Before I start today's
review, I want to apologize for the long post. When I had a YouTube account,
reviewreviewer1 and I worked together on the Spiderman reviews. I still have
the review for the second film, and when I was looking through it again last
night to edit it, I felt as if he talked about the entire film in this long
review. Just sit back, grab some snacks, and enjoy reading our review of
"Spiderman 2."
Spiderman 2, released in 2004, is an outstanding
masterpiece. It is even better then the first and one of the best superhero
films of all time. This film was a huge mega blockbuster hit and made almost as
much money as the first film. It gendered universal critical acclaim, got
widespread audience acclaim, universal fan acclaim, a brilliant reputation and
immense cultural impact. It deserves all of this. It is brilliant.
The film is again based on the famous Marvel Comics, “The Spiderman Comics,”
created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, and this time there was also a separate
screen story written, based on the comics. The screenplay combined many
different screen stories, and again combines the talents of many wonderful
storywriters, a great screenwriter, many smart producers, and a brilliant
director. Sam Raimi started development on a sequel right when the first film
was finished. Before it was released, the film used many great storywriters.
Miles Millar and Alfred Gough were hired to write a script, and were instructed
by Columbia Pictures to include Doctor Octopus, Black Cat, and The Lizard as
villains after the enormously successful opening of Spiderman. The production
was green lighted to be started as soon as the script was ready. The film was
given a 200 million dollar budget and was titled “The Amazing Spiderman.” From
this point on, Columbia Pictures became far less influenced and Sam Raimi could
come with his own ideas, and was given a lot of freedom and Artistic Control to
make a vey inventive film. So he was given a super high budget, which was 60
million dollars, even higher than the original, to make for an ambitious film.
Miles Millar and Alfred Gough were perfect to write the script, and become
co-storywriters, because they had co-story written the brilliant Lethal Weapon
4, and were great as storywriters. Although not final screenwriters, and in
Lethal Weapon 4 they showed they were great and making sequels having strong
continuity, being great and creating exhilarating action scenes, funny comedy,
and creating deep characters very menacing, human villains, and using all of
the characters in the film well in the story, making the action surface the
story, creating deep romances, and combining light and dark tones well. Lethal
Weapon 4 was directed by Richard Donner, who has a similar deep, sweet approach
to making films, as Sam Raimi does, and who directed Superman, which is Sam
Raimi’s inspiration in directing all 3 Spiderman films. Donner co-directed
Superman II, on which he was still the primary creative force, which is a
strong inspiration for this film. Then, David Koepp was hired to rewrite their
script, who out of the 4 storywriters and screenwriter was the only one who
went unaccredited. David Koepp’s brilliance was also perfect for this kind of
film. He did science fiction with Men in Black, which he also worked on for
Columbia Pictures, also based on Marvel Comics, and Spiderman. He did comedy
with Men in Black, Men in Black II, and Death Becomes Her. He did romance with
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of The Crystal Skull and Spiderman. He was
brilliant at creating detailed action scenes in Jurassic Park, The Lost World:
Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of The Crystal
Skull, Men in Black, Men in Black II, Mission: Impossible, and Spiderman. He
was brilliant at creating deep characters and morally ambiguous themes. Like in
his own original story and original screenplay, he solely story wrote, screen
wrote, and solely fully wrote Panic Room, Snake Eyes, and Spiderman. He story
wrote, co-screen wrote, and was great at creating detailed exposition like in
Jurassic Park, Men in Black, Men in Black II, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of
The Crystal Skull and Spiderman. Since he was the primary screenwriter of the
first film, he could perfectly create continuity. After this, Michael Chabon
was hired to rewrite the script. Also Laura Ziskin returned as producer, and so
did Avi Arad, who was once again involved in the writing process and rejected
many aspects of Chabons script draft, and rejected lesser elements to help
improve them. Sam Raimi was also very involved, after storywriters had worked
on many different complex script drafts, which were all great, but flawed. Sam
Raimi had Alvin Sargent who was an unaccredited co-screenwriter on the first
film, become full screenwriter on this film, and he together with Sam Raimi
picked what they liked from the previous drafts. Then, Alvin Sargent wrote out
a full screenplay of this. This is a wonderful approach to writing because this
way, many different script drafts were combined and used as the basis for the
story, taking the great elements of many different scripts, but not the bad
ones. By using them as stories but writing another screenplay they weren`t just
merged together, they were worked out to fit together in a screenplay that was
written to combine them all. Alvin Sargent, who was a great screenwriter, was
added as the fifth writer. Adding yet another great writer, he was great as a
screenwriter, was perfect as a screenwriter, and since he was co-screenwriter
on the first film, he was perfect to create continuity even further. Also, Sam
Raimi, the director, who ties all forces together, helped combine the scripts. Raimi
worked together with Alvin Sargent, who was the main screenwriter, meaning there
was a much focused writing process. Since Sam Raimi was the director of the
first film, this helped create even more continuity. Also, Stan Lee was again
co-executive producer. Sam Raimi helped deepen the film thematically, deciding
the film should be about Peter struggling with his personal needs vs. his
responsibilities and deciding he can be happy as a superhero. He took
inspiration from the great Superman II the same way the first film took
inspiration from Superman. Also, Doctor Octopus was kept as a villain since he
could be both a physically imposing figure and a character with humanity. But
Raimi changed a lot of his back-story making him Peter’s hero to create a
deeper relationship between the two. They made him have a deeper arc by having
Peter trying to save him from his inner demands by making Peter try to redeem
him, not kill him. So he is ambiguous, and can turn back to good. Danny Elfman
once again returned as score composer.
