The Amazing Spider-Man 2 U.K Steelbook [Blu-ray]

Brilliant movie

ASM2 is a movie that can easily spilt people. On one hand it's disappointing and on the other it's beautiful. The first Amazing Spider-Man introduced a Peter Parker that had real likeability, a romance with genuine connection and a visually accurate Spider-Man. ASM2 had so much potential to build on and the trailers looked amazing. After my first viewing I loved it, but something was off about it, I spent to summer convinced it was a terrible movie. I gave it another chance and realised what the issue was. Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a great movie but a terrible Spider-Man movie. The plot has has too many subplots and the villains aren't fleshed out at all. The on again off again relationship spoils the chemistry created in the first movie. That said all the actors play the parts really well and Andrew Garfield is great as Spider-Man. The film feels a bit like an introduction into a Spider-Man movie universe (which is what it is). In trying to get so much story into one film they kind of fail in making a satisfying story arc and make a lot of the plot twist feel very forced. Visually a great film, with some amazing set pieces, action and great acting. Let down by the fact it tries to do too many things and doesn't do all of them very well. Hopefully with 4 years before part 3 they can write a tighter script.

I was stunned to see the blu-ray for this on sale for £1.60. I remember the criticism for this movie when it released. I saw the film back then and felt it was harshly criticised. I remember the criticism being that it was a bit complicated because there were two villains, and many characters. Anyway since I liked this movie I figured why-not for £1.60. Am glad I did buy it. I sat down to watch, and told myself "Right concentrate", because they said it's a bit tricky to follow. This was even though I remember liking when I saw it before. ... I need not have worried, as the movie flowed perfectly. There was a lot of good content, from Spidey action, to good relationship moments like with aunt May. It's paced very well, and was gripping from start to end. I think some of the early more negatively based reviews were after one viewing. Once seen twice is more than twice as easy to follow. If you're in doubt and want a top-notch action-hero movie, for this price, buy it. Damn shame they didn't make more Andrew Garfield, Spiderman movies. Damn shame.

Amazing. This film is visually amazing. This is probably the visually amazing film made to date. However I have to say I enjoyed The Amazing Spider-man more. Yes the visuals are incredible. The acting is also great. The only thing that let this film down for me was that it was too soap oprahish. The dramatisation between Gwen and Peter was a bit over done for me. Off and on, no and off, again and again for the bulk of the film did get a bit wearing after 2 hours. I also found Peter to almost be suffering from multiple personality disorder, in the first scene he is a confident carefree jock type taunting a Russian mobster while his is running down civilians and sending inhabited cars flying. Then walks into his own graduation late partially dressed, high fives the Dean, and swoops Gwen off her feet kissing her in front of the graduation audience. Then goes back to the shy, neurotic, but caring Peter Parker I know from the comics. Then some of his answers or explanations for his Spider-man activities, make his sound like he was just plain High. I believe Garfield is a great actor I think they should just told one Peter Parker to play instead of three. The final thing that let me down about this movie was the ending. I am not talking about the part that every comic book fan knew was coming, but I personally hate films finishing in the middle of fights. There is mention of what is next, the Sinister 6, and mystery man , but I would have preferred if they finished off the movie properly. All in all I did like Spider-man's fighting style but I think it did rely too heavily on his webbing, rather that his strength. I would give this movie 3.5 stars but the visuals pushed this to a 4 star for me.

