Ahoy, squirts! Quint, your friendly neighborhood seaman, here with this salt's opinion of the much anticipated SPIDER-MAN 2.
I'm not going to delve into any plot synopsis. If you've seen the trailers and TV spots you already know more than enough about this film. I might dip into some spoilers below, but I'll make sure to give you folks fair warning before I do. If you want to be completely spoiler-free (which I would advise) then leave this review knowing that I loved it. The film has the hands-down best Super-Hero Vs Super-Villain fight scenes ever burned onto celuloid and run at 24 frames per second. BUT, I will say that you may want to lower your expectations a bit. That awesome quote from Ebert calling it the best superhero film of all time is a bit much. The film isn't perfect, but it's damn close. Go in expecting to have a good time and for the first time really see a Spider-Man comic book come to life. I only worry that overhype may bring out the minor imperfections of the film that to me are so slight they almost bear not even mentioning here.
Starting off, I liked the first SPIDER-MAN film. I liked it, but I had gone geek crazy before release and watched every clip, trailer, TV spot and played the video game before I saw it. In doing all that, I had seen at least 85% of Spidey in action above the city and the film held no real first discovery. I thought the Goblin was a big missed opportunity... was it just me or would Willem Dafoe be creepier standing in line at the grocery store than in that mask? His grin is evil, why they didn't use prosthetics is beyond me. But, I loved Dafoe in the role. Tobey Maguire is a great pick for Puny Parker, although I think they didn't spend nearly enough time SHOWING his scientific skill.
I didn't like Rosemary Harris as Aunt May... she didn't embody the character either physically or emotionally for me. Kirsten Dunst should have been Gwen Stacy, but I suppose I can buy her Mary Jane (especially after her work in the sequel, but I'll get to that in a minute). I loved everything else about the first film, though. J.K. Simmons erased any image of R. Lee Ermey in the role of J. Jonah Jameson that I had had in my mind after years of comic reading. So, long story short, I liked the first film, but didn't flip for it.
I flipped for SPIDER-MAN 2. Scene for scene, fight for fight, character for character this movie takes a gigantic leap ahead of the first film. A lot of that, I believe, has to do with Sam Raimi. On the first film it felt a little like Raimi was supressing his quirks that we all love... to me it almost felt as if he was a little intimidated by the size and importance of the picture and thought it best to keep it as straight forward as possible. This time he's King Cock and full of all the confidence in the world. This movie actually feels like a Sam Raimi picture. You EVIL DEAD freaks will pop a woody when you see Doc Ock's "operation" scene. Chainsaws, women screaming and low to the ground sweeping camera moves... Oh yeah...
Getting a little into mild spoiler territory here, Alfred Molina rules the earth as Otto Octavious, pre and post accident. Before the accident Molina plays him as hurried, but warm and giddy with the excitement of his dream and life's work finally coming to fruition. His love for his wife is evident in the little screentime they share. Post accident he's menacing and badass. The conversations he has with his tentacles (I know that sounds a little awkward out of context, but wait 'til you see it!) are glorious. The tentacles themselves are deadly and very threatening.
Toby Maguire comes back to the role not much changed from the first movie. He feels a little bit more at ease carrying the film and has some really great emotional moments between himself and Aunt May, but more importantly he seems to captured the joy and fun of being Spider-Man. I liked Rosemary Harris a lot more in the role of Aunt May this time around. There's one scene in the movie that justifies her being cast to me... the scene when she's trying to give Peter some money. The look of embarrassment and embarrassed anger in her teary eyes is heartbreaking. I still don't 100% like her in the role, but at the very least they cast a good actress and are starting to give her more Aunt May-like dialogue.
Also better in the sequel are the characters of Harry Osborn and Mary Jane. Kirsten Dunst still isn't my ideal Mary Jane, but her last line in the film is classic Mary Jane delivered with just enough sexy sass. James Franco has a lot more to work with this time around. His inner turmoil is much darker and it's clear that he's being bred to be a villain in the near, near future. I just hope when that happens he decides to "improve" upon the Green Goblin design. (BTW, in the comics Harry Osborn is NOT Hobgoblin, but The Green Goblin taking his father's materials). J.K. Simmons rules the earth as J. Jonah Jameson. Damn near everything that came out of his mouth had me gut-laughing.
I was drawn deep into the world of SPIDER-MAN from frame one and was never disinterested. There is a lull in the middle, but I never felt the film dragging. I think some people might take issue with some of the over-the-top imagry and dialogue, but as someone who grew up refusing to read any comics other than SPIDER-MAN and X-MEN every over-stated line of dialogue felt ripped right from the pages of the book. Unfortunately, there will be those who will take these few moments as an excuse to themselves above the material. We had a couple "critics" do this at our screening and it makes me sad that people like them feel the need to prove that they're too cool for school.
The movie will make bundles of money and will give millions of fans wide grins that they will carry with them for hours after the movie. I can't wait to see what Raimi and Co have in store for us with Spidey 3!!!
-Quint
