The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Honest Trailer Is Fittingly Merciless

This week will see the release of a brand new Spider-Man solo movie set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe - and a big part of that is because the last webslinger film didn't work out so well. In face, Marc Webb's Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a total mess, and now it has its own Honest Trailer dedicated to it and brutally tearing it apart.

The first Amazing Spider-Man got a fairly moderate reaction when it rebooted the franchise back in 2012, but the can't really be said for the sequel that arrived in 2014. Amazing Spider-Man 2 was a sincere disappointment to fans hoping for more, and the folks over at Screen Junkies have really taken it down with their latest video.

The breakdown starts with unflattering comparisons to Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3 and it all goes downhill from there, as the video skewers everything from the tired use of "Magic Blood" to its string of non-sensical plot threads that really don't go anywhere. It struggles in a major way courtesy of an overload of villains, as there are plenty of insults thrown around, but perhaps the best is the description of Paul Giamatti's Rhino appearances as "crap bread on a poop sandwich."

There are even plenty of issues that this video doesn't have time to get into. For example, it's incomprehensible why the The Amazing Spider-Man 2 feels the need to end on a happy note. The death of Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy really could have been emotionally devastating, but it is completely undercut by the fact that Peter Parker's mourning is covered in montage form. Even with all of the teases regarding plans for the Sinister Six, the finale still didn't manage to inspire much, if any, excitement for Amazing Spider-Man 3, so the whole thing wound up closing up shop.

Fortunately there is a happy ending to this story. As alluded to earlier, the disappointment of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was a key motivator in Sony Pictures striking a deal with Marvel Studios to allow Peter Parker to enter the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Last we we received an amazing taste of what it's like to have the wall-crawler in the franchise, but on Friday fans will finally get to see him in his own MCU-set adventure in Spider-Man: Homecoming. What's more, the new rebooted franchise can even now look back on the Amazing Spider-Man titles, figure out what went wrong and what people really didn't like, and avoid those mistakes with all future Spider-Man-related endeavors. It's a silver lining, people!

Given our anticipation level for the new Jon Watts-directed blockbuster, we plan to have a whole lot of Spider-Man content coming your way both this week and next week, so stay tuned for interviews, features, editorials, spoilers pieces, and a whole lot more here on CinemaBlend!

Eric Eisenberg
Assistant Managing Editor

Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.