Not-So-Super Hero

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 falls well short of amazing

When The Amazing Spider-Man came out in 2012, 10 years after the first Spider-Man and just five years after the end of that trilogy, it felt like a serviceable if wholly unnecessary addition to the superhero-ization of the movie industry.

After all, what more could the new version of Spider-Man offer us? We’d just finished learning all about him; did we really need to re-learn what we already knew? Yet Andrew Garfield made for an appealing Peter Parker/Spidey, and having Emma Stone along for the ride as the super-smart Gwen Stacy provided more than a few interesting moments.

As is often the case in superhero movies, it’s the villains that don’t hold up their end of the bargain. bargain. Their rampages seem like the world’s biggest temper tantrums.

They’re both back for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, a film that tries to up the ante considerably. Peter is still dealing with a lot of complicated feelings: about his relationship with Gwen in the aftermath of her father’s death, about the way his parents left him in the lurch 10 years prior, and about how to balance his sense of duty in donning the Spider-Man suit and maintaining any kind of personal life.

He also has a knack for creating powerful enemies, sometimes through no fault of his own. Meek and mild Oscorp electrician Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx) turns into Electro following a freak work accident; Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), an old school friend and heir to the Oscorp throne, continues toward his destiny of becoming the Green Goblin; and Aleksei Sytsevich (Paul Giamatti), put in jail by Spider-Man, eventually comes looking for revenge in a unique way.

That’s a lot to stuff into the 135-minute movie; just imagine if they had decided to keep in Shailene Woodley as Mary Jane Watson. Even still, director Marc Webb and the trio of writers have difficulty making everything come together.

The relationship between Peter and Gwen, established in the first film, continues to work great. Considering Peter’s continued need to save the city, and the fact that both are experiencing turning points in their individual lives, it’s more than believable that they would experience some on-again, off-again swings.

But, as is too often the case in superhero movies, it’s the villains that don’t hold up their end of the bargain. None of them brings that urgency, excitement or fear that a good bad guy evokes. In fact, they mostly seem to be mad at Spider-Man for really petty reasons, making their rampages seem like the world’s biggest temper tantrums.

Consequently, the face-offs between Spider-Man and the villains contain nothing truly surprising or shocking. In fact, Webb treats them like a spectator sport, putting up barricades around specific fight zones so crowds can gawk at the destruction going on all around them. This is almost a bigger sin than Superman wantonly destroying buildings in Man of Steel, as people don’t even seem to care that their lives are in danger.

Garfield again does a good job in the lead role, but the way Peter zigzags between being happy with Gwen, being morose when thinking about his issues and doling out zingers as Spider-Man is enough to make your head hurt. I get that the Spider-Man of the comics is known for his one-liners, but they do nothing to enhance the scenes.

Despite the inadequacies of their characters, both Foxx and DeHaan do the most they can in their respective roles. Foxx gets to engage a different side of himself than we normally see, while DeHaan, who’s been an up-and-comer for a while now, shows off some great skills prior to devolving into a villain.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 doesn’t contain nearly enough interesting flourishes to be a player in the hyper-competitive world of superhero movies nowadays. It has its moments, but it falls well short of amazing.

Everyone loves Spider-Man, especially little kids.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Photo by Niko Tavernise

Everyone loves Spider-Man, especially little kids.

Movie Review

Jessica Chastain drama Dreams stumbles through steamy romance

Isaac Hernández and Jessica Chastain in Dreams

Photo courtesy of Teorema

Isaac Hernández and Jessica Chastain in Dreams.

The opening scenes of the new drama Dreams are bracing, fictional sequences that call to mind real-life scenarios. In them, a young Mexican man named Fernando (Isaac Hernández) goes through a somewhat harrowing journey from the back of a semi truck in South Texas all the way to San Francisco. It’s a familiar immigrant story that seems to set the stage for a film with something interesting to say.

It turns out, however, that Fernando has not made the long and arduous trek for a job. Instead, it’s to be with Jennifer McCarthy (Jessica Chastain), a rich woman who helps lead a foundation dedicated to multiple things, including funding dance academies. Fernando, a talented dancer, and Jennifer have been in an off-and-on affair for years, with Jennifer wanting to keep their relationship a secret.

Although both are drawn to each other in an inexplicable, lustful way, their bond is tenuous, with each of them dissatisfied for different reasons. Fernando clearly sacrifices much more of himself than Jennifer, who wants for nothing except maybe more affection from her father, Michael (Marshall Bell), and brother, Jake (Rupert Friend).

Writer/director Michel Franco seems to try to inject tension into Fernando and Jennifer’s relationship from the start, an attempt that is only halfway successful. It’s clear from the way they greet each other - not to mention a steamy sex scene shortly thereafter - that they have known each other for a good length of time. Franco is able to get across this familiarity with an economy of scenes, and the intensity of their bond holds for a while.

But as the film progresses and both of them grow disenchanted with their arrangement, Franco starts taking the story in some odd directions. The biggest issue is that it’s never clear at what point in time the story is taking place. Fernando ends up making multiple trips back and forth across the border, with Jennifer doing the same at one point, and Franco’s use of flashbacks muddies the waters, wrong-footing the audience when he should be trying to draw them further into Fernando and Jennifer’s complications.

Revelations in the final act make the story even more confusing, as both main characters start saying and doing harsh things that seem to come out of nowhere. That would be all well and good if Franco actually committed to their changes of heart, but he keeps things wishy-washy for most of the final 15 minutes, resulting in an ending that makes little sense for either character.

Despite the story issues, both Chastain and Hernández give compelling performances. Chastain has been a little under the radar since winning an Oscar for The Eyes of Tammy Faye, but she keeps this character interesting longer than it should have been. Hernández has limited credits and appears to have been cast for his dancing ability, but he goes toe-to-toe with Chastain on more than one occasion and acquits himself well.

Dreams had all of the ideas to explore a more in-depth story about the complicated immigration policies between Mexico and the U.S., or how wealthy people take advantage of those less fortunate. But Franco never finds the right footing, settling instead for a titillating and somewhat mystifying relationship story that feels half-baked.

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Dreams is now playing in select theaters.

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