Spiderman 2
August 25th, 2004
by Samuel H. Bolton
Having been dissapointed with the first film I really was not looking forward to this next installment. Tobey Maguire's underacting, Willem Defoe's overacting, Sam Raimi's wholly dissapointing portrayal of web slinging, and the script's overall silliness was enough to turn my frozen shoulder towards this blockbuster franchise. Spiderman's only saving grace was J.K. Simmons' Pulitzer-esque performance of New York's premiere shameless sensationalizer, J. Jonah Jameson. But, like so many red-blooded Americans, I was swept off my feet by the trailer. It didn't assault your moviegoing senses with quick, MTV style cuts of spidey slinging around the Big Apple. It didn't show an overhead view of a soaked Mary Jane bouncing up and down. It didn't even let you see Dr. Octopus throwing cars and people around as if they were his own personal limted edition Spiderman action figures. Ok, well maybe it did let you see that last one, but it was cool right? I don't know about you, but if there's a scene that conatins both heartfelt romantic conflict and a car violently thrown through a diner's window, I'm there without question. So, the trailer engineers did their job well and revved me up for a sequel I didn't even want to see, bravo. I made my way up to Pointe Orlando's Muvico Theatres, which has a great parking garage by the way, and prepared myself for some serious web slinging.
Armed with a bag of Reeses Pieces and a Large Cherry Coke I sat between two of my good freinds and cracked jokes through a horrible set of previews, all of which I had already seen. Then, without warning, the beautiful Marvel Comics logo flickered across the screen, I'll admit, there were goosebumps. In the opening credits the first movie is recounted though a series of comic book style illustrations. It was beautifully executed, I found myself being nostalgic for a film I didn't like. The characters you met in the first film were brought back to life and you fell in love with them all over again, you felt their struggle, you empathized with their pain, and this was all before Alfred Molina's name was gleamed across the screen. The film opens with a dolled up Mary Jane Watson gazing down on our hero from upon high on her new perfume billboard. Peter Parker watches his true love's angelic visage drift over him as he rides a motor scooter down a New York sidewalk, he's a pizza delivery boy now. Peter and Mary Jane have obviously drifted apart since we last saw them. Being distracted he almost rams into his boss, Mr. Aziz, who then threatens to fire him if he doesn't deliver eight large pizzas in eight minutes. What's a pizza delivery boy to do? Oh yes, exploit his archnid like powers of course.
The next scene is what hooked me, the web slinging had become so much cooler, his agility and resourcefullness were leaps and bounds ahead of the first movie. Watching Spiderman sling his way to his pizza hungry customers, pie in hand, while simultaneously rescuing two kids from an oncoming semitruck made me think: Spiderman 2 has succeeded in bringing Spidey to life where the first film failed. Through all that, plus an epic battle with some chaotically placed cleaning supplies, Peter still manages to deliver the pizza late thus losing his job. But on the upside it got the story rollin'.
It's been two years since we left our web slinging saviour in that rainy cemetary and alot's changed. Mary Jane has become a successful stage actress/perfume model. Not to mention she's now dating a dirty stinkin' astronaut who happens to be the son of The Daily Bugle's own J. Jonah Jameson. Harry has taken control of Oscorp and is funding some exciting new research having to do with localized fusion, he is also convinced Spiderman killed his father and wants some deserved vindication. Jameson has turned Spiderman into a villain through his patented brand of media spin and Peter is none too happy about it, lemme' tell ya. Peter now lives in a rat hole of an apartment for which he can't pay the rent. His grades are slipping, he can't hold down a job, Mary Jane is slowly slipping through his web-crawling fingers. Nothing is going right in his life and it's all thanks to Spiderman, he's sick of it. He's starting to lose sight of why he became a superhero in the first place.
Alfred Molina as Dr. Otto Octavious is one of the best comic villains ever portrayed in cinema. He downplay's the performance which is a wlecome change from Dafoe's insanely annoying portrayal of the Green Goblin. He's a man who's lost everything, including his mind. All he has left is his mechanical monstrosities, speaking of which, they are downright scary, they have a life of their own, they transcend Molina. When he fights with them it's effortless, his face shows no sign of strain or purpose, it looks as if he's coloring or eating a sandwich. For fans of the Evil Dead series you will be quite pleased with one scene in an operating room in which Dr. Octopus's arms completely dismantle the surgical staff all while Doc Oc is unconscious. It's one of the scariest sequences I've seen in a film for years. It's worth the price of admission just for that scene.
The fight scenes in this movie are amazing, they will probably find their place high in the rankings of my favorite fights of all time. Spiderman has definitely met his match which makes for some teeth-clenchingly close moments. Spidey has definitley been practicing the last two years because he does some pretty spectacular things with his webbing, I would even go so far as to say that what he does is mind blowing. One fight sequence is set atop a runaway elevated train, which makes for some awesome physics limitations. It is also one of the most memorable scenes in the film mainly due to the fact that Spiderman has to somehow stop a 120 mph steel bullet full of innocent New Yorker's from plunging into the east river.