Very good

I apologise in advance for this long review, but after seeing 'The Amazing Spider-man 2' at least three times now, I feel that I can finally say my thoughts in a non biased way with constructive criticism. I'm not a fan of Spider-man, but I do have a soft spot for the character and enjoy most fantasy or superhero movies. The Amazing Spider-man 2 is a switch off your brain and enjoy the child's ride fantasy movie, but it's not a solid story driven, strong villain, definitive Spider-man movie. It's one of those movies where you appreciate what they were aiming for, it's fun and impressive in places, but on more than one viewing you can see and realise where all the weak points which bring the movie down are. The villain Max Dillon/Electro was impressive to watch when he used his abilities on screen, he was fun, but if you compare him to Alfred Molina's Doctor Octavius from 2004s Spider-man 2 you can see how much substance the Electro character lacks. Octavius was by far the best example for a villain, not caring about Spider-man and only taking care of that 'little chore' as he put it when the time came. Unlike the typical villains of this movie and many others, neither Doc Ock or Conner's Lizard from 'The Amazing Spider-man from 2012 wanted revenge on Spider-man, or wanting him dead, he was either only a small obstacle for them or merely a hindrance for their bigger goals. It seems that Electro on the other hand wanted to kill Spider-man just because of a misunderstanding. Even Rhy's Ifan's Doctor Curtis Conners/lizard was a more solid and better acted villain. Electro spent too much time being held captive at Oscorp to be a serious major villain. There's also the problem with having him obsessing over his birthday and being upset at not being noticed or having friends, some can relate to that, however, they aren't the kind of things your going to care for with a strong villain in a major blockbuster movie such as this. It seems that Sony are desperate to hold onto the Spider-man franchise since it's their golden ticket, not that they need it. You don't use a sequel as the foundation for a bigger universe in a franchise, you only focus on that particular movie, making it as substantial as possible. They did get a few things spot on with this sequel, improving on small things from 'The Amazing Spider-man,' better webshooters, improved comedy, incredible web swinging acrobatics from the webbed wonder, plus brilliant special effects with the fight scenes, & terrific acting from the main leads. Unfortunately what works in some comics just doesn't always work for a movie. In a few comics Spider-man would have to face small villains such as the 'Shocker' or the 'Rhino' on his way to school or college, however, you can't just add a small extra villain/s like them into a main movie and expect it to work. One main villain is all you need, maybe.......'maybe' 2 villains if the film makers can get both to work, but it's usually better to not take that risk. Harry Osbourne didn't work in that regard, he wasn't a strong enough character, it seemed like the new Goblin was added at the end just to kill of Gwen Stacy which in itself was a mistake. But here's the big reason why this movie wasn't strong enough.........Uncle Ben Parker, Peter Parker's main reason for being Spider-man in the over 5 decades since the start of the character was only briefly mentioned. He was Peter's father, guardian and raiser from being a child, and taught Peter that 'With great power must also come great responsibility.'As nice as it was to know about his parents, it was only a small story arc in the grand scheme of things, one small piece of a large jigsaw puzzle which has pieces which all fits awkwardly together. Marvel Enterprises may be making huge amounts of money with their large movie franchise, but it's because they care about the movies they make, they aren't focused on money, but they are focused on what will work, and what will help to draw a larger young and old audience. I was really happy to hear that Marvel made a deal with Sony, and Spidey is great in Captain America: Civil War, and next year we get the new Spider-man in Homecoming, it's about time because the Amazing series just wasn't doing the wallcrawler justice. Here's hoping that we get the definitive Spidey movie in 2017. We should now that producer Avi Arad who produced this one isn't part of Homecoming and Marvel studios now has complete control. 3 stars for Amazing 2. 5 stars for blu-ray picture quality and sound with some nice extra features.

Great Film to watch when nothing on TV

Crud

3D of this movie is just amazing, good depth, sharp details and immersive experience as expected from grand movie production like this. But most people judge 3D movies wrong because they are not watching the way it meant to be watched at home. After few months of 3D experience on my LG 47" 3D TV, I came up with few points to enjoy 3D movies the way they are filmed. You need following things to have best 3D experience ever: 1) Big screen 3D TV (passive 3D recommended) 47"+ recommended. Bigger the screen, immersive will be experience. If you have 3D projector, you are lucky!! 2) Dark dedicated room for TV OR watch 3D movie at night with all lights turned OFF in room. 3) You need to sit at least 5-6 feet away from TV (my personal observation for 47" TV), no more far from that. Smaller TV screen, closer you need to sit. And you may need to adjust your chair/recliner/sofa the way when you sit, you get maximum view of TV screen and not things around TV. It is mindset of people that you need to have large hall (living room) to have bigger screen TV or you notice pixels when seen from close. It is wrong perception of people mostly because people watch low quality content like SD channels or low quality downloaded videos on their Full HD (or 4K) big screen TVs. But if you watch any movie original Bluray OR video file which high bitrate close to original bluray, it doesn't matter from how far you look at your TV screen. You won't notice a single pixel. So it doesn't matter how close you sit to near to your TV, as long as you and your eyes are comfortable with it. 4) Keep TV's brightness settings at optimum level and don't mess around 3D settings of TV. If you are not getting best 3D effect, you may have already messed up the settings which you may need to reset to original. 5) If you wear prescription glasses, make sure you wear them underneath those 3D Goggles. Because if your vision is not clear without prescription glasses, you won't get good 3D effect too. 6) If you are watching 3D movie with subtitles turned ON, then turn it OFF immediately. It hampers your 3D vision. If you are having hard time understanding movie without subtitles, then watch movie twice one with ON just to understand movie and one without to Enjoy the movie. 7) And last but not least, invest in good home theater system. 3D experience is only 50% effective without good quality audio (at least 5.1 channel) supporting it.

