Comparing Amazing Spider-Men 2 | Video Essay 

Alright, this is video is part of my experimental phase. However, unlike the Superman Man of Tomorrow essay, I avoided all social theories and tried to put more of myself into it, the plan moving forward is to find a spot that where I can talk about academics without coming off boringly didactic. Regardless, this is the penultimate part of the Comparing Spider-Men series (for now), the final part will put everything together and compare all three adaptions against the original Amazing Fantasy #15 comic to see what major patterns survive or are changed :)

The movie is what it is, but you can’t deny that Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone did amazing with what they were given. To me, Peter and Gwen’s relationship was the heart of these films.

they did andrew garfield so dirty with these movies 😭 he had so much potential...

I always feel awkward being one of the few people who actually liked the Amazing Spider-Man movies and feeling bummed there wasn't a third movie...

"Corporate America really"

The best video essays are the ones where I find something new to appreciate in the film. This is one of the best video essays.

The two things I want most from Hollywood: 1. A second chance for Andrew Garfield. 2. A return of Hayden Christensen to Star Wars.

*"CORPORATE AMERICA, REALLY"*

I for one actually genuinely enjoy both The Amazing Spider-Man movies. Like for sure they have there flaws but The Amazing Spider-Man movies are the first movies which deal with the idea that none of us ever feel like we have enough time. Enough time to play games, be a kid, enjoy time with your Grandma for example. That's what's so appealing to me.

The only thing that really makes me sad is that we’ll never have another Andrew Garfield that dude had so much passion for Spider-Man and carried the movies although they aren’t perfect or very good

Gwen's death scene is one of the best scenes in any spider-man movie

i love this account. it’s very unbiased

Poor Andrew Garfield, done dirty by corporate America. Really looking forward to Black Widow and Hawkeye!

Man, I'm still not use to hearing Andrew's natural accent.

I find it amusing how everyone shitted on TASM movies. I didn't like them that much either, BUT I was a kid and now that I am older I see how they really aren't that bad. TASM 1 I think is okay it is its own thing and you can't hate the for trying. TASM 2 is bad, BUT I can't lie when I say I think Andrew Garfield is my favorite actor to play Spiderman, and the suit in TASM 2 is probably my favorite movie suit. I just like how more people are recognizing that TASM wasn't Amazing but it wasn't bad.

11:30 The difference between the MCU Spider-Man movies seemed inverted to me. The first one was Peter desiring nothing more than to give up on school, join the Avengers and be a hero. The second one was Peter desiring nothing more than to go on a school trip, have a relationship with MJ and be a kid. By the end of the second movie, though, I translated the final battle as him becoming the sum of all his experiences. He appeared to Happy as Stark did when he was working, went to take on the bad guy as Spider-Man on behalf of the world and "Fury" (as an Avenger), and he took on all the drones with a shield (like Cap) and an object that resembled Thor's hammer. Then, he fully honed his Spider-Sense to defeat Mysterio which ended with him finally being THE Spider-Man we all know and love by swinging (and gliding) around NYC which also culminated in him being exposed to the world as SM and PP being one and the same and having to, in a way, grow up and face the legal issues that are somewhat inevitable. I'm rambling, but my point is, FFH is the end of his story arc whereas, I believe, #3 is going to be Spider-Man being exactly who we recognize him as being in the comics. He will be the [almost] in-over-his-head SM while being the down-on-his-luck PP before he completely gets his life together.

I honestly feel that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 should have just focused on 2 of the 6 storylines in this film, I would choose the Gwen and Harry storylines because it would help the series have a stronger thematic thread from the first film to the second one. The first film in my opinion was about Peter's relationship with his father figures; from Richard Parker to Uncle Ben to Curt Connors and the way that Spider-Man defeats the Lizard is by saving him and everyone else in New York from his monstrous form. This forces Connors to redeem himself by saving Peter from falling off Oscorp Tower. If the second one only focused on Peter's relationship with Gwen and Harry then we would have a lot more time to see Harry's desperation and decent into madness as he becomes the Green Goblin and we would have a stronger investment in Peter and Gwen's relationship which would make the ending where Harry kills her a lot more devastating.

