The Amazing Spider-Man 2: A ridiculously pointless sequel.

Story - 

Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) has successfully graduated from high school & he is still fighting the crimes in the city as well as seeing Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) breaking the promise he made to her father in the prequel. He's feeling guilty about breaking the promise & calls it off or to say let Gwen call it off between them. That's the only way for him to save his love. On the other hand, a new villain character Electro effectively portrayed by Jamie Foxx emerges & Peter Parker gets to meet his old frined Harry Osborn played by Dane DeHaan [well don't we all know what Harry is going to turn into!]. So, there's our hero, his complicated love story, two villains, his search for the truth about his parents, Aunt May (Sally Field) & a cameo by Stan Lee... the ingredients for the Spider-Man sequel is ready. Isn't it Amazing? Hold on, it's not.

Movie -

Well, the first half begins with Richard Parker & their back story regarding what happens to them. Then the story gets back to New York where the Spidey is flying all over the city to fight crimes. Unlike the prequel, the lead pair goes through a break up which leads to several scenes that doesn't feature them together which makes the first half miss that much needed spark. Sure, there are funny moments, few manage to get some chuckles the rest seems repetitively old. The highlight in the first half is Jamie Foxx's character, it's unique characterization & Jamie Foxx's performance holds the first half of the film tight. The pace here is decent & events unravel smoothly enough.

The second half loses it's steam with several twists which was supposed to be thrilling but ends up dragged. It's here where the film actually seems crowded where too much concentration is put on several sub-plots & make it part of the main story. What holds the second half is the honest performances & those few scenes which are perfectly handled by the director, the inconsistency in the screenplay shows which plays the spoilsport. Honestly, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is way better than The Amazing Spider-Man 1, but the problem is apart from the technical aspects, the standards were never set that high as far the story goes. Purposefully not going to speak about the pre-climax & climax, just going to reveal the fact that, close to the climax you will feel that the entire 2hrs 20mins journey was pointless.

Technical Aspects -

It's brilliant. The camera work is top notch, the 3D is very effective unlike several other superhero movies that hardly exploit the 3D technology, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 perfectly uses it & it justifies to be made in 3D.

Performances -

Andrew Garfield has worked really hard to get it right this time. He does grow on you in this sequel. Emma Watson takes off from where she left in the first part, she is good. Jamie Foxx steals the show as Electro. Dane DeHaan handles his part very well. Paul Giamatti excels. Sally Field does justice to her character & surprisingly she gets to do a major melodramatic scene.

Final Word - This Spider-Man is still far from being AMAZING. So if you want something Amazing, still suggest you to watch Sam Raimi's Spider-Man sequel.

My Rating - 3/5

2 States - A marriage not to be missed.

Story -

Based on the Chetan Bhagat's novel, the story is about two lovers who wants to marry their parents with one another in order to be united forever. It's a predictable love story since the novel is equally famous among the film's target audience. How the boy gets the girl's family to like him & how the girl gets the boy's family to like her, how the boy & girl gets the boy's family to like the girl's family & how the boy & girl gets the girl's family to like the boy's family form the entire novel as well as the screenplay for the film. It's based on a novel & yes it is a "novel" story too. 

The Film - 

The movie follows the novel not just page to page but actually word to word. The first half starts decently with Arjun Kapoor's introduction & it's his narration unravels the story of his marriage to the viewers. It's love at first sight for him, so he gets the audience involved in his love story. The story moves in a decent pace giving ample time to both the principle characters to get established. For this kind of story it's very important to clarify the characterization of the lead characters & that is what makes them instantly connect with the audience. Their successful love story comes to a point where they need to take it to the next level i.e. getting committed. That's when they decide to meet each other's parents & also get the parents to meet each other since these are no ordinary lovers, they are lovers with high self respect for themselves & their love. What next? Have North Indians & South Indians oops Tamilians ever shook hands & hit it off straight away. May be for friendship, for crush but for starting a relationship.... 

With that starts the second half, where the lovers try everything to bring each other's parents together & convert the hatred into love. The efforts are honest, heart touching, funny, romantic & that makes the flow of the story even more smooth. Like I pointed, all it takes is the instant connection, the movie's first half successfully establishes that much needed connection with the viewers that makes it easy for the second half. Yes, it gets little more filmy in the second half but that's how Chetan Bhagat's writing skills are. Too many hurdles for the lovers to unite & too much stronger the relationships are in this film. How the hurdles are passed is something to watch out for. 

Performances -

Arjun Kapoor impresses brilliantly throughout. I wonder why he kept reminding me of Abhishek Bachchan in many scenes but that might be just me. He enacts his role with conviction & ease. Alia Bhatt shines yet again, she's convincing as a Tamilian-Brahmin & yes she again speaks with her eyes. 

But the real stars of the film are Ronit Roy, Amrita Singh & Revathy. The real savers as well as contributors to this film are these three. They've such strong characterizations, Amrita Singh as the Punjabi mother actually lives the character. The movie can be connected with real life characters mainly because of her. Revathy again comes out with flying colors, she sang Saathiya Tune Kya Kiya & that was my paisa vasool moment. Then, Ronit Roy, man what a terrific performer. Salute to him for his controlled performance. Shiv Subramaniam as Revathy's husband supports very well. 

Plusses - 
1. Definitely the performances especially Amrita Singh, Ronit Roy, Revathy & the two lovers. 
2. The relationship between a mother & son is beautifully exploited here. It's really heart touching. 
3. The proposing scene. Beautifully shot & performed. 
4. The dialogues, no two thoughts about it. 

Minuses -
1. Like I said the movie follows the novel word by word. Anybody who knows the novel by heart like me would say "they could've simply made the characters read out the novel for 2 hrs". For us novel readers, the story doesn't offer anything even slightly different than the novel. 
2. The music, they did gel well with the mood of the film as well as in the narrative but still they lacked the charm & one does miss a chartbuster. A love story without charbuster songs will definitely would end up making us feel something's incomplete. 
3. Since the movie follows the novel so closely, the pace keeps dropping now & then making the narrative inconsistent. 

My Rating - 3.5/5