Sam Raimi has definitely found his Spiderman groove, he more than makes up for his fumbling excuse for direction in the last movie. He seemlessly blends CGI and his characters without losing the emotion and feel of the film. The add-on of legendary screen writer Alvin Sargent definitely was a wise choice. This film is about choice matter of factly. Sure, there's a lot of pretty colors, plenty of high-tech science gone wrong, loads of innocents in danger, but this film is more than that. It builds on themes presented in the first movie, but adds new ones as well. Spiderman 2 is about doing the right thing even if it's not in your best interests. It's about making sacrifices for the greater good. It's about responsibility and dependability in the face of adversity. Most of all, it's about choice. You will be satiated. Bravo Mr. Raimi, you've made a well balanced super hero movie.
Armed with a bag of Reeses Pieces and a Large Cherry Coke I sat between two of my good freinds and cracked jokes through a horrible set of previews, all of which I had already seen. Then, without warning, the beautiful Marvel Comics logo flickered across the screen, I'll admit, there were goosebumps. In the opening credits the first movie is recounted though a series of comic book style illustrations. It was beautifully executed, I found myself being nostalgic for a film I didn't like. The characters you met in the first film were brought back to life and you fell in love with them all over again, you felt their struggle, you empathized with their pain, and this was all before Alfred Molina's name was gleamed across the screen. The film opens with a dolled up Mary Jane Watson gazing down on our hero from upon high on her new perfume billboard. Peter Parker watches his true love's angelic visage drift over him as he rides a motor scooter down a New York sidewalk, he's a pizza delivery boy now. Peter and Mary Jane have obviously drifted apart since we last saw them. Being distracted he almost rams into his boss, Mr. Aziz, who then threatens to fire him if he doesn't deliver eight large pizzas in eight minutes. What's a pizza delivery boy to do? Oh yes, exploit his archnid like powers of course.
The next scene is what hooked me, the web slinging had become so much cooler, his agility and resourcefullness were leaps and bounds ahead of the first movie. Watching Spiderman sling his way to his pizza hungry customers, pie in hand, while simultaneously rescuing two kids from an oncoming semitruck made me think: Spiderman 2 has succeeded in bringing Spidey to life where the first film failed. Through all that, plus an epic battle with some chaotically placed cleaning supplies, Peter still manages to deliver the pizza late thus losing his job. But on the upside it got the story rollin'.
It's been two years since we left our web slinging saviour in that rainy cemetary and alot's changed. Mary Jane has become a successful stage actress/perfume model. Not to mention she's now dating a dirty stinkin' astronaut who happens to be the son of The Daily Bugle's own J. Jonah Jameson. Harry has taken control of Oscorp and is funding some exciting new research having to do with localized fusion, he is also convinced Spiderman killed his father and wants some deserved vindication. Jameson has turned Spiderman into a villain through his patented brand of media spin and Peter is none too happy about it, lemme' tell ya. Peter now lives in a rat hole of an apartment for which he can't pay the rent. His grades are slipping, he can't hold down a job, Mary Jane is slowly slipping through his web-crawling fingers. Nothing is going right in his life and it's all thanks to Spiderman, he's sick of it. He's starting to lose sight of why he became a superhero in the first place.
Alfred Molina as Dr. Otto Octavious is one of the best comic villains ever portrayed in cinema. He downplay's the performance which is a wlecome change from Dafoe's insanely annoying portrayal of the Green Goblin. He's a man who's lost everything, including his mind. All he has left is his mechanical monstrosities, speaking of which, they are downright scary, they have a life of their own, they transcend Molina. When he fights with them it's effortless, his face shows no sign of strain or purpose, it looks as if he's coloring or eating a sandwich. For fans of the Evil Dead series you will be quite pleased with one scene in an operating room in which Dr. Octopus's arms completely dismantle the surgical staff all while Doc Oc is unconscious. It's one of the scariest sequences I've seen in a film for years. It's worth the price of admission just for that scene.
The fight scenes in this movie are amazing, they will probably find their place high in the rankings of my favorite fights of all time. Spiderman has definitely met his match which makes for some teeth-clenchingly close moments. Spidey has definitley been practicing the last two years because he does some pretty spectacular things with his webbing, I would even go so far as to say that what he does is mind blowing. One fight sequence is set atop a runaway elevated train, which makes for some awesome physics limitations. It is also one of the most memorable scenes in the film mainly due to the fact that Spiderman has to somehow stop a 120 mph steel bullet full of innocent New Yorker's from plunging into the east river.
Sam Raimi has definitely found his Spiderman groove, he more than makes up for his fumbling excuse for direction in the last movie. He seemlessly blends CGI and his characters without losing the emotion and feel of the film. The add-on of legendary screen writer Alvin Sargent definitely was a wise choice. This film is about choice matter of factly. Sure, there's a lot of pretty colors, plenty of high-tech science gone wrong, loads of innocents in danger, but this film is more than that. It builds on themes presented in the first movie, but adds new ones as well. Spiderman 2 is about doing the right thing even if it's not in your best interests. It's about making sacrifices for the greater good. It's about responsibility and dependability in the face of adversity. Most of all, it's about choice. You will be satiated. Bravo Mr. Raimi, you've made a well balanced super hero movie.
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