Spider-Man 2 «««½
PG-13, 127m. 2004
Cast & Credits: Tobey Maguire (Spider-Man/Peter Parker), Kirsten Dunst (Mary Jane Watson), James Franco (Harry Osborn), Alfred Molina (Doc Ock/Dr. Ott Octavius), Rosemary Harris (May Parker), J.K. Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson), Donna Murphy (Rosalie Octavius), Daniel Gillies (John Jameson), Dylan Baker (Dr. Curt Connors), Bill Nunn (Joseph ‘Robbie’ Robertson), Vanessa Ferlito (Louise), Willem Dafoe (Green Goblin/Norman Osborn), Cliff Robertson (Ben Parker). Screenplay by Alvin Sargent based on the comic book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Directed by Sam Raimi.
Spider-Man 2 is a unique superhero movie-sequel in that the characters go through feelings of regret or self doubt. Even J. Jonah Jameson, the cigar chomping tabloid editor of The Daily Bugle goes through an albeit very brief moment of guilt as he gazes upon his most prized trophy that hangs on the wall in his office; the suit of Spider-man.
Jameson (J.K. Simmons) is convinced all the less than glorifying headlines he’s ordered his newspaper to print painting the wall crawler as a criminal has forced New York’s superhero to give up fighting a life of crime at a time when “The Big Apple” needs him the most.
Two years have passed since the events of the first Spider-Man (2002) movie and much as has changed for the characters. Peter Parker’s first love, Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) is now a Broadway actress whose picture is plastered all over billboards and buildings. His best friend, Harry Osborn (James Franco), is now in charge of a struggling high-tech company once run by his late father who, unknown to him, was The Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe). While Parker’s silver-gray haired Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) continues to cope with the death of her husband, Ben and Peter’s uncle (Cliff Robertson), it seems Peter (Tobey Maguire) is going through a very rough period in his own life.
Whereas most everyone close to him is a success, Peter Parker is a struggling failure who can’t hold down a job as a pizza delivery boy (even Spider-man can’t get a dozen pizzas delivered on time). He lives in a one-room apartment where the shower is across the hall and is used by everyone else. His professor rides him about how he is always late to class at Columbia University while his Russian landlord keeps asking for the rent money the minute he steps in the door.
When Peter drops his books and papers on the way to class, students walk past him too concerned with their own schedules to offer a hand. When Parker hands Jameson’s secretary a $300 check for a recent photo he took of Spider-Man, he finds out the money doesn’t even cover the debt he owes from last time. As if having to wash his only superhero suit at a laundry mat isn’t enough, the guy can’t even get his hands on a snack at a dinner banquet and when he finally snags up a glass from a waiter walking by, the drink is empty.
Seems fighting crime as Spider-Man is the only positive thing Peter has going in his life. That is until his web stops working while flying around in mid-air and loses his ability to cling to tall buildings. How embarrassing it is for a superhero to have to take the elevator to get down to the first floor.
Who would have thought even superheroes have their breaking points as Peter decides to hang up his spidey suit tossing it in the trash.
“I’m Spider-Man no more,” he says.
What makes Spider-Man 2 better than its predecessor is this is about people who, despite being given a gift, turns out they aren’t as infallible as one would think. Even superheroes have personal problems. What makes this promisingly lucrative franchise even more surprising is that even the villains have a conscience.
I haven’t read a single Spider-Man comic book in my entire life but after now having seen both movies, I get the impression there is more to the villains here than the ones from the Batman movies where a tragic event caused them to become something else. What was different with Dafoe’s Green Goblin character in the first film and is made even more apparent with Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus this time is even they regret the havoc they’ve caused, that is before their psychotic minds get the best of them. The Spider-man films bring up the idea that not everyone was born evil.
“I will not die a monster,” says Molina’s Doc Ock, a former scientist named Otto Octavius whose fusion experiment to capture energy from the sun goes horrifically wrong killing his wife.
Molina’s Doc Ock is seen as a much deadlier, more menacing adversary who unlike Dafoe’s Green Goblin doesn’t hide behind a demonic mask. His four tentacles exhibit mechanical mouths at their ends that have minds of their own and every time he makes an appearance, the earth shakes as he crawls up the city’s skyscrapers leaving gaping holes along the building’s side where he walked.
