Movies I Liked: Amazing Spider-Man 2

Logline: Superhero Spider-Man fights against the mysterious Oscorp, whom all of his enemies are connected to.

Concept Statement: No matter what price we pay to do good, the world needs people that are greater than what we suffer.

Themes:  Abandonment, Time

Running Time: 142 min

Liked:

• Spider-Man and the main villains connected to each other through the theme of abandonment
• Electro and Harry join forces because of this theme, not just because they hate Spider-Man
• Electro represents the type of unconfident man Peter would have become if he never had Aunt May and Uncle Ben after being abandoned by his parents.  As a result, the virtue of responsibility and power was never learned
• Electro is a tragic villain, a man who turned bad because he fell victim to the worst of himself of just wanting to belong and be noticed.  Found him to have a lot of pathos because I think we've all felt like Max Dillon at one point in our lives - being angry, confused, and lonely, and as a result, irrartional
• Theme of time
• Gwen's death happens at a clock tower
• Spider-Man puts his foot jamming the cogs, literally trying to stop time (and being unsuccessful)
• First shot of the film is a watch
• First line of the film, "I wish I had more time"
• Gwen's death gives meaning for Peter to carry on as Spider-Man, even after he's paid such a personal expense, through her graduation speech
• "It's easy to feel hopeful on a beautiful day like today, but there will be dark days ahead of us too, and they'll be days where you feel all alone, and that's when hope is needed most, no matter how buried it gets, or how lost you feel, you must promise me, that you will hold on to hope. Keep it alive, we have to be greater than what we suffer. My wish for you, is to become hope, people need that, and even if we fail, what better way is there to live. As we look around here today, and all the people who helped make us who we are, I know it feels like we're saying goodbye, but we will carry a piece of each other, into everything we do next, to remind us of who we are, and if we're meant to be. I've had a great four years with you, I'll miss you very much."
• Part of the film's concept statement was stated in the trailer
• "You wanted to be the hero... now you've gotta pay the price!"

Mise-en-Scene: Fire blazes behind Electro's Head.  The shot creates a a visual tangent
that symbolizes his burning anger.

Disliked:

• Scene where the airplanes about to crash into one another: they don't directly connect to any of the characters so the audience doesn't really care about them (same logic as to why Brad Bird cut the character, Snug, out of Incredibles)
• Conversely, still understand why they probably put the scene in - to show the audience that there are innocent lives at stake
• Cringe-worthy superhero lines - "A God named Sparkles?"