Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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20 UCW JULY 2-8, 2014 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Amazing Spiderman 2 (142 minutes) didn't do everything wrong. But it is not going down in history as the best superhero movie ever, either (arguably, that honor goes to an obscure indie gem called The Specials). Spiderman will continue to be box office gold based on the momentum of the superhero genre as a whole, but it really feels like everyone involved just phoned it in. The villains were poorly explained, the dialogue seemed like it was written by a barely post-adolescent, the timeline is sort of screwed up, the film was padded beyond belief, and Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) makes exceedingly bad choices. Yet somehow, this was still better than Spiderman 3. First, let's take a look at the rogue's gallery. Electro (Jamie Foxx) is channeling Jim Carrey's version of the Riddler from Batman Forever. Electro is a stupid villain because his motivation for supervillain-ness appears to be the fact that Spiderman forgot his birthday. Becoming a villain because of aggro over his bad hair would be a more realistic choice, and more than half the movie is spent trying to convince us he has something to complain about. Next, in accordance with superhero movie rules stating that there must be at least two villains in every movie, there is sub- villain number one. Random Russian gangster Alexei Sytsevich (Paul Giamatti) appears briefly at the beginning of the film and comes back at the end, but he is sort of pointless and really should have been left on the cutting room floor. Finally, there is Harry Osborn/Green Goblin (Dane DeHaan). He shows up to pout, whine and have daddy issues, so there's not actually a whole lot to distinguish him from Peter Parker except the huge corporation he suddenly owns. He wants Spiderman's blood and when Spiderman refuses to help he goes nuts for reasons that are not quite clear. I mean, I'm still not understanding how the blood could help, or why Spiderman won't test his own blood for possible healing properties, but mostly, I don't know why one "No" flips Harry's crazy switch. Of course, that's not the only badly written part of the movie. Peter has been toying with Gwen Stacy, apparently since her father died at the end of the last movie. Let me sum up their relationship here. Peter loves Gwen and Gwen loves Peter. Gwen wants to be with Peter and is also more or less supportive of his crime fighting. Peter promised her dying father he would keep her out of his superheroing. So, from one scene to the next Peter is dating her, dumping her, emotionally manipulating her, and stalking her. In short, Peter is a jerk. And that is not the only example of Peter's bad decisions. For one, Andrew Garfield sucks at delivering Spiderman's characteristic quips. I generally like him more than Toby Maguire, but Maguire could banter while Garfield cannot. Also, when did Spiderman start listening to complaint rock? Garfield's interpretation renders a really fun character into a depressed emo boy adjusting to new bipolar medication. He's up, he's down, he's all around — he worships his father, he decides his father is a traitor — dude needs to chill. Take out all the sad sack emotional baggage and you fix the film padding problem, too, because we'd be left with about 90 minutes of actual content. Of course, that wouldn't fix the timeline issues. Apparently, most of the action takes place in a parallel universe where time runs more slowly than our own. People show up in fitted costumes that should have taken days to prepare, planes are on the verge of crashing for days at a time … it's worse than the last third of The Dark Knight Rises. Overall, a disappointment for fans, but not the worst superhero project in the world (arguable, that honor goes to 1997's television pilot Justice League of America, available on YouTube). Stop Quipping, It's Becoming Annoying The Amazing Spiderman 2 (Rated PG-13) by HEATHER GRIFFITHS HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@upand- comingweekly.com. 910.484.6200. ATTENTION! Local Businesses Advertise and Promote Your Business All Year in UP & COMING WEEKLY'S Exclusive "Best of Fayetteville" • Special Edition • September 17, 2014 Advertise, market and promote your business in the most popular and most read edition of the year! Published, Distributed and Online in the Fayetteville, Ft. Bragg and Cumberland County area. Be among the "best of the best" when this popular and valuable edition and reflection of our community hits the streets on Sept. 17th. RESERVE YOUR SPACE TODAY! For more information, rates and deadlines call (910) 484-6200 or visit our website at www.upandcomingweekly.com. Best of Fayetteville 2014 Special Edition Hours: 9am-6pm Mon-Fri 3006 Bragg Blvd. 910.323.1791 www.thetrophyhouseinc.com HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA! We are home to the world's fi nest fi ghting soldiers. Iron Mike