Amazing Spider-Man 2 - Spark of Life, The

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Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Franchise:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
2014
Original Running Time:
141
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
108
Time Cut:
30
Time Added:
4
Available in HD?
Brief Synopsis:
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in the simplest and most cohesive structure that it can be.

TASM2: Spark of Life goes far to re-edit action sequences with new and extended shots to allow a clearer perception of events, cut a lot of the unimportant subplots out (Parker Parents, Aunt May, Oscorp/Rhino/Sinister 6, Plane Crash, etc.), adding portions of deleted scenes back in, refocusing the story on whats important, and overall trying to bring some closure to a duology that tried to be a franchise.

Intention:
I wanted to remove all the crap and all the clutter that is needlessly in a film that tried to setup a cinematic universe. The countless pointless subplots that distracted from the main story took no effort to remove, demonstrating how pointless they were. The sometimes headache inducing editing during the action sequences needed a lot of retooling due to the countless angles and half-second shots. The setups for sequels, franchises and villians that would never appear. All just needed to go.
Other Sources:
- The Amazing Spider-Man 2: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
- Pursuit Of Happiness (Extended Steve Aoki Remix)
- Various Trailers and BTS Documentaries (raw footage compiled by WhatTheActualMark)
- Deleted Scenes (From the Blu-Ray)
- SFX including Ambiance Nighttime Near Town, Open Window New York City Soundscape, Phone Vibrating, Machine Gun Reload

