Spider-Man 2

A friend called today, asking if I had seen Spider-Man 2. See, he was dying to talk about the film with someone who had seen it. With me, a life-long comic book reader, he knew that I would perhaps have more insight into the movie than most people. Alas, at that time, I had not seen it. “Oh, well I guess I will just read what you think in your blog” he said.

Ah, the blog! I REALLY should be working on the Book right now, but I will take ten minutes to write up my Spider-Man 2 thoughts.

Don’t worry, no spoilers here.

First, I made sure not to read ANY review of this film before seeing it. I did not want to know anything at all before viewing. Just what the trailers show. And even then, I only watched the trailer a few times, so that I was not sitting in the theatre waiting for “This moment” to happen, or “That cool thing” to take place.

The first Spider-Man, in my opinion, was great. Better than I ever really thought a Spider-Man movie could be. While they did not capture the feel of the comic book 100%, they came close. As agile as Spider-Man is in the comic, the first film, while coming darn close, never really captured just HOW FAST Spider-Man is.

Doctor Octopus, the villain in the second movie, was never one of my favorites in the comic. I never once really felt, in the comics, that Doc Ock was really all that menacing. I never felt he ever really had a chance to beat Spider-Man. He was just some pudgy dork in green, and Spidey would whip him good. (On a side note, in the Ultimate Spider-Man comic, Brian Michael Bendis has crafted a truly impressive, and scary, Doc Ock.) This movie, Spider-Man 2, opened my eyes to just how cool a character Doc Ock could be. Not just the Super Hero battle, which is unbelievably cool, but also the way Alfred Molina plays him before and after the transformation into the Super Villain he becomes.

This movie is a comic book come to life. When most non-Comic readers think of the genre, they usually think of them as men in tights fighting it out. That could not be further from what modern comics is all about. Like movies, characterization is of utmost importance. You have to actually CARE about the hero, and fear for his or her safety, before the big fight has any meaning at all. And that is what Spider-Man 2 does so well. It builds the movie not around Spider-Man, or Doctor Octopus, but around Peter Parker.

This is a take on the classic Stan Lee Peter Parker. The loser in everyone’s eyes, who can only really be himself swinging around New York in his Spider-Man outfit. Peter Parker IS Spider-Man. He suffers his personal happiness for the ideals of the hero. He is not Spider-Man only because he has power. He is Spider-Man because Peter Parker is a hero.

This movie works on so many levels, it is worrisome to imagine where they can go with the franchise. I wonder why Warner Brothers simply don’t understand what a super hero movie should be, and why they keep making absolute trash films with their stable of Super Hero’s. (See the upcoming Cat Woman, a train wreck waiting to happen.)

The entire cast from the first movie is here, and each and every one of them has grown stronger in their roles. I especially enjoy the Aunt May character, the woman who raised Peter Parker from the time his own parents died years before. As much as people wrongly have pointed to his Uncle Ben as the big influence on why Peter became the hero he is, it has always been Aunt May’s morals, guidance, and love that has made Peter who he is, and what he became. Rosemary Harris, the actress who brings Aunt May to life, has done so with a grace and beauty I did not know could be done so well. Brilliant.

But this movie is all about Peter Parker, and here Tobey Maguire shines. If the audience did not completely understand Peter, then nothing else in this film would have worked. But Maguire brings a reality to Peter Parker that is unrivaled in any other comic book movie to date, including the first Spider-Man movie. You feel the hurt, loneliness, honor, guilt, and determination that make the Peter Parker character so compelling. It is what made the comic such a hit back in 1963, and why he stayed so popular all this time. Peter Parker could be any of us, and all of us. He has always been a real person in comics, and Maguire has captured not only the spirit of Peter Parker, but also the soul.

This is an instant classic. Yes, I plan on seeing it again just to geek out some more. There are very few movies I would actually be willing to watch more than once in the theater, preferring instead to wait to the DVD comes out. LOTR was the last movie I HAD to see more than once, and Spider-Man 2 as well.

Do yourself a favor. Go see Spider-Man 2, and be reminded what movies are really all about. Profound enjoyment.