood, just make the actual fights more interesting. A little martial arts, or a longer sword fight. Less minions being effortlessly defeated and a few more challenges. As it stands, the fight scenes aren’t much better than the talking scenes.

Unfortunately, this next hole is a lot tougher to correct. The fact that none of the characters in the franchise are really cool. We get a lot of the stereotypes. The cowardly hero, the “hardcore” but deadly fighter, the corrupt king, the tough female warrior, etc. None of them really get past their stereotypes and any development that is gained does not help. I wouldn’t say that Tauriel and Legolas are bad characters. They’re decent, but their lines are pretty generic and they try wayyy too hard to be cool. There’s a difference between trying to be cool and actually being really cool.

Bilbo is not as bad as Frodo, but he’s not much better either. The ring is already starting to corrupt him and he doesn’t really try to resist it…at all. Bilbo is also quick to praise the villain in hopes of escape and he lacks courage. I just can’t root for him. The dwarf who wants to be king is awful and he turned out to be a big crook. He turned against Bilbo for no reason and he seems to be losing his mind. I definitely wouldn’t be surprised if he did! The rest of the heroes tend to give up quickly and they actually desert Bilbo at one point. That’s pretty unacceptable. Gandalf continues to shock and amaze us all as he keeps on losing. We get that he’s only a human with some magic, but he’s always reminding us of this fact. Just by looking at Sauron; Gandalf is quickly defeated and humiliated. That’s not what I really want to see from my heroes right now. I expect much greater things from them! At this point, I’d say that the characters are a lost cause. We can’t win them all I suppose.

Smaug did not impress me either. He talks a pretty good game, but he was completely humiliated by Bilbo…wait for it…Baggins! Bilbo kept mocking him during the entire fight and Smaug was too slow to hit anyone. The dwarves really made him look bad and I can’t really see him as a cool character anymore. I can only hope that he looks impressive in the sequel, but I highly doubt it. He ended up like Sauron…..an underwhelming villain.

Tauriel is one of the new characters in the film so she can get her own write up as well. She wasn’t bad, but as referenced earlier…she was pretty generic. I feel like we’ve seen her character dozens of times before. I didn’t care for her subplot with the dwarf, but at least she can fight pretty well. While her character description may seem negative; I still say that she wasn’t a bad character. She could have used some development and more scenes, but she did well. She’s definitely a lot better than 90% of the other characters.

Ironically, this film didn’t even have a great soundtrack. Usually, the films in this continuity had a decent soundtrack and it provided the viewer with a little relief. At least, it would help one to not fall asleep. (Unfortunately, the music was not potent enough to keep me up for this franchise, but I expect to be wide awake for the final film) I don’t remember any opera themes and the rest of the tunes were uninspired. I really do not like the happy Hobbit theme that plays in these films and the rest aren’t much better.

There is some romance in the film, but it wasn’t terrible. It was completely unnecessary and didn’t add anything to the story, but it didn’t get a lot of screentime. It got overshadowed by how awful the characters could be. A running joke in the series is how easily the mind can be defeated. Bilbo lacked willpower, the (future) King couldn’t control himself, Gandalf can’t control the ring….etc. It’s basically game over for everyone.

Also, I have to say that the special effects are pretty bad. This is a 2013 film and the effects don’t show this. Sauron’s brief cameo is the only time where we get to see some cool energy power. Unfortunately, that’s just not good enough for me. The rest of the film still looks like it could have been made in the 70’s and that’s a quick turn off to me as a viewer. I need good CGI and effects or a good background. If you’re missing both of these….then there’s really not much hope for the film.

Overall, this film didn’t fare any better than the earlier installments. It lacked charm and heart. If this film couldn’t save the franchise for me…then nothing will. I’ll likely catch the final film in theaters or on dvd at some point. I still need to finish the saga and prove that the Super Mario Brothers film was better. I don’t recommend this film and you would be better off watching Pokemon. That show didn’t fall into any of the major holes and it has a pretty solid main character as well.

Overall 2/10

This is a film that I definitely remember from the theaters. The trailer played a few times and it always looked pretty interesting. I wasn’t expecting an all star, but I had some pretty decent hopes for the film. While the film seems to lose some of its edge during the end; I can safely say that it surpassed my expectations. This is how you do a film about Walter Mitty!

The plot involves Walter Mitty and his life troubles. He has a pretty decent life, but there’s a new coworker in town by the name of Cheryl. Walter wants to become friends with her, but he’s too nervous. He works up the nerve to send her a message, but it doesn’t work because his account is empty. Walter ends up calling Todd (Todd works at the company) and that becomes a subplot for the film. Adding more troubles into the mix; Walter is attacked verbally, mentally, and even physically by Ted Hendricks. Ted is here to fire as many workers as he can and he’s also here to destroy the magazine that Walter works for. (Life) It will now be completely digital! (The same fate may hold true for video games 100 years from now if Nintendo does not stand strong)

That’s the prelude to the plot. Things get interesting when the legendary Sean O’Connell sends a group of photos to Walter, but one of them is missing. Ted threatens to fire Walter if he doesn’t turn up with it by the next time they meet. Walter must use the other 20+ photos to track Sean down. He’ll have to travel across volcanoes, oceans, mountains, and go to as many countries as it takes. Walter isn’t coming back until he gets that photo! His life may have been dull before, but now he’s going to have more excitement then he can handle.