Special Thanks:
WhatTheActualMark for compiling all unused and raw footage that I could then take and use in my edit, as well as general feedback and some music suggestions.
Malthus for watching a rough cut and giving feedback
Marc Webb for having a wierd last name, did he get chosen for the pun?
Release Information:
Digital
Special Features
- One Minute Comparison
- Deleted Moments Caught in the Web
- Colours and Regraded Stuff
Cuts and Additions:
- Reverted opening logos back to their original soundtrack, as opposed to the film's soundtrack which leads into the opening scene
- Film now opens with Norman/Harry Osborn, but the scene has been cut to remove the scotch story and something about forgiveness
- Cut 7-minute long opening scene with the Parkers on the run and the whole plane thing
- Replaced all shots of the truck ramming the barricades and police cars. Originally it was 5 shots in 2.14 seconds, now it's simply just new 2 shots borrowed from the Blu-Ray documentary
- Cut Paul Giamatti shouting his characters name and laughing maniacly. This is now replaced with an alternate take of him grumbling
- Cut Go-Pro footage of the truck running over the cop car
- Added 2 extended shots of the truck to cover the Go-Pro shot
- Cut someone yelling "SPIDER-MAN!" and Spidey's subsequent responce
- Cut Spidey's prolonged banter as he sits on top of the truck, poking his head in while Paul Giamatti shoots him
- Moved up Spidey's "woah okay" from the cut footage to the new end of the shot
- Cut Spidey steering the truck as it rams into traffit, damaging property
- Added 2 extended shots of Max seeing the car flying towards him and Spidey's rescue of him
- Cut Spidey's "It's written on your badge" as an explaination for him knowing Max's name
- Replaced dialogue with Max saying "nobody knows my name" as Spidey grabs his badge
- Replaced 3 shots of the truck driving down the alley with the cop cars in pursuit with 1 extended shot
- Replace 60s Spidey ringtone with simple vibration
- Cut Peter lying to Gwen about the sirens and him seeing Cpt. Stacy
- Cut Spidey jumping back onto the truck saying "hello"
- Cut the truck's wiper fluid spraying onto Spidey
- Cut Go-Pro footage of the truck slamming into a bus, it was mostly covering the lens, making the shot entirely darkness
- Added 2 alternate angles of the truck crashing to replace Go-Pro footage
- Cut Spidey whistling the 60s theme
- Cut Paul Giamatti yelling that "this isn't over Spider"
- Added Spidey saying that Paul Giamatti has "cute underwear" while Giamatti remarks he is funny
- Cut Peter Parker saying "and my folks" when Aunt May mentions she wishes Uncle Ben could've attended Peter's graduation
- remove the first "I've gotta find my aunt" from Peter (him repeating things twice is a wierd trait)
- Cut Gwen's "I break up with you" x2, we get it enough in her other lines, we don't need it spelt out to us
- cut a bit of the Spidey-Sniffles
- RCut scene of Aunt May trying to enter Peter's room while he removes his costume
- Cut scene of Peter arguing with Aunt May when trying to wash his costume
- Max's apartment and his wierd shrine to Spider-Man, we get enough that he likes Spider-Man in the elevator and the VO during the later montage.
- Cut Max daydreaming of yelling at Alistair Smythe for joking about being Spider-Man
- Max's fake party thing in the elevator
- Max's tooth gap filling in during the Electro transformation
- Cut any mention of Peter's parents while he and Harry Osborn are skipping rocks
- cut "you don't have to explain any of it to me" during the rock skipping
- cutPeter "Just one Spider-Man, or woman we don't really know...for sure" bad delivery of a bad joke
- cut a bit of the flirty dialogue stuff between Gwen and Peter to try and speed things up to get to TImes Square
- trimming down the whole stalker dialogue so its made less creepy
- Spidey calling Electro "sparkles" and some dialogue from him talking about anger or something
- recut Electro being hit with the truck using some extended shots
- Electro "it's my birthday, so i'm gonna light my candles"
- added an extended shot as Spidey flips over the cop car
- added 2 extended shots as Spidey webs the cop car in front of the staircase
- Cut scene of Peter assembling the wall of clues and leads regarding the disappearance of his parents
- cut the Youtube scientist and simply have Peter experiment with the batteries
- replace 60s Spidey ringtone with simple vibration when he wakes up in the garage
- Added deleted scene of Felicia Hardy greeting Peter at Oscorp, followed by Gwen entering soon after
- Harry "Does whatever a spider can", bad delivery and spelling it out too much
- Cut Electro commenting on all the Oscorp tech at Ravencroft
- Cut Electro "you do realise this prison runs on electricity...etc."
- Cut Dr Deutsch Sterotype "who are you?" and the response "I'm Electro"
- Cut scene of Aunt May discovering Peter's investigative wall in his bedroom and that whole thing
- cut Harry's "everyone wants my money"
- Cut Peter mentioning his parents when venting to Gwen that everything is falling apart
- added Gwen getting accepted to Oxford and Peter sitting on a rooftop peacefully thinking about Gwen instead of...
- Cut scene of Peter throwing a temper tantrum in his room and throwing his father's calculator against the wall
- Color corrected scene of Harry being fired from Oscorp to make it appear earlier in the day
- Removed scene of Peter entering the subway to investigate his father's secret lab
- Added deleted scene of Gwen visiting Peter's house to inform him that she has been accepted into Oxford
- Cut all shots of Peter watching the recorded message his father left behind
- Edited all shots of Harry breaking into Ravencroft into one cohesive montage
- Re-edited all audio present the scene of Harry breaking Electro out of Ravencroft, allowing it to flow as its own standalone scene
- Cut Dr Deutsch Sterotype from Harry's Ravencroft visit and the dialogue refering to Electro by name
- Cut everything at Ravencroft after Electro kills everyone in the room as he floats around
- Cut Peter leaving the subway while listening to a voicemail Gwen left him saying that she's leaving for Oxford
- Cut Electro: "Remember me?" to Menken, I suppose somehow he saw him while at Ravencroft, unlikely though
- Cut Harry: "Am I right? (right as rain)" "Grant me a wish" "That's not the answer we were looking for" "Welcome back to the bonus round, fairy godmother"
- Added extended Goblin birth scene, but replacing low-FPS shots with unused shots from other sources to maintain the same scene length
- Rescored entire Golbin birth with a new score track
- Added deleted scene of SWAT team members guarding the elevator exit with Menken, but not the Pumpkin Bomb exploding
- Added deleted scene of Peter returning home only to be informed by Aunt May that Gwen stopped by earlier to say she was leaving for Oxford
- Added shots of Gwen in a cab on the bridge from an earlier scene where Peter is listening to Gwen's voicemail
- Cut Gwen telling her cab driver to stop the cab, as well as the cab driver responding with "Lady, I ain't even moving!"
- Cut everything refering to the plane crash that is about to happen over NYC
- Added deleted scene of Felicia talking to the Green Goblin in the now destroyed Oscorp building, this audio in this scene has been completely redone
- Cut everything with Aunt May in the hospital during the climax
- Trimmed Harry's realisation that Spider-Man and Peter Parker are the same person
- Replaced 2 half second shots of the Goblin lunging at Spidey with one new single second shot (from BTS Doco)
- Added 2 extended shots to replace one shot of the Goblin's stunt double being clearly visable
- Cut Harry and the man in black at Ravencroft discussing the Sinister Six and Rhino
- Removed the final battle with Rhino, he only appears in the news report on TV discussing rising crime rate
- Rescored last scene of Peter looking at the Spidey mask contemplating returning to the role with a new score track that leads into the end credits
- Added "Spark of Life" title card to the Spider-Logo at the beginning of the end credits
- Changed end credits sequence from blue to red (I think it looks cool)
- added faneditor credit during end-credits
One Minute Comparison

User reviews

11 reviews
 
64%
 
36%
5-7 stars
 
0%
3-5 stars
 
0%
1-3 stars
 
0%
Overall rating
 
9.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.5(11)
Audio Editing
 
8.3(11)
Visual Editing
 
9.6(11)
Narrative
 
8.8(11)
Enjoyment
 
8.8(11)
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Overall rating
 
8.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
6.0
Visual Editing
 
8.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
7.0
Being quite familiar with Bobson’s work, several of his edits replacing the theatrical cuts in my collection, I came into this edit expecting a miraculous make-over. And even though I can testify that The Spark of Life is a vastly better viewing experience than the mess that the original film was, it would be a lie if I didn’t confess that by the end of it I felt a little disappointed. For even the most talented of editors need the right ingredients to work with, and TASM2 simply does not deliver.