The plot is even better than in the first film, it is even more clever and
detailed. Since this film doesn`t have to tell the origin, its plot is even
thicker, and it still elegantly tells Doctor Octopus’s origin. Otto Octavius is
a scientist who wants to create a stable fusion reactor, as an honest goal to
help the world believing intelligence to be a gift. He has a wife (played by
Donna Murphy) he truly loves, but he is a bit of a difficult man. Eventually he
connects mechanical arms with A.I., which are there to help him lead the experiment
to himself, with an inhibitor chip to prevent them from talking to him in his
head. The experiment goes wrong and starts creating destruction, but he hits
Spiderman when he tries to shut it off. The explosion leads to glass flying
towards his wife, killing her, it destroys the inhibitor chip, fuses the arms
to his spine, the doctor tries to cure him from the arms, but the arms turn out
to be violent and vicious, and kills all of them. So his arms prevent him from
being freed from them, and they start talking to him, now the inhibitor chip is
destroyed. So he has insolents A.I. robotic tentacles for an experiment, but
gets fused with them, and they prevent people from removing them and encourage
him to use violence to rob banks, to redo his experiment, even though it might
destroy the whole city. They convince him to be violent and make him sadistic,
and convince him to be greedy and solely focus on his own obsession, telling
him it is the right thing to do because it will help humanity. The arms manage
to convince him because he is really obsessed with the experiment. He can`t let
go, especially because he needs to make up for the loss of his wife. We see how
he gets his superpowers, how the arms corrupt him, how it’s tempted partially
due to his own obsessions and his own loss, making him understandable, tragic,
but a flawed character. We understand his powers and motivations. He as a clear
plan succeeding in creating a fusion experiment, which will actually kill
people, and he uses violence for this, which also makes him misguided and ambiguous.
So then he tries to rob a bank to get the money to get the parts to create an
even more powerful reactor, and gets loads of money. When Spiderman and the
police try to stop him, he takes Aunt May hostage. Spiderman manages to save
her with the help of Aunt May, but Doc Oc escapes, and buys the parts to start
an even larger reactor. This is a really smart twist. Doc Oc needs a lot of
money for the experiment. Since he is obsessed with it and is willing to do
anything to get it, he is willing to rob a bank for it. This is the easiest
answer, since by stealing it, he can get it fast. The arms, which are selfish,
would convince him to do it in this selfish matter. It is a very natural twist,
since Doc Oc needs money for his experiment. He has become selfish, he would
use robbery to get there, and it is really clever, because it is a way of
quickly starting his experiment. Of course, Spiderman would try to stop him
because he believes in protecting people, even though he understands Doc Oc,
because he finds his goals to use science to help others admirable. This
creates ambiguity and using a hostage automatically would distract Spiderman,
giving him time to escape and preventing the police to shoot at him. The fact
that he escapes and can start the dangerous experiment adds to the tension. So
he then actually builds a large reactor, and he then needs the tritium. He
threatens Harry, who gave it previously to give it, who agrees as long as he
will deliver him Spiderman, who he thinks killed his father. This is a smart
twist. Doc Oc now directly tries to capture Spiderman to work together with
Harry. This makes sense because he’s willing to help Harry to get from him the
needed tritium. He then tries to get Spiderman by kidnapping Mary Jane so that
he will have to warn Spiderman. This is a smart twist because Harry knows Peter
takes pictures from Spiderman, and he told Doc Oc. Therefore, he would know he
could force him to find Spiderman. Then he tries to question him, but Doc Oc
forced him to stop a train full of people by breaking the controls, exhausting
him, allowing him to be captured, which is a very clever twist that he uses
exhaustion against him. Then he delivers him to Harry and get the tritium.
