I won’t give you a review like Noah. There are no spoilers here.

I went to see The Amazing Spider-Man 2 tonight. I’m not sure why it has gotten bad reviews. I already want to see it again. It started off a bit corny, but that corniness got interwoven into the movie in a way that made sense and helped lighten some otherwise pretty dark bits. I just enjoyed it. It was a great time.

As an aside, I think most movies do 3D horribly. I couldn’t care less for it. But both the first and now this Spider-Man were well worth watching in 3D. It actually is worth it to go see this movie in 3D. The special effects were nicely done. The camera shots really brought out the 3D. There were a few scenes where my stomach turned as Spider-Man jumped off buildings.

So the leads really were not believable as high school students, but it still worked with a lot of the smart aleck barbs and comments from Spider-Man. It was humorous, intense, deeply tragic, and highly entertaining. I recommend it, recommend it in 3D, but do not recommend taking kids. It would be too intense for mine (8yo girl and 5yo boy). I’d probably feel comfortable saying 12 or older, maybe 10, but every child is different. There were some intense parts and there are some emotional deaths.

As for the film reviews, I am very much not a film reviewer. I don’t go in looking for deep allusions to the director’s dead dog in the dialogue or pay attention to the lace on a character’s collar, being careful to note it was sewn by one armed midgets in the Congo, which makes it an allegory of labor issues in Taiwan and nonsense.

I go to be entertained — to have my emotions tapped by a director and, through the spectacle, be excited, sad, scared, and humored.

I think this movie accomplished those things. It was not deep. It play on themes of separation and identity, both of which were woven throughout the movie. There was some great Marvel bits throughout if you paid attention. I just enjoyed it and rate it as good enough to go back and see it again.

Two final points — there is a preview of the next X-Men movie about half way through the credits. But that’s it. There is no need to stay till the end. Sony made sure the pimp the mess out of all its products and other products, but didn’t pull off a Marvel post-credits ending like so many of us have come to expect. Of course, they set up for the third part fairly well in the movie.