None of this would be possible were it not for Sam Raimi (Army of Darkness - 1992) the director of the original. Raimi, an admitted diehard fan of the Marvel Comics character, along with screenwriter Alvin Sargent, illustrate how faithful they remain to the series by incorporating events that happened in the comic book. The subplot where Maguire’s Parker says he is no longer Spider-Man was an actual story from 1967 found in Issue 50 according to the movie adaptation.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Raimi watched, as I did, animated episodes of the Spider-Man (1967-1970) television show since midway through, he pays tribute to the series in which an Asian woman is seen singing the show’s theme song on a violin. When word spreads throughout the city that Spider-man has retired, she bangs out a tune that I could have swore is the opening music from those Spider-Man skits done on the PBS children’s show, The Electric Company (1971-1977).
Of course, Spider-Man 2 wouldn’t be a superhero movie unless it has moments of action and battles between the hero and the villain. The shots of seeing the wall crawler flying through the air this time are convincing to the point I didn’t think it looked like the shot was done with computer generated imaging as the sequences looked in the first one. In much the same way I was convinced Christopher Reeve’s Man of Steel was really flying and not hanging by some thin wire in what is still the best superhero movie to date, Superman: The Movie (1978).
What makes Spider-Man 2 worthwhile is it’s about people with conflicting emotions trying to come to terms with their pasts. Peter Parker must learn how to juggle a dual life as a college kid trying to make ends meet while fighting crime dressed in a tight fitting red and blue latex suit boasting two silvery eyes and no mouth and a black spider on his chest. Damsels-in-distress like Mary Jane wonder when the boy next door is going to finally reveal his true feelings for her. Then there is jealous friend and foe Harry Osborn whose hatred for Spider-Man takes another unexpected step.
I liked the first Spider-Man but the trouble I had was it reminded me too much of Superman: The Movie and had too many plot similarities and characteristics to the Man of Steel. Clark Kent is a reporter for a newspaper. Parker is a photographer for another newspaper. Both deal with editors. Both have their love interests (Kent has Lois Lane/Parker loves Mary Jane Watson). Is it any coincidence that both Kent and Parker were raised by foster parents? The best advice Parker’s Aunt May could have said to her young nephew is that he does too much. He’s not Superman, she said.
Spider-Man 2 successfully sheds that Superman persona - superhero movie with its own identity. To quote the kid midway through who meets the wall crawler face-to-face, “It’s good to have you back, Spider-Man.”
©6/30/04
PG-13, 127m. 2004
Cast & Credits: Tobey Maguire (Spider-Man/Peter Parker), Kirsten Dunst (Mary Jane Watson), James Franco (Harry Osborn), Alfred Molina (Doc Ock/Dr. Ott Octavius), Rosemary Harris (May Parker), J.K. Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson), Donna Murphy (Rosalie Octavius), Daniel Gillies (John Jameson), Dylan Baker (Dr. Curt Connors), Bill Nunn (Joseph ‘Robbie’ Robertson), Vanessa Ferlito (Louise), Willem Dafoe (Green Goblin/Norman Osborn), Cliff Robertson (Ben Parker). Screenplay by Alvin Sargent based on the comic book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Directed by Sam Raimi.
Jameson (J.K. Simmons) is convinced all the less than glorifying headlines he’s ordered his newspaper to print painting the wall crawler as a criminal has forced New York’s superhero to give up fighting a life of crime at a time when “The Big Apple” needs him the most.
Two years have passed since the events of the first Spider-Man (2002) movie and much as has changed for the characters. Peter Parker’s first love, Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) is now a Broadway actress whose picture is plastered all over billboards and buildings. His best friend, Harry Osborn (James Franco), is now in charge of a struggling high-tech company once run by his late father who, unknown to him, was The Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe). While Parker’s silver-gray haired Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) continues to cope with the death of her husband, Ben and Peter’s uncle (Cliff Robertson), it seems Peter (Tobey Maguire) is going through a very rough period in his own life.
Whereas most everyone close to him is a success, Peter Parker is a struggling failure who can’t hold down a job as a pizza delivery boy (even Spider-man can’t get a dozen pizzas delivered on time). He lives in a one-room apartment where the shower is across the hall and is used by everyone else. His professor rides him about how he is always late to class at Columbia University while his Russian landlord keeps asking for the rent money the minute he steps in the door.