Harry finds out Peter is Spiderman, which is a really epic twist because it
means he thinks his best friend killed his father. It creates a real tension as
to what he will do. This also really continues the story of the first film
showing the consequences of The Green Goblins death and Harry thinking Peter
killed his father. When Peter reveals he has Mary Jane and that must prevent
him from killing the whole city, he agrees to tell Peter where he is, creating
another ambiguous twist of Harry not wanting to hurt innocent people. It is
smart that Peter asks Harry because he worked together with Doctor Octopus. Doc
Oc creates a fusion reactor, which will destroy the whole city. This is a very
smart twist and a smart element of his actions in general. He will destroy the
city indirectly, not due an attempt to destroy or conquer, but to please his
obsession, and all the evil things he does are to serve his obsession. He also
robbed a bank, not for money, but for his obsession. He went after Spiderman to
please Harry for the tritium. This makes him misguided and confused, and makes
his actions tragic, and it creates for very original motivations and schemes. It
also gives this film a very different plot then the first film. Doc Oc’s scheme
is very different from The Green Goblins, and it also creates even bigger
tensions as there is a ticking time bomb to save the city. He gets into another
fight with Doc Oc and electrocutes him, which is a smart way of taking out a villain
with robotic weapons. He then reasons with Doc Oc by reminding him of his own
wisdoms and giving him his own advice, causing him to decide to stop the
reactor, which is a clever twist because he still had some good in him, and his
mind is stronger than the arms. He and Peter can relate to each other. He
decides to drown the power source, which is clever, since it is energy based
power. He dies, which is a dramatic twist that he sacrifices himself to make up
for his own bad actions. Peter also saves Mary Jane from collapsing building
parts caused by the rift, which is smart because it makes sense, since the
magnetic pulls are what cause things to fly about.
The characters are also wonderful. They are even deeper than in the first film,
and the newer characters are great. Many of them have very deep arcs.
Peter Parker really grows in this film. He is very lonely because he can`t be
with Mary Jane because he doesn`t want to endanger her. She is growing resentful
of him acting distant towards him, and starts dating a different guy. He is
really worried and can`t express how sad he is. This really shows how painful
it is for him to lose Mary Jane. He tries to be responsible and be Spiderman,
but as a result, he is constantly alone. That is really dramatic. It really
delves deep, showing he is incredibly conflicted. He loses his Pizza job and is
stressed to pay his rent. He is late for class, is late with tests, and has suffering
grades. Jameson has made the whole city hate him, yet he continues to try to
succeed by giving Jameson pictures of Spiderman to make money, and by taking
pictures of Jameson’s son, played by Daniel Gillies, to make money. He works
really hard on school by going to meet Otto Octavius to have advice for his
paper about him. He manages to survive, but it is really stressful, so we see a
new side of his life. We see how he deals with his school and job at the same
time as being Spiderman and it offers a dilemma which he can overcome, but it
just requires a lot of sacrifice. It is very realistic that Peter trying to
stop all the crime in New York would cost him too much time to attend to his
personal life. It is clever that he manages to survive by working hard, and
being innovative by taking pictures of himself as Spiderman, as in the first
film, and using Harry as a connection, since Harry meets famous people, to have
better sources. So his solutions are very smart, it is very cleverly
multilayered, showing his life isn`t per-se ruined, but just really difficult,
making him very exhausted. That is really deep because it means he doesn`t just
have to endanger himself, but also exhaust himself. It isn`t an issue of just
overcoming the problem and is not whether he wants to face it, but it tempts
his selfish sides. But this is after all minor compared to the fact that he is
constantly lonely and causes the women he loves to resent him, that he has no
one to truly comfort him in his obligations. It is very hurtful, which is again
really dramatic. Mary Jane hopes he can see her plays, but it is really
difficult for him to try and keep her interested, as he can`t go to her play,
because he has to stop a robbery car chase. Expect a Bruce Campbell cameo as
the theater usher. As a result, he is late, causing her to think he isn`t
interested in her. This stress causes his powers to malfunction, making him even
more worried and depressed. He has to deal with the idea he can`t live with the
stress, and his attempts to seek contact with Mary Jane keep failing because he
doesn`t have enough money for a payphone. We see their relationship suffers
further under Peter’s personal problems, which happens in real life as well. So,
it is really realistic and multilayered. We see he wishes he could just make
her understand his problems that he is frustrated by living a lie, and that he
feels hurt by hurting Mary Jane’s feelings by lying to her. We see he wishes he
could just tell her through the phone. This is really deep that he feels very
hurt with not being able to tell her the truth, to have to hurt her feelings,
and we see she is really angry at him. When she is engaged with Jameson’s son,
he becomes really depressed. He tries to use poetry to show her how much he
loves her. This is really deep. He still wants her to appreciate him because he
can`t truly let go of her and tries to be nice to her by showing his feelings through