“I enjoyed this movie, it wasn’t a whole lot of action, it was more on the emotional side of things, when I say not a lot of action, I didn’t mean it had none, it did, but how it was executed it fit the scene, not just action for action sake, it made sense, but it was good to see Electro (Jaime Fox) not as himself, if they had left him normal, that would’ve killed it for me, and it was nice they took the time for Harry Osborn Spider-mans best friend (Dane DeHaan) Character to develop, have to save him for the next one I guess, I couldn’t believe that was “Paul Giamatti” didn’t even recognize his voice, not until the credits I saw his name, I guess some people did not like this movie, their isn’t a whole lot more that spider-man can do, we’ve seen it in the last three with “Tobey Maguire” with all the kid stuff, people yelling spider-man save us, and where is spider-man, it sound so silly, I mean really, can you see a Ten year old writing a review here on Amazon.ca. no can’t happen, so what you have to do is take yourself back when you were a kid, now you’ve grown-up, you see how silly it is, But I still love it no matter what, 1080p high Definition 2.40:1 Widescreen. English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. Run Time 141 Min. Not That Bad A Movie...

Gran película, pedí la edición Bluray + DVD, pero terminó llegando el 3D + Bluray + DVD, por lo que es aún mejor para mí.

"The Amazing Spider-Man 2 : Le destin d'un héros", sorti en 2014 et réalisé par Marc Webb (Le réalisateur de "The Amazing Spider-Man" et "500 jours ensemble" entre autres...), est un excellent film de super héros dynamique et spectaculaire, issu des studios Marvel, qui n'a malheureusement pas rencontré le succès escompté lors de sa sortie au cinéma, malgré un score honorable en France, au point que Marvel a décidé de ne pas offrir de troisième volet à l'homme araignée et qu'un Reboot (Encore un!) est prévu pour 2017. Il s'agit pourtant d'une suite toute aussi réussie et spectaculaire que le premier opus, sorti deux ans plus tôt, et qui possède beaucoup de qualités. Dans ce nouvel épisode, Peter Parker, alias Spider-Man, doit combattre deux redoutables ennemis, le terrible Electro et le Bouffon Vert, qui sèment la terreur en ville. Il va aussi tenter de percer le mystère qui entoure ses parents et également de tout faire pour convaincre sa petite amie Gwen Staci de ne pas partir faire ses études à Oxford. L'histoire est très intéressante à suivre et ne manque pas de suspense ni d'humour et d'émotion. Le film possède des décors et costumes superbes ainsi qu'un rythme soutenu, on ne s'ennuie jamais. Les scènes d'action sont nerveuses et efficaces et les effets spéciaux sont très spectaculaires. Le casting est parfait, en particulier le charismatique Andrew Garfield, qui campe toujours à merveille, et donc pour la dernière fois, un Spider-Man drôle et émouvant, bien que certains préféreront la prestation de Tobey Maguire. C'est clairement lui l'atout majeur du film! Le reste du casting n'est pas mal non plus, on retrouve avec plaisir la ravissante Emma Stone et Sally Field et on notera également la présence de Dane DeHaan dans le rôle de Harry Osborn, Paul Giamatti, Colm Feore et de l'excellent Jamie Foxx, à la fois touchant dans le rôle de Max Dillon et terrible dans le rôle de son alter ego Electro. Bref, "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" est une excellente suite très spectaculaire et prenante, aussi réussi et haletant que son prédécesseur. Un divertissement efficace et de qualité qui ne vous laissera pas le temps de souffler! A voir absolument! Le blu-ray offre une superbe qualité d'image, digne du support HD. Les couleurs sont belles et l'image est très propre et nette. Rien à dire, c'est bien meilleur que le DVD. Au niveau du son, la VF est proposée en 5.1 DTS-HD MA, tout comme la VO. Un son d'une qualité irréprochable, merci Sony! En bref, si vous avez aimé le premier "The Amazing Spider-Man", alors "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" devrait également vous plaire. Une suite toute aussi réussie et spectaculaire qui va vous en mettre plein la vue, dommage que Marvel ai décidé de ne pas donner de suite à cet opus. Le film contient tout ce qu'il faut pour passer un agréable moment devant la télévision : Une histoire intéressante à suivre et riche en suspense et en rebondissements, des décors et costumes superbes, un rythme soutenu, des scènes d'action nerveuses et bien menées, des effets spéciaux spectaculaires, un casting impeccable, de l'humour et de l'émotion. Un très bon divertissement qui comblera les amateurs du genre. Le blu-ray est exempt de tout reproche. Un achat sûr.

