Spider-man 2 movie review
Like its predecessor, Spider-man 2 is breaking the box office records. Sam Raimi has exceeded our expectations. Spider-man 2 is even better than the original. And that is saying quite a lot.
What makes Spider-man 2, or for that matter, the Spider-man franchise work so well?
The leads
First and foremost, there is the director Sam Raimi. A devout Spiderman comic book fan himself, Sam went all out to make these movies faithful to the Spiderman comics.That is evident in his casting of Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker, Spiderman.
Tobey is not an obvious choice for an action hero, let alone a superhero. Yet, he is the perfect Spiderman. If you read the Spiderman comics, you'll find the artwork excellent. The pictures convey the emotions. Sometimes, the words are unnecessary.
How would that translate to the big screen?
You need an actor who can convey emotions, what Peter is going through, without even having to say anything. Some one who can connect with the audience without saying a word. Tobey fits the bill perfectly. He exudes the emotions Peter goes through. He 'acts' with his eyes. A truly talented actor who is excellent in character portrayals.
The story. Peter Parker was a nerd before he became a superhero. Spiderman has a wiry frame, not the typical bulky towering hero. I remember a few panels in an old issue of Spiderman where big sized bullies threaten the diminuitive Peter Parker who, depressed about his problems, absentmindedly brushes them aside with one hand, knocking them unconcscious against the wall.
Peter is an ordinary guy, who just happens to have super powers.
Definitely, the standard towering hollywood hunk is out.
Average build, yoga loving Tobey Maguire fits that aspect of Peter perfectly. After his bulking up for the costumed superhero role, he was perfect physically, as Spiderman.
While most action movies are all about action, with not much care about character development, Spider-man was a character drama as well as a superhero flick. The team of actors assembled for the lead and supporting roles is very impressive. Kirsten Dunst, even at her young age has made about as many films as Harrison Ford. Tobey Maguire played the lead in academy award winning drama, Cider House Rules. Oscar winner Rosemary Harris as Aunt May. The incredibly talented chameleon of an actor, Alfred Molina plays Doc Ock. With strong leads and a supporting cast like this, you can expect an excellent performance all around. Throw in the huge budget Sony has for the movie, the special effects and talent that money can buy..
Spider-Man 2 Party Kit for 8
Spider-Man 2 Party Kit for 8
Spider-Man 2 9oz Cups (8)
Spider-Man 2 9oz Cups (8)
Spider-man Bath Robes for Boys: Red Spider-man Bath Robe for Boys
Cozy, Soft Spider-man Robe • Embroidered on the back • Soft, fleece fabric • Flame resistant polyester
Spider-man Bath Robes for Boys: Black Spider-man Bath Robe for Boys
Cozy, Soft Spider-man Robe • Embroidered on the back • Soft, fleece fabric • Flame resistant polyester
Spider-man Bath Robes for Boys: Spider-man Black Embossed Fleece Bath Robe for Boys
Cozy, Soft Spider-man Robe • Embroidered on the front • Spider print embossed in the fabric • Soft, fleece fabric • Flame resistant polyester
The romance
Besides the lead actor, the rest of the cast was well chosen. Mary Jane Watson, Peter Parker's love interest was chosen with great care. Kirsten Dunst was chosen, for he onscreen chemistry with Tobey. In the first spider-man movie, their screen romance sizzled. The upside down kiss even won the best kiss MTV award.Spider-man 2 is centered around their romance. Peter's responsibility as Spiderman conflicts with his love life. In the first movie, Green Goblin made him choose between saving the woman he loves and the kids. He is well aware that if he were with Mary Jane, Spiderman's enemies would come after her. Hence, the conflict. All that is portrayed beautifully through Tobey's subtle but powerful performance.
The onscreen chemistry between them is very strong. The way they look at each other. The hurt Mary Jane feels because of the conflicting messages he sends. His body language says he is nuts about her, yet he always disappoints her, when confronted, he denies loving her.
Add in the third party. Mary Jane's hunky fiance who seems more like an empty shell, lacking much character. Yet she is all set to marry him, leaving Peter heartbroken. All that makes Spider-man 2 a great date movie.
It seems that the Mary Jane in the Spider-man movies are a combination of Mary Jane and Gwen Stacy in the Spiderman comic strips. Sam Raimi attempts to put in as much of the Spider-man history into these 2 hour movies.
Spider Pig (from The Simpsons Movie)
One of the memorable sequences from The Simpsons Movie features Homer and his favored swine. Here's a tongue-in-cheek musical moment for the ages based on the familiar Spider Man theme.
Spider Pig (from The Simpsons Movie)
One of the memorable sequences in The Simpsons Movie features Homer and his favored swine. Based on the original Spider-Man TV theme, this is a musical moment for the ages!
Spider-Man 3 Movie Venom Maquette
A Diamond Select Release! A Gentle Giant Sculpt! Straight from the block-buster Spider-Man 3 comes this maquette featuring Spider-Man's greatest foe - the villainous and vile Venom! Sculpted and designed by Gentle Giant Studios, this nine-inch maquette is limited to 1,000 pieces and features a hand-numbered base with matching box and Certificate of Authenticity."
