July 3, 2004

{ Spiderman 2 }

Tobey Maguire in tights. Kirsten Dunst wet and nippley. And a villain that looks like the villian that he's supposed to portray. I am referring to my extreme disgust in the first installment of Spiderman. You know where they "futurized" the Green Goblin. Now I am no comic book purist, but come on, at least make the character look like the damn comic book. Granted, Spidey 2 does take some liberties with Doctor Octopus, but for the most part, Doc Oc looks and feels like a modern day Doc Oc. Let's face it, they couldn't put Alfred Molina in that skin tight green jump suit and strap him with Elton John glasses, and expect us to take him seriously. We got to see more of J. Jonah. Great casting job (played by JK Simmons of OZ fame). He provided some great comic relief and referenced Dr. Strange (Hmmm). Spidey is Spidey and MJ and Aunt May are the same. Harry is still after Spidey for killing his father and they introduce John Jameson (so Venom is in the near future). So we've established that the characters were well done. On top of that, the plot flow was well done. A whole lot was unveiled in this episode. It seemed as though the progression of "Spiderman" was moving along at lightning speed. A lot of long-run plot development happened (which also made it a good watch). The CGI was off the hook. The fight scenes between Spidey and Doc Oc were amazing and sprawling. And the "tenticles" attached to Dr. Octavius were beautifully created as well. They were worked in to have a personality of their own, as though they were individual snake-like creatures. Very cool. Doc Oc's movement was also done to a "T." They integrated the actors steps along with the sweeping movement of the "arms" carrying him along. Again, very cool. They did spend some time on Mary Jane and Spidey/Parker's love thing, but it wasn't enough to bore you. And of course, it ended as a cliff hanger, allowing a numerous amout of villains/characters to emerge in Spiderman 3. All in all, it was a good movie. The comedy was funny. Especially a scene where Spidey takes the elevator and has an awkward exchange with another "passenger" about how the spidey suit rides up on his crotch. That and, the five year old kid that was sitting behind me asked his mom, "What's a crotch?" Golden. There was also a scene where Spidey fell of a building into an alley where you could see a Neckface piece on the wall. Neat! Contributed by Gary Kost

» Spiderman 2 Movie Trailer
» Official Spiderman 2 site

By Alan Smithee in Film & TV