7. The Second One Wasnt Dark And Gloomy
Some superhero sequels (Im looking at you, Thor: The Dark World) make the mistake of trying to ape Christopher Nolans The Dark Knight. That movies great, but theres no reason that every second story in a superhero series has to be darker and moodier than the last. Much to its credit, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 didnt fall into this trap. The colour palette of the second film is actually much brighter than the first. Scenes like the Times Square showdown look like they couldve been lifted directly from a particularly colourful comic, while Electro himself brings a flashy luminescent glow to proceedings. This gives Webbs second Spidey flick its own visual personality. And this brightness blends into the tone of the movie, particularly in the playful opening chase scene, Garfields slapstick skit with the coffee and the continued comedic bickering between Peter and Gwen (until she dies, that is). Again, this shows Webbs understanding of the source material. Yes, things tend to get dark for Peter every once in a while (as they certainly do here, after the Green Goblin shows up), but when everythings going swimmingly hes often utterly joyous at the prospect of swinging around, pounding on criminals and cracking wise. Webb deserves kudos for reflecting that in part two, not just sticking to the moodiness that he tried to bring to the first movie.