poetry. It is really deep that the fact that she is engaged makes him truly
depressed, because it makes him feel as though he has forever lost her. He has
a depression, and feels as though he can no longer be Spiderman after he
notices his own doubt causes him to lose his powers. A doctor tells him maybe
it isn`t his job, which is also really deep that he tells the doctor of what
happened to him as if it was a dream. The doctor figures out he is Spiderman
and decides to advise him, that he figures out someone wouldn’t be that upset
by a Spiderman dream, especially where they are sick, like in real life. It is
really clever. Peter then changes it to a friend’s dream which is really subtle,
believable and deep, since his is very awkward. He gives up being Spiderman
(much like how Superman did in Superman 2 and Batman did in The Dark Knight
Rises) and renounces his Uncle’s principles. This is really deep since he is
troubled by this and he tells this to Uncle Ben in a dream. He even ignores
someone getting beaten up on the street, and crime goes up 75%. He puts his
suit in the garbage, which is taken by a bum to Jameson, and he feels happy
having defeated Spiderman. He becomes happy again, having a more successful school
time and more free time. He goes to Mary Jane’s play and he tells her he wants
to be with her. She is still angry because she feels hurt by him and doubtful
over whether he loves her, since she never got the chance to have a
relationship with her. He then eventually confesses to Aunt May about his guilt
of being responsible for Uncle Ben’s death. She at first reacts in shock and
isn`t immediately supportive. Later on, he sees there is a child in a burning
building and saves her without his powers. Then it turns out there was another
person he could have saved, if he had his powers. So, he realizes he likes to
help people no matter what. Being a superhero enables him to do this a lot.
Aunt May tells him she understands it and admires him for telling her. It is a
very realistic reaction that at first she actually is shocked and unsupportive,
but then forgives and comforts him. Now Peter has truly gotten over his guilt
and no longer follows Uncle Ben’s teachings out of pain. However, Aunt May
informs him heroes like him are needed, how there are few heroes saving people
and inspiring kids. She points out how he inspired a little neighbor kid, Henry
(played by Jason Fiore-Ortiz), who even wants to be like Spiderman. She points
out how meaningful they are and help people be strong and people love them. She
believes there is a hero in all of us to give us strength, make us noble and
that Henry needs and misses Spiderman. She says that sometimes we have to be
steady and give up the thing we want the most, even our dreams. He taught this
to kids like Henry, and that he needs Spiderman. Now, Peter no longer feels
guilty, but becomes a superhero again because he wants to be, not because he is
obligated to. He realizes that he has the inner strength to be a hero, and that
being a hero is rare, gives people strength, helps them be noble, and inspire
others to be heroic. He can also be loved by people, and that this is a meaningful
thing he wants to do, and that he can make the sacrifices to be noble. He told
Aunt May about Uncle Ben, she forgave and loved him, and no longer feels guilty.
He realized he likes helping others when he tried to save the little girl, that
his powers allow him to do this more, and Aunt May explained to him the meaning
of being a hero and the meaning of sacrifice. Now he wants to be a hero again.
This is immensely deep. He can finally overcome his guilt by telling Aunt May
what he has done, but then is still motivated to be a hero, because he is a
good person at heart, and realizes the meaning of it. He truly becomes a fully
motivated hero by being driven by kindness, so it was guilt that motivated him,
but destroyed him. He still has the inner kindness to help others, and realizes
that there is more to with what he is doing then being responsible. He really
realizes the meaning of being a hero and discovers his inner strength, and he is
just really happy as he feels as though what he does mean something and it
helps others. Also, it is deep how he is so naturally kind that he would try to
save a kid out of a burning building, even when he doesn`t have his powers. True
heroism is in a kind heart. He tries to get his powers back by focusing on wanting
to help people. It fails at first when he tries to jump over rooftops. He falls,
although washing lines break his fall. However, he continues to be heroic when
Mary Jane now decides she is interested in him and realizes she might have been
too rushed. Even though it hurts him really a lot, he tells her he doesn`t love
her and keeps his secret and decides not to be with her. When Mary Jane gets
kidnapped by Doctor Octopus, he, out of determination, saves her and gets his
powers back. He then goes to get the suit back from Jameson. It turns out now the
crime has gone up 75 %, and Doc Oc is unstoppable. People realize the
importance of Spiderman and appreciate him, even Jameson. That is, until
Spiderman gets the suit back and Jameson hates him again, more than ever. He
then fights Doc Oc and is completely heroic again. He stayed selfless and felt
the urge to save someone, and got his powers back. His persistence and his
determination make him get his powers back and conquer all his insecurities. This
is again really deep. Without a doubt, it just wasn`t enough for him to realize
the meaning of being a hero. He had to overcome his temptations and truly be
invested in it. Once he had conquered all his insecurities, he gets his powers
back and can be a true hero. Now he fights Doc Oc. When he threatens a train
full of people by destroying the breaks, he greatly strains his own body by
using his own body weight to support many webs to stop it, which is again deep.