Ironically TASM2 is a movie where the movie individual threads were good, some maybe really good, but together they didn’t work well. A piece where the sum of its parts where significantly worse than the parta

that interview with my boy garfield really breaks my heart. I really like the asm series and i don’t think it deserves the hate. Spiderman 2 is genuinely amazing, they nail the character of peter parker. Spider-man far from home is my favourite spiderman film, as the action is some of the best in the mcu, and mysterio is spectacular. In conclusion, all of these movies are really really damn good.

I literally just discovered you from your Spider-Man videos and you’ve already released a new one, THANK YOU!

Did you say there were plans for a spin off with Gwen Stacey as CARNAGE ?!

I love the mentorship storyline you saw between the two sequel movies, that was a great observation!

This has got to be to most unique take on this film. It’s always has potential and this goes beyond that.

I did always think the TASM movies are a tad underrated. They have so many flaws, but they tell interesting stories at core

Thanks so much for making this! It’s great to see someone talk about this movie properly and in depth

This is without a doubt my favorite Spider-Man film!! These themes and key plot elements have always stood out to me and I have never understood why people don’t see or appreciate them. While I wanted the follow-ups, I’m ok with this being only a two-part story. It is a true hero and coming of age story that began with the Amazing Spider-Man. This is what Spider-Man is all about!

I never really read Marvel comics growing up (I wasn’t born in “corporate America”) I did watch the Sam Raimi movies as a teen and liked them as... movies. Yeah, movies. Not spiderman movies. So when I first saw the Amazing Spiderman movies at my young adult age, I thoroughly enjoyed them as... movies. IMO TASM are great movies. As someone who appreciates visual effects tech, I also appreciate these movies as an art form because of the leaps and innovations they made in designing spiderman’s suit and web swinging animation (look up the behind the scenes). The original SR trilogy was great too, and I know that fans love them for their “true” depiction of spiderman, but to knock off TASM as “bad” movies when what you really mean is “not my type of spiderman movie” is unfair.

I know the movie is this mess because Sony kept poking in there instead of letting Webb and the others make a movie, and this was a problem in the first movie. I like this interpretation though, for years I always thought how there was this message of what happens when young people have to step it up and try to navigate the world. I mean all the adults in the movie are in the dark and busy to provide (Aunt May and Gwen’s mom), have their own issues that are severely overlooked (Electro), or have agendas that aren’t in the best interest of the young person (OsCorp), and the kids-Peter, Gwen and Harry- have to figure things out. While Peter is able to make out this mess semi-okay, Gwen dies and Harry is now mutated and going further in darkness. So it’s an extremely depressing ending.

ive been watching this channel for so long now and its surprising that he never runs out of ideas and keeps the good quality

Sony's plans for if Amazing Spider-man 2 worked... I'm glad it failed. That plan is a mess.

For me, TASM is in a comic book perspective, the Ultimate Spiderman(alternate universe) where Peter is a bit more edgy and as you can see in this video they're even building up for a sinister six movie which if you're reading the Ultimate Spiderman comics you know that they are Peter's enemies on his final battle before something unfortunate happens. There are a lot of potential for Andrew and this franchise but they just kinda messed it up pretty badly with that execution but I still like some aspects of it.

Everytime I see the notification for a video from this channel, the titles music starts playing in my head. It's such a great pick (not unlike the rest of the channel)

I just found this channel yesterday and have only watched a few of your videos, but this is just incredible. There is so much more that goes into these movies than I had thought. It's just the little things that I didn't even notice when watching them and the overarching themes that you uncover in these essays really show me why some of these movies are more likable than others, in ways I couldn't see. Keep up the good work!

that cut between two different handshakes his 11/10

Good work, Leo! Good commentary, and excellent editing! I also never noticed how closely Raimi's and Watt's SM2s are in basic story structure. That's an amazing nugget, so thanks for pointing that out!

I love the fact that you put the music you use in your videos Thanks!

I follow a lot of channels devoted to story and some to psychology. This is my favorite channel. I always get excited when a new video is posted.....like Christmas.

It's very interesting how, had their plans gone right, we would have seen Tobey's Spider-man vs Andrews? Would that have worked?

This is my favorite Spiderman channel

Seeing the “planned” Spider-Man movies really makes me wish the second movie was a success

they really were planning to do a spiderman vs amazing spiderman movie? thats crazy

You're analysis videos of Andrew's Spiderman movies are gold man!! So, Tasm 2 is a time bomb and its the real villian, great explanation!!

