How To Fix The Amazing Spider-Man 2
There are so many things wrong with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and it's the 2nd time I walked out of a theater being disappointed with a comic book film. With too many subplots, too many side characters, scenes getting cut from the theatrical release and poorly constructed villains this film is a mess. Not only that but the film ends right when it's getting good. Here's what I would do differently about this film to make it better.
Make Electro A More Impactful Villain
Let's start with the villains shall we? First off, making Electro the over the top Steve Urkle nerdy type villain that goes insane when he gets his powers is an overdone trope. Not only is it lazy but it's a cheap way to try and garner sympathy for the antagonist. In my opinion one thing that would make Jamie Foxx performance as Electro better is if they went the Spectacular Spider-Man TV show route. In Spectacular Spider-Man Electro had a mental breakdown and was looking for a cure after obtaining his powers. If Electro is the villain then I would do the exact same thing: make Max a well respected and loved employee at Oscorp that has a mental breakdown because of his inability to physically interact with anyone and anything.
I think this adds more layers to the character and allows the audience to sympathize with him a lot more.
Cut Out The Meaningless Subplots
A lot of people tend to forget that this picture up above wasn't the opening of this film. The opening sequence was Peter's parents dying in a plane crash. Let me say this one thing about the Peter's parents subplot: no one cares! Seriously, the only thing that we need to know is that they died when Peter was young and that's it. The constant exposition dumping makes the audience feel like a bunch of toddlers.
It especially doesn't help that none of this had any kind of follow up. There is a deleted scene with Peter finding out his dad is alive and talking with him. In my opinion I would cut out the useless subplot with his parents and wait until the introduction of Venom to capitalize on that. It wasn’t just Peter's parents that was the only meaningless subplot of this film. During one of the trailers of the film Harry Osborn reveals to Peter that Oscorp has been keeping tabs on him and that scene didn't even make it into the final cut.
If Green Goblin Is Going To Be The Villain Have It Be Norman & Not Harry
Why would you waste an actor like Chris Cooper on a role like this? He's in the film for about five minutes (maybe a little more, maybe even less) before dying. Norman Osborn/Green Goblin is top five Spider-Man villains and have diminished to a dying role in his first appearance left a bad taste in my mouth I can't get back. If you're going to kill Gwen Stacy then cut out Max Dillion/Electro and focus on the Osborne's. Having Harry be the Goblin that kills Gwen takes away the impact of the comics and the fallout from his relationship with Peter.
Now if you want to do a fake out where the audience thinks the Goblin under the mask is Harry but Norman has been setting up his own son to take the fall, that would hit different. No this isn't an idea that I came up with, it's another brilliant idea fro the 08-09 Spectacular Spider-Man TV series.
Final Thoughts: overall, these are just my thoughts of the film all together and what I would change about it. If anyone agrees or disagree let me know and tell me what you would change about the film.
