Amazing Spider-Man 2 - villain revealed

[The Curmudgeon]

Sorry if I'm a few days behind on this one, but thought we'd talk about the upcoming sequel to the really not bad at all Amazing Spider-Man, that was pretty much ignored among the Batman hype. Enjoyable comic book romp over bloated, silly franchise ender? I know which one I'll take.

Anyway (SPOILER WARNING IF YOU'VE NOT SEEN THE FIRST FILM) the end, straight out of the Spider-Man comic books, who DO love their mystery villains, which had a shadowy figure appear from nowhere and talk about Norman Osbourne, had all kinds of online speculation about who it was. Venom? Jackal? The Kangaroo? Someone, somewhere, came up with the idea that there was a flash of lightning before the person arrived, so could it be.. Electro?



And the director said it was an interesting idea and one he hadn't actually heard before, but at the same time he was probably thinking "fucking nerds! Can't you quit obsessing and ruining my surprises?" Because YES, the villain in Amazing Spider-Man 2 IS indeed Electro.

But ditch the yellow costume and ditch the white skin. Because Electro in this movie is black. Or, well, a black guy painted blue. For some reason.



Um, yeah. That guy. No idea why he's blue, but I really hope they don't just go for the whole "oh, it's a hooded top. That's his costume" approach. Amazing Spider-Man was as much a straight up comic book movie as you're gonna get. Let's embrace that, shall we? Not everything has to be "gritty" and "realistic." You're talking about a guy who can control electricity fighting a guy who can climb walls. Fuck reality. Give him a costume. Is that so much to ask?

[trashcanman]

Not crazy about the blueness and truth be told, I think if you remove Emma Stone from the first film, it was pretty much crap. Peter Parker came off as a douche and not at all the lovably unlucky nerd I relate to due to bad casting. The Lizard is obviously a great villain and had some great moments, but they kind of got him wrong too. Emma Stone is to ASM what Anne Hathaway was to TDKR, which is to say a very pretty bright spot in a very underwhelming comic book film. I'll give this one a rental.

[The Curmudgeon]

Oh, you didn't like the first movie? I went to the cinema to see it and TDKR at the same time and walked away enjoying Spidey more. Oh well.

Emma Stone, mouthwatering as she is, was SO much more enjoyable to watch over Kirsten Dunst's wet, and not in a good way, portrayal of MJ. I don't remember thinking Peter was douchey, maybe I'd have to watch it again. But yeah, he was as far removed from "puny Parker" as anything I've seen. He didn't look that far removed from the "cool" kids, which is kinda missing the point.

When you think of how Parker started in the Sam Raimi movies..



And when you think how Garfield's Parker looks in this movie



That doesn't scream "lonely nerd" to me.

[trashcanman]

Well, I definitely liked ASM more than TDKR, but only a bit. TDKR was aggressively lazy and thoughtless while ASM was merely uninspired with a shitty leading man. And honestly, I had no problem with Dunst when she was wet:



I actually liked her the whole first film. Especially when she was wet. The second she was a'ight, but by the third I was actively hoping for her death.