Great analysis. My older cousin loves tasm 2 and when i told him that i don't really like it(no offense to his opinion) he defended it by how many themes it tackles and at that time i knew what the problem was but couldn't put it to words(too many storylines cause inconsistencies) but you've explained it beautifully.

i loved this video so much, you perfectly managed to articulate why the amazing spider-man films mean so much to me, and why they resonate so strongly with me unlike the raimi trilogy and the mcu spidey. thank you for this

Andrew Garfield looked so sad in that interview omg he deserved better

AmaZing video. Thanks for the TASM love

I don't give a damn what other people say, I loved Amazing Spider Man 2, and it needed a 3rd movie to round off the story.

0:25 "2021: Spider-Man vs The Amazing Spider-Man starring toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield" .......I'm actually really curious now what that movie would have been like...

I never even thought that deep into these films like you've put a completely different perspective into all of these films

Great video!! Great job!!

Wow Sony had a Tobey v. Andrew movie in 2021 planned. Now they both may be in Spider-Man 3 as a cameo which comes out in 2021 (for now). Life really comes full circle

Just letting you know I appreciate the thumbnail

you’ll get way bigger than this. i’m glad i came this early. excellent analysis.

2:57 Well, Sony actually got some of what they wanted didn't they? Maybe not this saturated but they made their Spiderverse films and Venom.

This video made me appreciate Amazing Spider-Man 2 more. I'm not sure if this was the goal, but it did that.

These videos make me love the amazing Spider-Man series so much more I wish it was explored more

You sir have earned a subscriber, you're on point.

And original there was going to be another storyline involving Mary Jane Watson played by Shailene Woodley in Amazing Spider-Man 2. However, her scenes were later cut from the film, with director Marc Webb explaining this as "a creative decision to streamline the story and focus on Peter and Gwen and their relationship". Despite this, Woodley was planned to reprise the role for future installments, starting with The Amazing Spider-Man 3, but Sony's deal with Marvel Studios and Disney resulted in the Amazing Spider-Man series' cancellation and these plans being unrealized. But it's said the scenes with Shailene Woodley were filmed, just edited out.

Solid choice

Thanks a lot for this video

Fantastic video

This is a super underrated channel

Weirdly, Nicholas Hammond would be a good choice to play Ezekiel, if they ever adapt the spider-totem stuff from the comics.

You almost make this sound like a good movie. good job!

Seriously though, what's your favorite live-action depiction of Spiderman?

9:19 One of the best jump cuts I've ever seen

He makes amazing spider man 2 sound so good

This movie hurt my soul I love Amazing Spiderman that franchise had so much potential that was squandered by Sony not only did this movie does not feel like a Marc webb movie the movie felt incredibly rush and had too much storyline going on all at once that the only positive thing that movie had was the Gwen Stacy death scene and that hurt because it felt like a part of me died when Gwen did. They should have properly build up all of theses characters especially Harry Osborn as we don't know that version of harry and he should have been the villain in the next movie

That ending... what a tease. Great vid though!

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 had so many great storylines that could work rlly well on their own. If Sony took it’s time and let these storylines develop at a regular rate and gave them the multiple movies they needed. This series could have been truly special.

Idc what anyone says.. the amazing spiderman films hit me the hardest and still do. The tobey films hit also but not as hard for me. The mcu...eh but i love all three actors as spidey but andrew is def my favorite

I feel like I need to watch the Andrew Garfield spiderman movies again. I honestly forgot the Aunt May story arch in all the other elements. Her story of trying to provide when she relied so much on Ben that she has to start over and never feeling like she's enough for Peter really broke my heart

That Thor the Dark Thor poster was gold!

The problem with these movies is that they basically rehashed the first two Spidey films (Raimi versions), in particular ASM 1, which was just so bad for going over the origin story again. And then along comes the sequel and shoehorns in The Green Goblin...why??

1 minute in and I love the editing

unpopular opinion: i actually enjoyed andrew's version of spiderman it was sony's fault why it wasnt as good as it should be. they literally wasted him.