His bravery allows him to make sacrifices for others, and we see he has become
very selfless, hurting himself to save others. Later on, when he takes his mask
off to see better, he is about to fall off from exhaustion, the people grab him
and carry him off. They admire him, give him his mask back, and keep his
identity a secret. This shows they truly appreciated his sacrifices, and that
he truly inspired them. This is also extremely deep. He risked his life for
people, and, as a result, they won`t tell anyone of his identity, even if it
will make them famous. This shows Peter truly inspired good in them, and then
he advises Harry when he gets captured. Harry wants to kill Peter, he finds out
Peter is Spiderman, and then he tells Peter where Doc Oc is, to save Mary Jane.
The city saying there are bigger things at stake than them shows he truly understands
the meaning of sacrifice. This is again deep. He tries to think of others. This
is his kindness that convinces others to follow him. Through his own ability of
self-sacrifice, he eventually convinces Doc Oc to shut the machine off. Also,
he realizes how intelligence is a gift to be used for the good of mankind.
Peter wants to help people realize that to truly be noble, you don`t just think
of yourself. It is very deep that he learned to overcome his own inner demands,
he can therefore relate to Doc Oc, and gives him fitting advice. He now chooses
to do that because he cares, not because he has to. When Mary Jane finds out he
is Spiderman, he can no longer lie to her that he loves her and is happy to be
honest. Still, he sacrifices his dream to be with her to protect her, so he has
become truly heroic. This is really deep that he is still happy she knows, so
she doesn`t think he hates her, but he can be honest about his feelings. However,
Mary Jane is willing to take the risk. As a result, he no longer has to make
the most difficult sacrifices, but he was willing to make them. He is really
heroic, and he truly gets rewarded for his great deeds. This is a really deep
twist that Peter is willing to make sacrifices for the world, but that he gets
repaid and gets it easier. That is fair, and it is great he has learned to make
sacrifices but doesn`t have to so much, that it is the inner strength that
matters. The world will reward your kindness. It means Peter had to be willing
to do anything, which is of course part of being a hero. He can still have luck,
which a hero deserves. He truly has gotten over his guilt and now likes to be a
hero, realizes the true meaning, chooses to be Spiderman and make sacrifices. Yet,
he has Mary Jane as a girlfriend, is still advancing in his job and surviving
financially, and is still really successful at school, even though it is stressful.
He also gets love and appreciation from his close ones, people in general, and
is really popular now. We also see other sides of him in this film, being very
hopeless, conflicted, determined, happy, self-confident and wise.
