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The biggest success, commercial-wise, of 2002 was beyond any doubt Spider-Man and even before this movie had had its première, director Sam Raimi and most of the cast signed up for the sequel. The casting of Tobey Maguire for the title-role was uncertain for a long time, after he had serious back-injuries from shooting Seabiscuit (Pip probably didn’t notice, but I fell asleep during that one). Jake Gyllenhaal was ready to take over, but eventually Maguire felt strong enough to repump his muscles and do the sequel, uninspiringly called Spider-Man 2.
This time Peter Parker and his alter-ego Spider-man has found himself a new nemesis in the shape of Doctor Otto Octavius, a scientist gone mad after a failed experiment (a surprising role for Alfred Molina, who normally likes to do the smaller artier stuff). Octavius has a set of giant tentacles clinging to his back, which he can control with his mind. Old stories lines are picked up, after Harry (Peter’s best friend, reprised by James Dean look-a-like James Franco), is determined to kill Spider-man after the latter has killed his father. Oh yeah, and there is some love thing going on with Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) – again.
Although there have been many comics brought to the big screen the past couple of years (and there are many more to come), Spider-Man is by far the most successful. The first installment in the franchise was in many ways very dated. I was reminded of this after I had watched the first movie before I went to see part two. The storyline and characters were a bit stereotyped and at times unintentedly hilarious. What bugged me most about Spider-Man, was the way real people blended into CGI. At many points this was too obvious and it was like watching a Playstation game. This certainly has improved when it concerns Spider-Man 2. The way the tentacles of ‘Doc Ock’ are styled (part animatronics, part CGI) is really impressive.
This is the type of flick one shouldn’t expect too much of, except for getting some nice two-hour entertainment. That is exactly what Spider-Man 2 is all about. The screenplay anxiously tries to force in-depth (and development of) characters, but fails to do so convincingly. The character of Mary Jane is annoying and troublesome, like it was in the first installment with her overly loud screaming and the inability to pick who she loves (I tell you: she loves a different guy every fricking hour). What does add to the fun of Spider-Man 2, however, is the increased humor, like Spidey taking an elevator when his web-shooting device doesn’t work. Or Peter Parker yelling ‘I’m back, ‘I’m back’ then falling down from twenty blocks and continuing: ‘My back, my back’ (a subtle reference to the Sea *yawn* biscuit incident). Of course the whole thing is finished off by leaving an opening for Spider-Man 3, already in preproduction. If you want a good story, stay home. If you want action and special effects, point your index finger and shoot a web to get to the nearest screening.
Directed by: Sam Raimi
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Alfred Molina
Runtime: 127 minutes
Release Dates: US – June 30, UK – July 16, Netherlands – July 14
Official Website
If you liked this one also check out: Spider-Man (2002), Hulk (2003), X-Men (2000), X2 (2003)
Arjan Welles (213 posts)Arjan Welles - law graduate. I work at a bank, I work as a film critic for Dutch and English media. My favorite directors are David Lynch, David Fincher, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino. I love arthouse over blockbusters.
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Greeat review Arjan! As usual you on the ball, publishing a review mere hours after the film has been released – and sometimes before!
I am going to see this. I love Tobey Macguire and I love Spiderman.
There’s a pretty amazing looking Lego animation of this film to be seen with Quicktime at :
http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1277883&sdm=web&qtw=640&qth=400
(be sure to copy paste the entire URL). You’ll need BROADband to say the least
Comment by suzero — Wed July 14, 2004 @ 13:58Can’t wait to see this, and I think you’ve been a bit harsh on the first film. The first hour of the original Spiderman is excellent, right up until he and the Green Goblin start running around blowing things up – and whilst that part of the film looks great, the desing of the Gobklin ruined it completely as his mask makes him look like a toy. The CGI effects were transparent even in the cinema, but there’s a style and exuberance to the first film that I really like.
I really can’t wait to see this one.
Comment by damian — Wed July 14, 2004 @ 15:48Oh #1 was amazing. Don’t get me wrong. But when I resaw it yesterday it was like: ugh… some things are truly horrible, like the news paper tycoon played by JK Simmons. Fun, but too much of a charicature. He is just the same in S-M2. But all in all I would Rate Spider-Man (1) 3.5 stars anyway. But compared to the first movie this one is visually more stunning and even has a better story. And – to my biggest surprise – contains quite some revelations (I won’t spoiler on you) although one of the final scenes with Harry should have been the last scene of the movie. Amazing cliff-hanger for Spidey 3.
Comment by arjan — Wed July 14, 2004 @ 16:02Not too eager to see this one; I’ll wait for it to come on DVD.
I didn’t like the first one too much either and the trailers for this one don’t bode much better. The CGI is one of the biggest bummers to me (too bloody fake!!) and I think they could’ve done much more with the story. I would’ve preferred that Ang Lee attacked this series, instead doing his ‘arty’ thing on the Hulk. The story of Spiderman is much more suited for good drama together with solid action. Raimi is only good for the latter, imo.
I place my money on Hellboy for this year.