When Peter drops his books and papers on the way to class, students walk past him too concerned with their own schedules to offer a hand. When Parker hands Jameson’s secretary a $300 check for a recent photo he took of Spider-Man, he finds out the money doesn’t even cover the debt he owes from last time. As if having to wash his only superhero suit at a laundry mat isn’t enough, the guy can’t even get his hands on a snack at a dinner banquet and when he finally snags up a glass from a waiter walking by, the drink is empty.
Seems fighting crime as Spider-Man is the only positive thing Peter has going in his life. That is until his web stops working while flying around in mid-air and loses his ability to cling to tall buildings. How embarrassing it is for a superhero to have to take the elevator to get down to the first floor.
Who would have thought even superheroes have their breaking points as Peter decides to hang up his spidey suit tossing it in the trash.
“I’m Spider-Man no more,” he says.
What makes Spider-Man 2 better than its predecessor is this is about people who, despite being given a gift, turns out they aren’t as infallible as one would think. Even superheroes have personal problems. What makes this promisingly lucrative franchise even more surprising is that even the villains have a conscience.
I haven’t read a single Spider-Man comic book in my entire life but after now having seen both movies, I get the impression there is more to the villains here than the ones from the Batman movies where a tragic event caused them to become something else. What was different with Dafoe’s Green Goblin character in the first film and is made even more apparent with Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus this time is even they regret the havoc they’ve caused, that is before their psychotic minds get the best of them. The Spider-man films bring up the idea that not everyone was born evil.
“I will not die a monster,” says Molina’s Doc Ock, a former scientist named Otto Octavius whose fusion experiment to capture energy from the sun goes horrifically wrong killing his wife.
Molina’s Doc Ock is seen as a much deadlier, more menacing adversary who unlike Dafoe’s Green Goblin doesn’t hide behind a demonic mask. His four tentacles exhibit mechanical mouths at their ends that have minds of their own and every time he makes an appearance, the earth shakes as he crawls up the city’s skyscrapers leaving gaping holes along the building’s side where he walked.
None of this would be possible were it not for Sam Raimi (Army of Darkness - 1992) the director of the original. Raimi, an admitted diehard fan of the Marvel Comics character, along with screenwriter Alvin Sargent, illustrate how faithful they remain to the series by incorporating events that happened in the comic book. The subplot where Maguire’s Parker says he is no longer Spider-Man was an actual story from 1967 found in Issue 50 according to the movie adaptation.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Raimi watched, as I did, animated episodes of the Spider-Man (1967-1970) television show since midway through, he pays tribute to the series in which an Asian woman is seen singing the show’s theme song on a violin. When word spreads throughout the city that Spider-man has retired, she bangs out a tune that I could have swore is the opening music from those Spider-Man skits done on the PBS children’s show, The Electric Company (1971-1977).
Of course, Spider-Man 2 wouldn’t be a superhero movie unless it has moments of action and battles between the hero and the villain. The shots of seeing the wall crawler flying through the air this time are convincing to the point I didn’t think it looked like the shot was done with computer generated imaging as the sequences looked in the first one. In much the same way I was convinced Christopher Reeve’s Man of Steel was really flying and not hanging by some thin wire in what is still the best superhero movie to date, Superman: The Movie (1978).
What makes Spider-Man 2 worthwhile is it’s about people with conflicting emotions trying to come to terms with their pasts. Peter Parker must learn how to juggle a dual life as a college kid trying to make ends meet while fighting crime dressed in a tight fitting red and blue latex suit boasting two silvery eyes and no mouth and a black spider on his chest. Damsels-in-distress like Mary Jane wonder when the boy next door is going to finally reveal his true feelings for her. Then there is jealous friend and foe Harry Osborn whose hatred for Spider-Man takes another unexpected step.
I liked the first Spider-Man but the trouble I had was it reminded me too much of Superman: The Movie and had too many plot similarities and characteristics to the Man of Steel. Clark Kent is a reporter for a newspaper. Parker is a photographer for another newspaper. Both deal with editors. Both have their love interests (Kent has Lois Lane/Parker loves Mary Jane Watson). Is it any coincidence that both Kent and Parker were raised by foster parents? The best advice Parker’s Aunt May could have said to her young nephew is that he does too much. He’s not Superman, she said.
Spider-Man 2 successfully sheds that Superman persona - superhero movie with its own identity. To quote the kid midway through who meets the wall crawler face-to-face, “It’s good to have you back, Spider-Man.”
©6/30/04
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