Mary Jane also has a really deep arc. She slightly suspected that Peter was
Spiderman in the first film, and now that she loves him, she wants to be with
him. She is resentful that he doesn`t want to be with her. She is nice to him
at first, being nice and supportive on his birthday, and tries to show her
feelings, but when he continues to refuse her, she shows she is seeing someone
and is growing to mistrust him. This is really deep. She loves Peter. Therefore,
Peter rejecting her doesn`t just hurt her, it makes her very obsessive. She
wants to get him, wants to be with him, and when he isn`t at her play, she
feels as though he doesn`t care for her. She thinks he probably doesn’t love
her, and is angry at him for rejecting her when she cares so much for him. This
is again deep that she immediately assumes the worst of Peter being late,
because she feels so hurt by him. She assumes she doesn`t love him because she
is very insecure, due to her abusive dad. This is really subtle because her
abusive dad is only mentioned once, but it is very deep for someone to assume
someone would just not love her when they are really insecure. They don`t
believe anyone loves them, and tries to get away from him and move on by
marrying. This is deep because she thinks that because she wants to move on,
being with someone else will make her happy, which is of course not true. If
she isn`t over him, the relationship can`t work, but it is believable she would
be that sad. Then, she really wants to express her anger and is really
frustrated, and she tries to comfort herself by talking about how great Jameson’s
son is. Also, when Peter tries to get back together with her, she is rejecting
at first because she felt so hurt by him and can`t stand over complications. She
wants to move on and feels as though they never had anything. It still is in doubt
whether Peter loves her. This is again deep that she tries to compensate for
Peter not loving her, by focusing on how great Jameson’s son is. It also shows
she is truly obsessed with Peter, which makes sense, because she had an abusive
father, and is desperate for love. When Peter decides he wants to be with her,
she is cold. However, she still feels in her heart that Peter might love her,
and be Spiderman. Since she felt true love when she kissed Spiderman, when she
kisses Jameson’s son, she can find out her true feelings. It is deep she tries
to find the answer in her heart by kissing, because a kiss can be a much
nuanced reminder of feelings. She is obviously very lonely as well, and she realizes
Jameson’s son isn`t the true one. She then talks with Peter, and when he says
he can`t be with her, she decides to trust her feelings, and ask him if he
loves her. When he sees she doesn`t, she wants to kiss him to know if he is
Spiderman. She decides to trust her feelings about her true love, assumes the
best, be open, and not hateful. This is also deep. She decides to trust her
heart, find the truth, and not be pessimistic and assuming the worst in someone.
Later when she is kidnapped, she sees Peter is Spiderman, and she realizes she could
trust her heart all along. It is really deep. She realizes that Peter would
never truly reject her. She knew he loved her in her heart, but she denied
herself the truth and now she knows to follow her heart. She is really sad when
he doesn`t want to be with her, and considers marrying Jameson’s son, but
trusts her feelings, goes to Peter and tells him she is willing to face dangers
with him because she needs him. He needs her, which is really deep because she
loves him so much, that she is willing to be with him. She also truly grows in
this film, learning to be trustworthy and proactive, and overcoming her suspicions
and frustrations. We see new sides to her, being obsessive, lonely, frustrated,
and angry.
Also the romance between them is really deep. Peter loves Mary Jane so much, he
keeps thinking about her, and it really hurts him not to be with her. He just
feels really happy around her and he can`t stop thinking about her. He is
really caring for her by wanting to cheer her up with poetry, he obsessed over
it, and he almost gives up being Spiderman. It is almost impossible for him to
lie to her, she thinks about him, and wants his attention. She does try to
cheer him up, but can also be resentful and cold when she feels rejected,
because she loves him so much, and can be cold and dismissive. In the end, she
is very sincere about her feelings, and she loves him so much, she wants to be
with him and face the dangers with him, and loves him as Spiderman.
Harry in this film really grows…I mean, changes as well. He is now cynical towards
Peter because he takes pictures of Spiderman, who killed his father, and is
frustrated. Peter doesn`t tell Harry who he is. This is really deep. He hates
Spiderman so much that he would immediately feel hurt by his friends if they
are involved with him. He still is a very supportive friend, getting Doctor
Otto Octavius to meet Peter to help him with his paper. This is also deep that
although he is frustrated by his friend, he still tries to help him because he
does care for him. We see that at the same time, he tries to become very successful,
being ambitious, wanting to become very powerful with his fusion experiments,
getting OsCorp big and getting it fame and fortune. This is deep as well. He
still wants to live up to his father, and he also has his greed. After the experiment fails and kills Otto’s
wife, he thinks his company will be ruined. Therefore, he becomes very
depressed, and even gets drunk. Then, he gets angry at Peter and hits him. This
is really deep. His attempt at finding Spiderman is obviously a way of living
up to his dad. This separates him from his friend, making him hateful, and he
can`t let go. So he uses everything as an excuse to hate him more. Making the
company successful was never his dream. It is another way of living up to his
dad. He doesn`t seem to care that much for money, and sounds only mildly
convinced when he talks about it. In the first film, he focused on different