To begin with, the story here is tighter and much more focused. I was never a fan of the Parkers’ disappearance mystery, right from the start, so I was pleased to see it cut in Bobson’s editing room. That also comes with a price, though, taking down too much of Sally Field’s solid presence along with it. I actually forgot there was an Aunt May somewhere in the middle of the film. The mismatching, goofy or over-the-top elements seemingly coming out of Schumacher’s Batman era are also toned down to a palatable degree; Jaime Fox’s Max Dillon feels now less of a caricature and the same goes for Dr. Kafka at Ravencroft. Dane DeHaan’s Harry Osborn is also greatly benefited by the addition of the deleted scenes as well as his introduction in the very first scene of the film. In the original cut he seemed more like an afterthought to me, never really selling out his friendship with Peter and his personal drama, his character strangled in the web of plot threads. In The Spark of Life, with so much of the unnecessary subplots cut out, he has the chance to shine more as the main plot revolves around his quest to save his life. Unfortunately, though, it all crashes down during the final act of the film. Harry’s transformation still feels uneventful; his Goblin still as cringeworthy as he ever was. There’s no way for any editor to fix that, and inevitably this spoils (at least for me) everything that’s following down to the end.

Technically, while the edit mostly meets Bobson’s high standards, as other reviewers have pointed out, there are some audio issues here and there, most notably when the sound mutes for a few seconds during Gwen’s and Harry’s elevator scene. And I could also spot a quick flash frame as well.

Final verdict: A better experience than my original viewing altogether, but still missing those qualities that would transform it into a great film.

User Review

Format Watched?
Digital
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Overall rating
 
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
The movie was not that Amazing but you made the movie better. You made the story better by cutting out Peters parents out, stupid Robot Rhino, some bad dialogue. What you took out that I like was Spidey singing and the music on his cell phone. m The Audio, Visual and edit was good. Great movie.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
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Overall rating
 
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
Not really much I can say about this edit that hasn't already been said. After watching TASM 2, I was glad to finally watch this and see the good elements shine throughout this whole edit. All I can really say without sounding redundant is, watch it! Well done Bobson.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
D
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(Updated: January 13, 2022)
Overall rating
 
8.2
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
5.0
Enjoyment
 
6.0
After witnessing Bobson's miraculous salvation of Raimi's final Spider-film, I was eager to see what could be made of Marc Webb's terrible final outing with the Webhead. Unfortunately, despite lots of visual and narrative clean-up, the raw materials just aren't there. Despite Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone's natural likeability, their characters are self-involved, grating and unsure what they want, which just muddles the entire arc of the film, despite the excision of entire pointless subplots and villains. There's no clear throughline for anything in the movie, and with the ASM franchise's ambitions to simultaneously ape the somber heroic motivations of the Nolan Batman films, the over-the-top villains of the Schumacher Batman films, and the expansive world-building of the MCU, ASM2 just tries to do to much with too little.

Definitely an improvement on all fronts, and anyone wishing to revisit the Garfield/Webb movies should definitely seek out this edit, but at the end of the day, watching the trailer might suffice for the curious.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
R
Top 10 Reviewer 156 reviews
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Overall rating
 
7.2
Audio/Video Quality
 
8.0
Audio Editing
 
6.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
7.0
Enjoyment
 
6.0
In general, I do think this edit is an improvement over the theatrical cut, but unfortunately I don't think it's enough to make this movie work. The characterization of Harry Osborn and Max Dillon is still a mess, and the broad, campy approach to both characters contrasts unfavorably with the naturalistic approach taken in scenes involving Gwen and Peter's romance. I was hoping this would be the edit that would really make me feel the impact of Gwen's death, but I still felt the moment was obfuscated by Harry's poor character work.

To be fair, none of this is the fault of the editor, I just wish more could have been done to remedy it. Additionally, I encountered a few audio abnormalities, including a severe issue where audio completely cut out for a few seconds.

The edit is presented as a 6GB 1080p file with stereo sound. It's adequate, and looks good considering the file size, but is still noticeably compressed. The lack of a surround sound option is also dissappointing, as I don't feel the edit has enough custom audio work to necessitate the downmix.

In short, if you already liked The Amazing Spider-Man 2, you will probably like this edit, but for detractors, I'm not sure if it goes far enough.
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