It wasn't until last week that I finally watched The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Wait, maybe it was the week before? I'm not sure — time doesn't exist anymore. Anyway, after watching Mark Webb's second and final swing at bringing the webhead to cinema screens, I thought: “Phwoar, this is pretty bad!” However, it did have some truly great Spider-Man moments.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 really gets Spidey
For as much as The Amazing Spider-Man 2 gets wrong, which is a lot, it does understand what makes Spider-Man great. Peter Parker’s general tardiness, his snarky-but-wholesome vibe and his ability to inspire everyone around him doesn't go unnoticed.
After the crap, boring, faux-dramatic intro with Parker’s secret agent parents getting murdered, ASM2 starts off pretty well. Amid a city in panic, Spidey drops down from on high, swings through the city and catches up with The Rhino. On top of quips and one-liners, the webhead frequently goes out of his way to save civilians.
Outside of its isolated finale, there's no battle in Spider-Man that doesn’t see Peter save everyday people. Peter saves a bus filled with people, he stops a crowd from being electrocuted by Electro. The people are integral to Spider-Man’s being and in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the people are there.
However, by far the best Spider-Man moment in this messy, convoluted sequel is when Peter Parker saves a small boy from being bullied. Not only does Peter stop the kid from being bullied, but he safely escorts him home and talks to him about his school project. Much like the bridge moment in the first Amazing Spider-Man movie, it's a moment that cements Parker as a friendly neighbourhood hero.
Of course, that kid comes back at the end. When Spider-Man is gone, that kid steps up in his own costume to fight against The Rhino. Spider-Man, thankfully, comes back to the rescue, thanking the kid for being brave — but this is his fight. After all, he is the hero.
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Andrew Garfield is my favourite Spider-Man
It’s universally agreed that both Tobey Maguire and Tom Holland have been in better movies, but Andrew Garfield is such a good Spider-Man. In fact, he's my favourite. I grew up with Maguire, I like Holland, but Garfield’s portrayal is so good beneath the cracks of Webb’s screenplays and Sony's meddling that he's impossible not to love.
Thankfully, Garfield is returning in the upcoming No Way Home multiverse movie. It'll be so good to see Garfield as the webhead in a movie that, hopefully, won't be a mess. After all, he's been dressing up as Spider-Man since he was three — let him dress up again.
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