things. This is very subtle, but it shows all his obsessions secretly come from
his father’s lack of love. This is a bit hinted at when he hits Peter. Harry
shows that when he mentions that Peter stole his father love and Mary Jane,
which again is very deep. He struggles with the fact he feels his dads love was
stolen, and due to this tries to project that on his vendettas. That also
causes them to grow apart, and the fact that he feels as though he betrays him
to Spiderman is very understandable. He needs support in this, but can`t have
it. Also, now that he has failed to live up to his father financially, he
becomes even more obsessed with killing Spiderman, like his father, after
failing to achieve a financial dream. He becomes violent. This is again really
deep and subtle that because he now tries to live his father’s dreams, he now
inherited his obsessions. Now that those fail, his hopelessness makes him
violent. This is super deep. He gives Doc Oc the tritium in exchange for
Spiderman, even though he could do loads of damage with it. His hunt on
Spiderman could endanger or kill many people. This is again really deep! He is
starting to become so obsessed, he doesn`t think through how it will hurt
people. He is very shocked when Peter turns out to be Spiderman. Harry’s caring
for Mary Jane and Peter’s wisdom makes him let him go to save the city. Also it
shows how personal his vendetta with Spiderman truly is. He wants to kill him
with a danker. This is also very realistic. He does have some good left in him
and hasn`t become fully insane, so he can be reasoned with. It is very suspenseful
that he doesn`t talk it over with Peter. The shock of this might still take
effect later, and now he is conflicted. Then, he becomes insane by having his
dad tell him (as a ghost in the mirror) he needs to avenge his father, which is
deep. He is so obsessed by his dad, it makes him delusional. At first, he
refuses, caring too much for Peter, which shows he does care for him a lot, and
he sees he is Peter’s friend. But his father tells him he is his father, again symbolizing
that Harry is really troubled by the fact his dad loved Peter more than him,
making it feel as though he had to choose between the two. That is wonderfully
sad. He refuses, but when he discovers The Green Goblin cave, his obsessions
take over, and he decides to become violent and sadistic. He truly looses his
sanity. This is truly deep that he now is so obsessed. He feels the need to do
the same insane things as his father, which makes sense. He needs revenge to
live up to his dad. This is also a perfect set up for the next film, making
Peter’s best friend a super-villain, and creating tension of how they will
resolve this. Also, we see more sides of Harry in this film: obsession,
violent, hatefulness, ambition, depression, cynical, and delusion.
Then we have Doc Oc. He is also wonderfully deep, yet menacing, and funny. Doc
Oc has a really deep back-story. He has a really sweet wife, which he had to
work with on their relationship, since he was a difficult person. He is flawed,
but also very loving and lucky. He is a scientist who works for the greater
good, and is very moralistic. So he is a good person, but he is also arrogant,
and when the experiment goes wrong and Spiderman tries to stop it, he violently
hits him in an attempt to preserve it. He is very reckless, loses his wife, and
allows the arms to tempt him. After his failure, he becomes obsessed to make up
for his loss, and becomes violent. This is really deep. He is loving and principled,
but is full of himself. He is also difficult and allows people to get hurt. He is
good but flawed, and he is obsessed. As a result, he is open to the temptation
of the arms, and deludes himself, thinking it is ok to hurt people for the
greater good, when really he wants to complete his experiment for his own sake.
It is believable that he would use the greater good as an excuse to delude
himself into being allowed to endanger people. He is good and tragic, but at
the same time flawed and arrogant. He is ambiguous, has sad motivations, and
chooses to be corrupted. So he has good sides, is tragic, yet flawed, and
causes himself to be corrupted. He is ambiguous and sad, and he isn`t
controlled by the arms, they tempt him. He is a victim of being corrupted,
making him tragic, but he gave into it willingly, making it a true fall. He is really
deep, being reckless, arrogant, violent, obsessed, very principled, loving,
warm, and being very open, talking with Peter about love. He has some wisdom at
first, thinking he was wrong, and can be really sad, regretting his wife’s
death. After this, we see he is really vicious and determined, robbing banks
and not fearing anyone. He is cunning and harsh, using an old lady as hostage,
dropping her, and has a sardonic, sadistic sense of humor. He is really funny,
really intense, and menacing. We see he is very black and white, threatening to
kill Harry to get the tritium, not vengeful, not wanting to kill Spiderman
after capturing him. He solely wants to build the fusion core. He is really extreme,
throwing people and threatening to crash a train to get Spiderman to get the tritium
to finish his experiment. We see that Peter can convince him to shut the
machine off, by telling him he believed in that intelligence was a gift to be
used for the good of mankind. This makes him realize that it would be power abuse
to use it to destroy people. He has changed, and Peter convinces him the arms
corrupted him. Peter convinces Doctor Octopus to be brave, let go of his dream,
then he sacrifices his dream and himself, is brave by saving the city, and is
strong by controlling the arms, after they at first disobey him. It is really
deep that Peter, who understands his good sides as both being intelligent
people to save the world. He understands his personal exceptions, and knows his
own wisdom could use his own words against him to make him realize what he did
was wrong. When he was told he`d realize the arms corrupted him, Peter
understands him, and therefore his own wisdom could convince him.
