I have to agree with Aron. It's two separate films that focus on completely different circumstances. I think that the reason people are even trying to compare winter solider w/ ASM2 is because of how close their release dates in theaters have been. I really don't get how people can compare it to Batman and Robin either. That film was atrocious on many levels and was by far an incredibly campy film that didn't lend itself to being as "serious" or true to source material, so bring B&R as a direct comparison really is day and night.
Next thing, since winter soldier keeps getting brought up. I got it, Marvel is making spectacular movies based on the Avengers, and I feel just the same as most do about those films. However, that story line and what Marvel has set up for the Avengers have been long planned, thought out and carefully crafted in a way that allows itself to go above and beyond the norm for superhero/comic films. To add to this, as a result, they spent the last couple of years or so with releasing individual movies of these characters to set up for the combined Avenger films and soon to be with Guardians of the Galaxy. What I'm trying to say with all this is that these characters have a very strict story that they're all following where they can be sewn together for a much larger story in which they all relate and effect each other, as they are not all completely stand-alone films.
Amazing Spiderman however, is a reboot. It's the 2nd movie, starting off from an origin film. While I loved the Maguire spidey, mostly in the first one, I felt that AMS took it in a more comic-direct style of portraying the character VS the Maguire spidey. In another way of looking at it, though not necessarily to that extreme, it's like how most now feel when watching the Stallone Judge Dredd VS the 2012 DREDD with Karl Urban.
I feel that even if you really hate the ASM films, you should at least give credit where credit is due, as the key elements that they put is quit reflective of the comic:
- They clearly portray Peter's intelligence, where they didn't focus too much on that with Toby's version. The choice to follow with the original series style of ASM having to construct web shooters was also a reflection of his intellect, and between both the first and 2nd ASM, I really feel they got that message across to anyone. I remember in one of the spidey comics, there's a point in time where the world knows his identity, he was able to get the world to "forget" that, and one character (IIRC, it was Norman Osborn) who was suspect, but later believed that Peter was merely building spiderman's equipment because he felt that Spiderman having those abilities while being that super-intelligent was "implausible."
- Bullet time; I got that you guys are sick of seeing it in films. I think though that you have to get over it, because that's how scenes are being filmed. One thing you've got to consider is that style of filming is necessary for showing Spiderman's abilities. It's not arbitrary or "just because." It's to show you, "hey, spiderman has the almost 'precognition' to danger that allows him to move in extraordinary speeds to avoid bodily harm" such as when the Rhino was firing at him at near point blank range. The next sequence, is what I mentioned before, being the times square scene in which he needs to prevent those people from getting electrocuted. Again, it was a slo motion scene, "bullet time," which showed the audience that he was able to identify, or "sense" the various dangers that can harm others, which is why they use that sequence in slo motion to go about pinpointing those dangers, all supposed to be happening simultaneously, in a super-human rate of speed. It's not to throw BS out there for just special effects. It had a purpose, and that scene should have been a clear method of showing the audience how acute his spider-sense actually is. The other slo motion sequences that come to mind are during his fight with Electro at the power grid. Yea, I'll give it that those particular scenes were for effect and looks, but the way I saw it was that while it was stylized, it gave you the chance to witness Electro's ability to move and materialize in the fashion they portrayed him, instead of just seeing a blue/purple streak running around and not giving you much of a clear shot of him.
- The other clip, that comes to mind when watching the film was when Electro uses the obscorp tower as a way to show his face (like a giant screen) and was speaking to spiderman. As short and minor as that one little sequence is, I felt that gave me chills in that it was just like what you see in the animated versions of the past, or that eerily creepy sensation of the chaotic universe that surrounds spiderman and his villains. I think back to the Spiderman ride at Universal Islands of Adventure, where it's mostly based off of the cartoon version. That ride shows a good portion of the villains but in a way that shows that the world they're in is ridiculously dangerous in a eery way. I guess I can't explain it well enough, but that one small scene in my mind captured the essential "feeling" of being in Spiderman's world.
- His costume. It's already been established that ASM2's costume is the most true to original source so far. I don't think that can be disputed. They even got Gwen's costume pretty much spot on for her final scene.
- Overall movement and personality. I wasn't too sure about how this actor's appearance as Peter Parker would work, though in the first one, I felt that he wasn't nearly as "nerdy" or socially outcast as the original comic shows him as, but it's supposedly based off the ultimate series. I think by ASM2, they got his character acting better, especially during fight sequences, or general web-swinging, etc. The scene with him in the back of the truck trying to catch all the plutonium pieces was almost cartoonish in how they made him move around, but then again, that's really how he's supposed to be able to move. It's super-human speeds and agility. If we try to ground everything in "reality," then it wouldn't really look "super-human." It's the spiderman universe, well, the Marvel universe for that matter. His fighting style is not necessarily an established one or that anything he's trained in. It's random and relies on his speed, strength, cognition (spidey sense) and intelligence to defeating others, so it's a "level up" that compensates him for a lack of real combative training. All of which have been prevalent in both ASM films.
- Relationship between Parker and Gwen. I actually felt convinced that they were really in love with each other. It's one of the better acting sequences I have seen where in other films have forced this in a way that made it unbearable (Star Wars prequels come to mind). They made it that much more believable by the end that it hit me in the feels when they show her death. They had to set up that short sequence just before electro pops up, with him and her on the bridge, as it intensified the emotional aspect of their relationship leading to her death, and I feel they conveyed that pretty well. It's like music composition. The music you make is successful when you can get it to convey the emotions to the listener that you intended it to.
- Jamie Fox as electro. I got it that I can see him playing a "bad nerd." I can say that I have actually met people (knew one) that was just like how Max Dillon's character was. It's very stereotypical but there are really people out there that can be compared to Max's character. He social outcast reflected how he turned out when transforming into a super-human. He was always ignored by his peers, treated as a nobody. They had to make that apparent in a short time frame, and they did. He just wanted attention and to be liked by others, which is why he became obsessed with spiderman after he was saved by him. It was the one person Max looked up to and admired, because spidey made him feel better than anyone else in the film ever did. When you look at it, Electro's story is a tragic one. He unwillingly turned into what he did because of other people's negligence and really should have died. He didn't understand what happened to him, so in times square, he was just trying to not do anything, but because of his powers, not knowing how to control them yet, people resented him even much more, the cops tried to kill him. So when spidey does show up, Electro saw him as a way out, but due to circumstances, his powers not in complete control, and that sniper sitting up top deciding to fire at him, well, it created a huge misunderstanding to which Max just saw it as a lose lose for him. It bred his hate towards the one person he looked up to.