SpiderMan 2 Review
by Karina Montgomery (karina AT cinerina DOT com)July 7th, 2004
Spider-Man 2
Matinee and Snacks
Yes, it's all true. The sequel is better than the original. Now, I was actually, long term, pretty neutral about the original (my rating was Matinee) - every update benefit and groovy explanation of his spidey powers was negated by silly masked monologues. This one is better, both in terms of the actually complex internal journey of Peter Parker and the absolutely way-cooler baddie of Dr. Octopus. Yes, you have to get past the idea that this otherwise brilliant scientist felt he needed artificial intelligence in his robotic arms, but jeez, the guy has robotic arms, how the heck else can you justify them? Alfred Molina is defnitely the high point of this sequel. The continued lack of chemistry between Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) and MJ (Kirsten Dunst) is the low point. OK, that and the Godspell/Jesus Christ Superstar moment. You know what I am talking about. And Harry Osborn's obsession is a little cheesy.
Anyway. Molina. You loved him in, well, in everything he has ever done. He hasn't gotten to be crazy histronic on screen since The Imposters, and by golly he is making up for lost time now. The arms twine about him, realistic, menacing, totally cool. Gone are the vacuum cleaner hoses with carnival game grabbers on the end. These are like Audrey II, War of the Worlds (the cool one), and insanely strong wicked mind-reading snakes all in one. They rule the movie. When Ock and Spidey go mano a mano-ocho, well, it's honestly anyone's guess as to who will win, since it's a pretty dang cool fight. (Hint: check the movie poster.)
The Spider-Man sequel also goes to the trouble of actually making you care. First you care about Parker's tough, don't-get-no-respect existence, you care about his feelings for MJ (even if you can't see it when they are together), and you care about his Aunt May. Few action movies bother to do that since Batman 1 and Superman 1. We must reward this behavior with our attendance. Why not Full Price Feature? Well, there is still some unforgivable silliness (and plenty of forgivable silliness), and I still just can't stand the romance angle. That was actually more effective in the first movie; this is just something to give Parker to agonize about that we can actually identify with. Few of us have the work ethic to do what he does and we really feel his struggle when we see the rewards of being a reviled hero. It's the same shadenfreude of watching Bruce Wayne wrestle with the deaths of his parents; we love him all the more for having such a dark side.
So many superhero movies forget that these people have to overcome something to earn their varied super-ness, or else they are just creepy elite who happen to fight crime. Nah! Spidey is still of the people and for the people, something I think we all feel a need for in these e-commerce days.
Improvements include vastly better computer generated graphics, much better use of the villain, and slightly more subtle product placement. And as I said before, Sam Raimi can make something totally cheesey and/or campy actually really cool, and that is a gift few directors (besides Peyton Reed) can accomplish in the producer/multi-writer studio system. Check it.
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These reviews (c) 2004 Karina Montgomery. Please feel free to forward but credit the reviewer in the text. Thanks. You can check out previous reviews at:
http://www.cinerina.com and http://ofcs.rottentomatoes.com - the Online Film Critics Society http://www.hsbr.net/reviews/karina/listing.hsbr - Hollywood Stock Exchange Brokerage Resource
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