Walter Mitty is a pretty excellent character. Robocop, Captain America, Will Caster, Crawford; Walter beats them all as far as protagonists go. He has a habit of going into daydreams, which get him into a lot of trouble. The daydreams are typically awesome, but I’ll go into them more towards the end of the review. Walter is a nice guy through and through. He is definitely determined as he travels across the planet. Throwing away his wallet may not have been a great move, but the circumstances were pretty tricky. I’m not excusing the action, but just noting that things had gotten tricky. Walter gets teased at his job because of his tendency to zone out, but he takes it in stride. He didn’t have many faults and I was definitely rooting for him in the big fight.

Ted Hendricks is the main villain and he’s pretty intense. He’s the sterotypical mean boss that likes to mock everyone who gets in his way. As with many bullies; Ted makes sure to single out the most exploitable character and then focus on him. Unfortunately for Walter; Ted decided to pick him. Ted also fits into the “not very bright” cliche and he mistakes McDonald’s catchphrase for Life’s. (Admittedly, I don’t know what Life’s motto is either, but he probably should have found that out) Ted goes as far as throwing objects at Walter and things climax in the elevator. (AKA, the best scene of the film) Ted is easily one of the best villains that I’ve seen from a live action comedy film.

Edna Mitty is Walter’s mom and she does pretty well. She actually tried to tell Walter some important things, but he was already in dreamland. Nontheless, she saves his life through her cooking and helps out a lot. She’s a fun character and while she doesn’t get may scenes; she proves that it is always important to have a good dessert at the end of a meal. Not to mention that Edna also brings up the infamous…Papa Johns! (Walter and Papa Johns have some history together)

On the other hand, I did not care for Odessa Mitty. She is Walter’s sister and there was something off about her. She didn’t really seem too nice and she needs to prioritize. Maybe things just aren’t working out at the moment with the play and that’s why Odessa is off her game. We’ll never know without a sequel I suppose, but that’s one character that could have been cut out.

Cheryl is one of the main characters of the film and she helps Walter in his mystery. She was taking a class on that sort of thing so she is pretty well equipped to handle this. She has a kid who needed help on his skateboard and Walter gladly showed him the ropes. Cheryl’s a decent character and she got a pretty big role. Plus, Cheryl has a pretty epic dog and he immediately stole the show. Dogs are epic and they make every film at least 20% cooler.

Stretch Armstrong is simply fantastic and seeing him in the movie was pretty great. I admit that Odessa did a good job in giving the toy to Walter, but at the same time….I can’t really gain respect for her because it was technically not the best move. If she had given a better reason for giving it to him, then I would have been okay with it. Still, Stretch was great and he gave us the best scene in the film!

I can’t say that I liked Sean O’Connell. He got incredible amounts of hype for the entire film and he doesn’t appear until the very end. Nobody could really live up to that kind of hype and while Sean is a good guy…he just wasn’t very likable. That’s just the way it goes I suppose. I’m definitely satisfied with his appearance being limited.

Todd was a pretty fun character. He took things in stride and he is a very trusting fellow. He really seemed to have Walter’s best interests at heart and I can’t imagine a better customer service employee. This guy had everything down to a fine art. He comes through for Walter when it counts and he gave a lot of helpful advice. I won’t be forgetting Todd anytime soon.

Hernando was similar to Todd in some ways. He was also a good friend to Walter and he always gave his tasks 100%. Hernando may not have gotten a great deal by the end, but he took it pretty well. He managed to save his plans and he even told Walter that they should evaluate themselves instead of letting others do it. This didn’t work, but it was a sound plan in theory and it made sense.

The various Dream Sequences were the best part of the film. Jumping into the burning building was fun and then the extended action scene that we got was awesome. The actual fight scene used a surprising amount of CGI and it looked like Man of Steel. That’s definitely how you do a fight scene and it came so suddenly. Stretch Armstrong must be a toy that everyone really wants! Needless to say, that scene was one of the major reasons as to why I enjoyed the film so much. You really need to see it to believe it. Walter was so hardcore in his dreams….

It should be noted that the romance in this film is not as bad as one would usually expect. There is some romance and while we could have cut it out without altering much of the plot; it could definitely have been worse. The romance develops, but nothing really happens since the characters are mature and taking things slowly. If only we could get more of this in modern films.

The one big negative would be that the film does drag out during the second half. About 80% of my chuckles were from the beginning scenes. The actual journey isn’t quite as fun and that’s because the film takes itself a little too seriously. We get less comedy and more drama as the film closes. I wouldn’t have minded if they had just stuck with the comedy. It was working! Towards the end; Walter stops having the dreams since his character development is occurring. Some scenes that could have been cut out would be, The drunk guy in the bar scenes, part of the trek up the mountain, and various scenes from his travels. The travels were my least favorite part of the film, but they weren’t really bad. They just took up more time than they should have.

Overall, this was a pretty great film. As far as comedies go; I’d say that it’s one of my favorites. It managed to defeat Old Dogs and Tower Heist, which is pretty impressive. I really don’t have many flaws with this film, but cutting out some scenes could have helped. Shorter is sometimes better and this was one of those times. I definitely recommend this film if you want a good laugh or want to experience an epic fight scene. The ending can be a little sad for some of the characters, but everyone doesn’t always get to have a happy ending.

Overall 7/10