Spider-Man 3 Movie New Goblin Statue
A Diamond Select Release! A Gentle Giant Sculpt! Featuring the New Goblin taking to the skies on his supped-up glider, this ten-inch statue features the disguised Harry Osborne as he faces off against Spider-Man for the first time. Based on the new costume designs debuting in Spider-Man 3 and sculpted by Gentle Giant Studios, each statue is limited to 1,000 pieces and features a hand-numbered base with matching box and Certificate of Authenticity. "
Spider-Man 2: The Movie Comic Adaptation TPB - nick & dent
Presenting the official comic-book adaptation of the motion picture starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and Alfred Molina! Mild-mannered Peter Parker continues to juggle the delicate balance of his dual life as a college student and a superhuman crime fighter--which becomes even more complicated when he confronts a new nemesis, the brilliant Dr. Otto Octavius, who has been reincarnated as the maniacal and multi-tentacled "Doc Ock." Also included in this volume: one of the stories that inspired the movie, Amazing Spider-Man #50, and the origin of Ultimate Doc Ock from Ultimate Spider-Man #14 and #15!
Action, special effects and stunts
The action sequences in Spider-man 2 are thrilling. With this movie, you get to see the city from Spidey's point of view. As if you are swinging around with him. The switch from flesh and blood actor to the computer generated spiderman is seamless. The CGI spidey is more realistic.Doctor Octopus tentacles are frightening. Especially the scene in the operating theater.
Like every other action movie sequel, the villians are bigger and badder. The special effects, more astounding. The sequences are more thrilling. Yet, the special effects do not distract you from the story that is being told. The realism is there.
Apparently, due to a back problem, Tobey could have lost his role as Spiderman. The stunts he had to do concerned him and he brought up his back problem to the studios. The problem was exaggerated, and Sam, for fear that Tobey may get paralyzed from these stunts, thought he might have to recast the role. Thankfully, things cleared up and Tobey stars in Spider-man 2.
When you watch Spider-man 2, you'll see his concern. The action scenes with close ups of Peter Parker would have to use him, instead of the stuntmen. For the masked Spiderman, they could easily use a stuntman. For Peter Parker, the use of a stuntman would be more obvious. There are really cool action packed scene with Peter Parker on his scooter, stunts, acrobatics, all out of his spider suit. By the way, moms in the audience would be thrilled with the part where Peter tells some kids who see his acrobatics, to eat their vegetables. There's the scene where he falls while jumping off a roof, trying to regain his powers. Yes, in Spiderman 2, Peter loses his powers. The doc said he was physically fine, so his loss of powers, and eyesight reverting back to before that spider-bite, were all due to his mind.
Doc Ock is one cool villian. Those tentacles. Climbing up the walls with them. Every bit of the action sequences between Spiderman and Doc Ock was thrilling. Way more cool than the Green Goblin vs Spidey scenes in the first Spider-man movie. No doubt, Willem Dafoe is an excellent character actor, that green goblin outfit looked like something out of the Mighty Morphine Power Rangers kids shows.
Basically, where special effects are concerned, Spider-man 2 is outstanding. More realistic than Spider-man.
Spider-man 2 movie vs the Spiderman comics
While Spider-man 2, like Spider-man 1 captures the essence of the Spiderman comics, there are some glaring differences though.Any Spider-man fan would know that Spider-man is VERY protective of his secret identity. He would NEVER unmask himself willingly. When he is without his mask in the comics, he would hide his face with his webbing or even wear a paper bag over his face. Heck about dignity. Under no circumstances would he ever let a train load of people see his face. Duh!
There are some incidents in the comics where you do see Spiderman unmasked
As a movie goer, I can see why Sam did it. Spiderman's mask is expressionless. How do you convey emotions, communicate with the audience, if you can't see the actor's face? Yes, I admit that the maskless state did add more drama to those scenes, but I'm sure that would offend the hard core spiderman fans quite a bit.
There are several other differences too for nit picking fans. Still, these changes adapt the story for the big screen. These do enhance the movie experience.
A Spiderman comic book fan himself, Sam Raimi worked in some highlights of the comic book history into the movie. When Peter loses his powers, he tells Uncle Ben in a dream that he is Spiderman no more. You see him dump his costume into the bin and walk away. A scene taken from the cover of a Spiderman comic. The title of the story was Spiderman no more. Incidentally, in the comics, spiderman did lose his powers before. He had a very bad bout of cold. At first, he found his powers fading. It came to a point when he couldn't swing around anymore and had to walk. In a daze, he went in and told Gwen Stacy,Harry Osborn and Mary Jane his secret and gave them the mask, since he could no longer be spiderman. Finally, he went to a doctor, to find he had a bad bout of cold. That was a really interesting episode.Spiderman loss of powers
MAJOR SPOILER HERE
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Even the finale. When Spiderman faces off with Doc Ock. He has to unmask himself to get through to Doc Ock. Then a huge metal wall falls towards Mary Jane. Peter leaps and catches the wall. Facing Mary Jane, in his Spidey suit unmasked.
That reminds me of the story where Peter and Gwen Stacy were walking by the road. When a van nearly lands on them. Peter takes the brunt of the blow and lifts the van off with his body, above Gwen Stacy. Gwen Stacy would have known his secret had she not passed out then.