Hearing Andrew being heartbroken by how Sony treated his second outing along with Sam Raimi quitting Spidey-Man 4 due to Sony’s meddling is one of the reasons why I despise Sony Pictures

Definitely interesting to see the MCU progression of spiderman as it fits differently in the avengers universe. There isn't just one superhero, there's many. I do think Hollands portrayal is more contemporary now than 10 years ago with Toby, however I'm hyped to see his progression even more as the high school arcs come to an end and the character matures. Great vid btw!

We to admit that TASM 2 has the best web singing out of any Spider Man movie.

I keep saying this, i really liked Andrew's spiderman. I was so excited for part 3.

I think the many story lines fit for the character of spiderman. A large part of spiderman and peter parker is struggle, being beaten down, overwhelmed, yet still finding a way to keep fighting and doing the right thing. From not being able to be everywhere hes needed, rent, loosing the people he loves, fighting crime, having love and being social, being seen as an menace and having those he saves and protect hate him, dealing with so much hardships simultaneously and stilling trying to fight against it all to be good, be a hero is what makes spiderman such an engaging and human character.

3:01 That was what they were gonna do for TASM3? The Clone Saga/Conspiracy? Ironically, the villain necessary for that (Miles Warren/The Jackal) was not set up in ANY of this film's storylines.

Amazing Spiderman 2 though has the best matter in fact the perfect Spiderman theme

*Grabs Popcorn* this is gonna be good

The opening music reminds me of Kiki Delivery Service.

10:34 it’s said in the film that only 2 years have gone by since Uncle Ben died, meaning Peter is 19 here, not “well into his 20s”. I know that Tobey doesn’t look like a 19 year old but still 😆

Great movie! Quite a tragedy that they could not do the 3rd one

What song is playing in the background of the very beginning of the video? been looking at all the songs listed in the description for this video and it doesn’t seem to be listed. - great video by the way!

It will be fun to see Andrew Garfield play spiderman again, Toby Maguire too.

I love the amazing spider-man movies, not because of a good story, I love the whole atmosphere, it's dark and depressing, Peter is an outcast in his own way, a punk-ish skater kid, dare I say hipster. Tonaly and atmospherically it's a masterpiece

0:25 they predicted 2021

And let me tell you I have a very hard time thinking about the scene where Gwen Stacy falls to her death wish is why I don't really visit this movie that much because you see her fall down to the clock tower and you think Spider-Man's going to save her but the dramatic music tells you it's not to meant to be and just the way he stands over Gwen to come back the most heartbreaking scene and I'm just tearing up thinking about it it has to be one of the most wrenching scenes I've ever seen in a movie. The Death of Gwen Stacy is such an iconic part of the comic books but to see it fully realized on the screen it's just adds another layer to it you know.

I love all three Spiderman ❤️❤️❤️

Ngl bois, he got me there at the end.

This is the first video I’ve seen on ASM 2 that’s convinced me that the pieces were there for a more meaningful story. Your breakdown on the interplay with time was especially thoughtful! That being said, even if the studio had been hands-off, I’m not sure that it would have been executed well enough to make up for what I see as its glaring flaw: the characterization of Peter himself. When May stresses that he’s a good person, my reaction is, “I guess?” when it should be more like, “Absolutely.” The movies don’t portray him as a bad person by any means, but they also don’t give him memorable moments where his innate goodness is shown to be the driving factor behind his actions. Despite having graduated from high school, he seems stuck in disaffected teen-land, especially compared to Gwen. His arc feels stunted. Would a third movie have resolved it? Maybe. But it still feels like something that should have been clear at the end of the second movie at the very latest.

12:12 It says by the bottom of the sheet that they were planning to make a spider verse movie in 2021

Honestly, looking at all those films they had planned, I would have liked to see all of it. I mean, Tobey versus Andrew next year? Holy fuck. Edit: Well, maybe not the Aunt May spin-off, but the others. And without butt loads of studio interference.

Did not know this was gonna be franchise franchise

6:18, anybody here watched stranger things season3?? they did the same "letter speech" thingy wherein Jim Hopper wrote a speech to eleven at episode 1 and we never get to hear what that speech is until the last episode wherein he supposedly died and eleven was able to read the letter.. all i'm sayin is that Stranger Things did it in a fantastic way! the letter is simply about hopper just wanting to say that he missed eleven because she is all grown up now, watching all episodes of the season3 and seeing what our characters has been through and then hearing the speech at the end gives it a whole different meaning! i cried during the last episode :(

Do Italian Spiderman next