WARNING: Spoilers ahead

When people die they leave a hole in the hearts of those that held them close. But it is up to those people that were left behind to heal and pick up the leftover pieces. That is one of the resounding themes of the Amazing Spider-Man 2 movie.

Everyone knows that with great power comes great responsibility, but what do you do when that power fails to save someone you love? Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) encounters this struggle when his girlfriend Gwen Stacey (Emma Stone) dies at the hands of the newly born Green Goblin (Harry Osborne). It is uncommon for movies to include such a personal struggle within a character. Usually it is glossed over or ignored altogether, leaving the fans disappointed and the audience without a deeper meaning and experience.

Here I tip my hats to the creator of The Amazing Spider-Man 2; not only do they tackle the struggle head on, they show how Peter heals, how he recovers. After Gwen’s death, Spider-man is MIA for five months, allowing crime to overrun New York City. Peter is lost in his own mind as he tries to cope with the loss of Gwen, and in the end it is the unintentional combined effort of Aunt May and Gwen that brings the web slinger back.

Now I’m not going to say anymore, go see the movie yourself. But overall I give this movie a resounding two thumbs up, not just for the action packed, saving-the-world themes expected of every superhero movie, but for the deeper theme of how to cope with loss especially when you view it as being your own fault.