Comment by Paco — Thu July 15, 2004 @ 0:49WOW!. Saw this last night and I absolutely loved it! From the moment it began I just geeked out completely. This is as close to the idea of Spiderman that I’ve had in my head since I was a kid. The title sequence is gorgeous, refreshing the audience of the events from the first film in a beautifully constructed manner. Doc Ock is fantastic! I still love the design of him that Marvel came up with originally, but he is simply a fantastic character on screen, and those mechanical arms have so much life in them. There’s a wonderful, Medusa like element to him in this film. The big showdown between Doc Ock and Spidey on the elevated train (and half of Manhattan besides) is easily the best Super hero fight I’ve ever seen on screen. It’s choreography, style and kinetic energy are excellent. The wow factor in this movie is really high.
Thankfully, Raimi doesn’t concentrate on the big thrills all the time, this isn’t just a special effects movie, there’s a lot of character development and I really liked the fact that it tried to focus on Peter Parker’s struggle to come to terms with who he is and what he wants. The choices he has to make in his life are difficult, and it’s great to see him grow up a little more in this film.
I did find that they kept repeating the same points over and over again, and I thought some scenes could, and probably should have been dropped as a number of scenes all seem to have the same purpose.
Also, even though I really admire Tobey Maguire and think he is a great Peter Parker, he completely dropped the ball on his confessional scene in this film. The one where he’s sitting talking to Aunt May, he just seems to be reading off a page and I got the feeling like they really struggled with that scene, and never really nailed it.
Elsewhere though, there’s just so much fun to be had. This is most kinetic and enjoyable film Sam Raimi’s made since Evil Dead 2, he throws his camera all over the place and has really been allowed to flex his creative muscles this time around. In the first film it felt like he was holding himself back a little, but here the camera flies, runs, falls swoops and spins, and manages to do it in a way that heightens the excitment and tension, without making you sick.
It’s a triumph.
I can’t wait to see where they take this next. Keen eyed fans will notice the one armed Doctor Curt Connors lurking in the background of one scene, who became The Lizard in the comic books, and MJ’s boyfriend John Jameson could well be turned into Extra Terrestrial nutcase Venom with the astronaut background they’ve given him, and let me tell you, THAT would be cool as.
Of course, there could be moe GG and Doc Ock. Whatever they do, if Raimi stays on board, Spiderman is in good hands.
There are some wonderful moments in this film, not the least near then end when a certain person sees Spidey without his mask, which is my favourite movie moment of the year so far.
Comment by damian — Fri July 23, 2004 @ 10:51Spiderman 2 is ace. Go see it.
I think it would be nice if they started to tie some superheroes together. With the Fantastic Four coming out soon, they are bound to meet. Spidey had to fight FF-nemesis Dr. Doom also several times. I’d also like to see Juggernaut make an appearance or old skool villans like Mysterio.
We have all these superhero movie (and more to come) and when they wouldn’t meet at one point would be quite ridiculous.
Comment by Paco — Fri July 23, 2004 @ 12:20Yeah, I still have fond memories of the cartoon series, Spiderman and his amzing friends too – just cos I loved Ice Man and Spidey insulting each other – even if ice Man’s just a rip off of Silver Surfer. I loved the Fantastic Four when Iwas a kid too, I just hope they make that film as cool as it can be.
Comment by damian — Fri July 23, 2004 @ 14:43Was the Silver Surfer not supposed to come out with Vin Diesel?
Comment by Paco — Fri July 23, 2004 @ 21:14Just saw it and liked it a lot. It could’ve been a tad shorter and the shots of spidey swinging through the city were very CG (it doesn’t usualy bother me) but that didn’t taint my enjoyment of the film one bit. Roll on Spidey #3.
A tiny detail that bothered me was why Dr. Ock’s huge metal tentacles aren’t sucked into the magnetic field. Anyone? Anyone?
Arjan, I don’t think Mary-Jane loves a different guy every minute, she loves Peter all the way through but is frustrated enough with his distance to seek love elsewhere, be that fair on the other guy or not.
Comment by suzero — Wed July 28, 2004 @ 22:12Don’t be turned off by the first movie. This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a while, they did a great job. Really kept me interested and I hardly ever watch movies.
Comment by kilikina — Thu July 29, 2004 @ 10:45Now that I saw this, I am still not satisfied.
I thought it a tad better than the first one, but that one was really bad. Spidey breaks too much with the golden rule of not revealing himself, not only once but three times!
I know the comic series very well; I even own the Spiderman number 1 Dutch issue, where Spiderman is created. I’ve read Marvel Comics for almost 15 years and still I don’t consider myself a book/comic fundamentalist, but they have taken too much liberties here. Peter Parker is nowhere as geeky as in this movie. It’s just too much, up until the point that it becomes annoying. He had his conscience struggle in the first movie, so why regurgitate that again?
And Harry Osbourne getting to know Spidey’s real identity is the biggest spoiler you could ever have for Spiderman 3; it takes away all the drama!
For the rest I thought the acting to be one-dimensional, the plot too simplistic and the special effects too cheap. The tentacles were the only improvement on the original.
I love superhero movies and I love the Marvel Universe, but the childish treatment it gets from the film studios is starting to annoy me. There is really good material in these stories and they delve much deeper than you’d believe. Instead, they only choose to use it as a platform for some one-dimensional action movie, for young and old (especially the first group to be targetted for the huge amount of merchandise).
Apart from Ang Lee, who made a partly succesful attempt, no-one has ever tried to approach these stories from the angle they should be. Action AND drama in a less childish way. A missed opportunity if you ask me.
Comment by Paco — Tue November 23, 2004 @ 1:16