The Insanity of The Amazing Spider-Man 2

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is fun little movie about a person who named Spider-Man who fights crime while not looking anything like a spider. And the madness only gets worse from there. I enjoyed the movie (awkward Twilight romance and magic subway car aside), but I can’t help notice that the motivation of every villain is being completely nuts. And even the heroes are pretty loopy. As a warning, this article may have what some would consider to be minor spoilers, but I’m not giving away the farm.

Crazy Level 1 ‘Slightly Nutty’ – Aunt May – Attachment Issues and Poor Financial Management

There is a scene where Peter tries to talk to Aunt May about about his real parents, and she proceeds to have a little freak-out, yelling about how Peter is ‘her boy’ and how he’s not going to let the memory of his dead, actual parents take him away from her. This doesn’t last, and Peter does calm her down, but it’s odd to see the traditional beacon of stability in this series go a bit haywire. She also mentions that she is taking nursing courses to put Peter through University, which makes damn little sense as you traditionally have to pay for nursing courses, and Peter is currently in college while she’s taking them.

Crazy Level 2 ‘So Gorram Angry’ – Harry Osborne – Rage Induced Temporary Insanity

Harry Osborne is one of the best parts about this movie. For most of his character arc, he is more of a tragic hero than a villain. The scenes between him and Peter are pretty powerful, and a highlight of the movie. However, after [REDACTED] he goes as snooker loopy as the rest of Spider-Man’s villains. Kinda hilariously so, cackling and chewing scenery with the best of them (no surprise for those of us who have seen Chronicle). However, given the circumstances of -[REDACTED], I don’t really blame him for being angry.

Crazy Level 3 ‘Dresses Up and Fights Crime’ – Peter Parker – Manic-Depressive Narcissist

Good ol’ Spidey himself. Whenever he wears the mask, the manic side of his personality comes into play as he cheerfully kicks, punches, and puns his way through New York’s criminals, endangering himself and bystanders just to get the perfect line or pratfall. When the mask comes off, depressive Peter takes over as he slouches around brooding about his parents and continuously breaking and making up with Gwen. It’s here that you see the narcissism. He only talks about what the relationship is doing for him (never about what he is doing for her), and believes he knows better than anyone else about everything else. Need further proof? He takes selfies for a living.

Crazy Level 4 ‘Actual Insanity’ – Electro – Paranoid Schizophrenia

I love Electro. He just looks so cool when using his powers. Like crazy Dr. Manhattan combined with one of those decorative plasma globes. Plus, there is a dub-step track in his head that tells him to kill things . His motivation makes absolutely no sense, however, and he has two of the most rambling, crazy villain monologues in super-hero history. To the movie’s credit, it does actually establish early on that he is a few eels short of a pie, but the circumstances of his ‘birth’ really push the crazy up to eleven.

Crazy Level 5 ‘Totally Ape-poo’ – The Rhino – ???????

I wish the Rhino was in more of the movie. He’s only in the first three and last three minutes. But every second he is onscreen, he is joy to behold. All he does is giggle, fire thousands of bullets, and look so damn happy to be alive. In his first appearance, he has the fig-leaf motivation of trying to steal plutonium, but at the end he just seems to be there for the hell of it. While a hulking brute and a savage killer, he conveys the pure innocence and joy of a child on Christmas morning.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 may not be the best movie of the year, but it’s got my vote for being the most entertainingly loony.