My initial reaction to ASM2 after viewing it in the theater was ..... ambivalence. Spider-man has been my favorite comic book character since childhood (I'm in the 50 range now), so ambivalence wasn't the reaction I wanted upon leaving the theater. Despite this, I purchased the DVD/BR disc anyway...hoping that my initial reaction was due to my kids' theater distractions, bathroom breaks, spilling drinks, no subtitles (I'm somewhat addicted to subtitles now), and the inability to pause/rewind for bathroom breaks & dialogue repeating (another comfort of home theater). Now having watched ASM2 uninterrupted, on my 51" plasma widescreen, w/subtitles, surround sound, and remote in hand for pausing/rewinding, I am pleased to state that ASM2 is a very good movie on its own merits, and a worthy sequel to ASM1. The visual spectacle of the Electro/Spider-man battles is on a scale well above that of Lizard/Spiderman battles, and easily equal to the Doc-Oc/Spider-Man battles of SM2. Its just a lot of fun to watch, and also to see how, as the movie progresses, Peter Parker (with Gwen Stacey's help) uses his intellect & science background to figure out how to combat a villain with Electro's powers, which is what he frequently did in the comics. The Peter/Gwen relationship scenes are fine...a little slow for my kids' liking (they just want the action), which to me is a sign that the writers took it more seriously, as with ASM1 ...it's not dumbed down for kids....it's very "adult". To me that is a good thing. Her ending is well handled & pretty much follows the comic book ending (spoilers: that he tried to save her but could not). Also, the scenes with Peter repeatedly "seeing" images of Gwen's father, Captain Stacey, and being haunted by it, and Peter's promise from ASM1 to "keep Gwen out of it", tie in nicely to ASM1. Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborne is great. He gives the movie its dark elements, and punky attitude, as his character should. He is a great contrast to Peter Parker/Spiderman, by the film's end. I think both visually & in the character's writing, this is a darker version of the Green Goblin than Wilem Dafoe's, both in and out of costume. Dafoe's Goblin was made dark by the serum, whereas DeHaan's Goblin was made dark by his desperate circumstances (spoilers: he was slowly dying from the genetic disease which killed his father Norman). Max Dillon was almost like a Frankenstein monster character.....hated, misunderstood, not given a chance, feared. He was brilliant yet childlike at the same time. The Goblin/Electro "team'up", if you will, is much more natural than the forced Sandman/Venom teamup of SM3. In fact, Electro literally gives life to the Goblin, while the Goblin gives freedom & direction to Electro in exchange. It's that desperation and anger/rage in the two villains's lives which makes it believable that they work together against a common enemy, Spider-man. Some have criticized Max Dillon's child-like mindset, but I get this now, as someone has to be in charge, that being the Goblin, which apparently is going to lead us to the Sinister Six, based upon the film's ending scenes. Same with Rhino I guess.....not the brightest bulb. His scene at the end reminded me of The Underminer villain scene from The Incredibles, a bit on the bombastic side, which is where some of the ASM2 humor comes in...the interaction with the Alexi/Rhino character, both at the beginning and end of the film. Although somewhat humorous in portrayal, Rhino was in fact firing bullets & rockets, so there was no doubt he was a killer. There was more humor in ASM2 than in the ASM1. At first I didn't like it,...I expected more of a consistent dark/serious theme through ASM2, as in ASM1. But in hindsight, I think it makes sense now....Peter Parker/Spider-Man is at the height of his game, liked by the public, in love.....it only makes sense that his natural sense of humor should come through. And it exists in the comics, so it's not as though the writers made it up. Also, I think it balances the movie out, as (spoilers) the movie begins with the death of Peter's parents, and ends with Grew Stacey's death. Some heavy stuff you don't always see in a superhero movie. Lastly, beware of the movie trailer for ASM2, as it contains scenes and plot lines which were later cut from the film. This definitely threw me off when I first viewed the movie in the theater, as I had certain expectations/theories going of where it was headed, what would happen, etc. So if you are considering giving ASM2 a chance, then don't watch the trailer, or block it out of your mind. If you do so, then I think you will enjoy what is a solid super-hero movie.