Spider-Man 2: For Real this Time
Okay. So, obviously, in my last review, I was tired, excited, and high all at the same time, so it didn't make for a very accurate portrayal of how I feel about this movie. I saw it again last night, and I think I've finally figured out what's so good about it.
Let's start by comparing the first one to the second one. The first one, by all accounts, was a great movie. No doubt about that. In fact, it's one of my favorite movies. But I find that the first movie was entirely predictable. In fact, I remember the first time I saw it: Peter Parker was walking away from Uncle Ben's grave, giving his whole "I'm powerful so therefore I'm responsible" shpeal, and I thought, "okay. Movie's basically over. All we need now is one more scene of web-slinging fantascism for this movie to be truly complete." And do you know what happened next in the movie? A scene of web-slinging fantascism. The whole point of that story was: in the first movie, director Sam Raimi played by the rules. He made the first Spider-Man according to the rules set down by comic book movies before, and according to what everyone involved with the Spider-Man comics wanted. Now, in the second movie, you see a little bit more of what Sam Raimi is.
The only thing I know about Sam Raimi is: Evil Dead. I have to admit, I've never seen it, but for some reason, I picture it as a cheesy horror movie with screaming women staring straight into the camera and cheesy, cliche horror shots. Why do I think this? Because that is what was added to Spider-Man 2 from Spider-Man 1. Case in point: The scene where Dr. Octavius is going to get his tentacles chopped off in the OR. That scene had: screaming women staring straight into the camera and cheesy, cliche horror shots. I think that is who Sam Raimi is, and I'm glad that he was more confident the second time around to put them in there.
Anyway, what is great about this movie and the whole Spider-Man story is that...hell, I could be Peter Parker. He's just this normal guy, a nerd by most people's standards, who was thrown into a fantastic situation and has to deal with it. I know that's pretty much what everyone says about Spider-Man, but only because it's the truth. He lives in an ugly, one-room apartment. He does his laundry at a laundromat. He works his way through two gross, horrible jobs so he can go to college. He takes care of his aunt, and drives a mo-ped around New York. And, he's Tobey Maguire. Heh.
Besides the fact that anyone can relate to Spider-Man, unlike Superman who's an alien and Batman who basically owns Gotham city, the bad guy this time around was a lot cooler. I mean, let's face it: The Green Goblin was kinda douche-ish. Dr. Octavius basically ruled. He was a good guy, and he had a great idea, and he wanted to share it with mankind. Unfortunately, it didn't work as well as he thought it would, but his vision was still intact and he thought it was still attainable. Then these mechanical arms, armed with artificial intelligence, come in a complicate things. They have a one-track mind: rebuild the experiment. They don't care what they have to do, and they integrate themselves into Dr. Octavius' mind and...well, it's basically just awesome.
The climax of this movie was amazing too. Starting with the sub-way scene and going onward, you will be sitting on the edge of your seat in web-slinging fascination. That is, until the very end when you might get a little bored with this "do you love me" "yes" "are you sure" "no" "are you really really sure" "shut up and let me think you dumb bitch" love story they have going on.
Anyway, I stand by the comments I made in the last entry. Just consider this an elaboration.
Let's start by comparing the first one to the second one. The first one, by all accounts, was a great movie. No doubt about that. In fact, it's one of my favorite movies. But I find that the first movie was entirely predictable. In fact, I remember the first time I saw it: Peter Parker was walking away from Uncle Ben's grave, giving his whole "I'm powerful so therefore I'm responsible" shpeal, and I thought, "okay. Movie's basically over. All we need now is one more scene of web-slinging fantascism for this movie to be truly complete." And do you know what happened next in the movie? A scene of web-slinging fantascism. The whole point of that story was: in the first movie, director Sam Raimi played by the rules. He made the first Spider-Man according to the rules set down by comic book movies before, and according to what everyone involved with the Spider-Man comics wanted. Now, in the second movie, you see a little bit more of what Sam Raimi is.
The only thing I know about Sam Raimi is: Evil Dead. I have to admit, I've never seen it, but for some reason, I picture it as a cheesy horror movie with screaming women staring straight into the camera and cheesy, cliche horror shots. Why do I think this? Because that is what was added to Spider-Man 2 from Spider-Man 1. Case in point: The scene where Dr. Octavius is going to get his tentacles chopped off in the OR. That scene had: screaming women staring straight into the camera and cheesy, cliche horror shots. I think that is who Sam Raimi is, and I'm glad that he was more confident the second time around to put them in there.
Anyway, what is great about this movie and the whole Spider-Man story is that...hell, I could be Peter Parker. He's just this normal guy, a nerd by most people's standards, who was thrown into a fantastic situation and has to deal with it. I know that's pretty much what everyone says about Spider-Man, but only because it's the truth. He lives in an ugly, one-room apartment. He does his laundry at a laundromat. He works his way through two gross, horrible jobs so he can go to college. He takes care of his aunt, and drives a mo-ped around New York. And, he's Tobey Maguire. Heh.
Besides the fact that anyone can relate to Spider-Man, unlike Superman who's an alien and Batman who basically owns Gotham city, the bad guy this time around was a lot cooler. I mean, let's face it: The Green Goblin was kinda douche-ish. Dr. Octavius basically ruled. He was a good guy, and he had a great idea, and he wanted to share it with mankind. Unfortunately, it didn't work as well as he thought it would, but his vision was still intact and he thought it was still attainable. Then these mechanical arms, armed with artificial intelligence, come in a complicate things. They have a one-track mind: rebuild the experiment. They don't care what they have to do, and they integrate themselves into Dr. Octavius' mind and...well, it's basically just awesome.
The climax of this movie was amazing too. Starting with the sub-way scene and going onward, you will be sitting on the edge of your seat in web-slinging fascination. That is, until the very end when you might get a little bored with this "do you love me" "yes" "are you sure" "no" "are you really really sure" "shut up and let me think you dumb bitch" love story they have going on.
Anyway, I stand by the comments I made in the last entry. Just consider this an elaboration.