Aunt May is also really deep in this. She is very worried about Peter and can
be very emotional, yelling at him, and then apologizing. She starts out not being
able to pay the bank, and tries to get her home refunded through a loan, but
fails. However, she stays warm and kind, which is very believable since she is a
hard worker. She stays calm, even when losing her house, and she just gets a
new home. She is very persistent, which is again deep and believable for
someone so hard working. By the end, she has a new home, and she survived as well.
She also reacts shocked at first when Peter tells her the truth about Uncle Ben’s
death, which is very believable and deep. Although she loves him at first, she
is so shocked that she reacts cold, but she also understands because after the
shock wears off, she comforts him. She is wise, explaining to Peter the meaning
of being a hero, is very sad and lonely, even guilty of her husband’s death,
blaming herself. She is stressed but survives, advises Peter and supports him,
and she is really prejudice of Spiderman, but comes to appreciate him after he
saved her.
The film is also wonderfully thematically deep, even way more than the first
film. I commented that in the first film, Peter felt forced to be Spiderman,
and this was out of guilt. Now it indeed turns out you shouldn`t feel forced,
you should do it out of being noble. Peter tries to live Uncle Ben’s dream
because he feels guilty fighting crime, and he becomes really depressed by losing
a job, having problems paying his rent, suffering at school, his grades dropping,
missing class and being exhausted. Also, he is not able to be with Mary Jane,
telling her he doesn`t love her, lying to her. He notices he becomes so
depressed he loses his powers, and he decides he can`t live with the guilt. He
gives up being Spiderman and becomes happy again, does well at school, appearing
on time, has more free time, and can have time for Mary Jane, yet he still
wants to help people. He saves a child from a burning building and we see that
he likes to help other people. He then confesses the responsibility of Uncle
Ben’s death to Aunt May, and she forgives him, so he gets over his guilt. He
then realizes the meaning of being a hero, that there a few of them, they
inspire people, and they are needed. For example, he inspires the neighbor kid,
Henry, who wants to be like Spiderman. He gives people strength and they need
him, especially Henry. They miss him and he has to give up what he wants the
most, even his dreams, to be a hero. People love him and they give him
strength. This conveys the really deep theme that we shouldn`t be kind of guilty,
that we should choose to be kind. This is really wise because if we live with
guilt, we aren`t sincere and always don`t feel truly motivated, which makes us vulnerable.
Also, a really deep and multilayered theme here is that being good is worth a
lot and we should want to be good, because it is rare, it inspires others, they
need you, and miss you if you aren`t there. You can inspire them and they will appreciate
it. It shows how much being a hero is worth, and this is very well demonstrated
by the people on the train saving Peter after he saved them, and keeping the
fact he is Spiderman a secret. He really inspired them, and shows how rare
heroes are, since Doc Oc becomes corrupt, and so does Harry, the film shows all
the sides of being a hero very well. It is really meaningful. Heroes indeed
show us we have the strength in us to be heroic and that we can survive and
with the commonness of corruption. True heroes are rare, and we see that it’s
important to make sacrifices. This way, we can truly help the world. Once Peter
decides not to be with Mary Jane, he can save the whole city from Doc Oc. He is,
again, wise. We need to be willing to make sacrifices, to be truly focused to
help others, otherwise our temptations distract us, and it shows us we have the
inner strength to be a hero, if we are caring. Peter is still brave without his
powers, saving a girl from a burning building because he cares, and his caring
for the people allows him to hurt himself to save them. This is again very wise.
Caring for others indeed can give us the strength to truly help people. We also
see that heroes inspire other heroes in some Christian allegory. Aunt May was
shown to be a really passionate Christian, always praying in the first film,
and now she thanks a holy statue, when there is a latch under her, saving her
from falling to her death. She uses her wisdom, which is a Christian inspired
by Jesus’ actions to inspire Peter to make sacrifices. When he stops the train,
holds his hands, spread his legs tight like Jesus on the cross, and is carried
by a mob in a similar matter of being slowly lifted, while in this case half
dead instead of dead, showing that the same way Jesus inspired people, he can
inspire others. You can also see that in Superman. This is a very meaningful
addition, showing that sacrifice can inspire, because it did with Jesus. It is
subtle, since they don`t openly mention Christian inspiration. With Aunt May’s
wisdom and Peter’s position on the train, it isn`t focused on a lot. They also
show how heroism is rewarded. Peter becomes a hero again, and as a result,
still gets Mary Jane, who loves him as Peter Parker and Spiderman, gets
everyone to love him, saves the city, keeps growing in his job, and does
survive as a really good student at school, which is again really wise. Kindness
causes kindness to be given back, and hard work eventually helps. Also, there
is a really deep theme of persistence. Peter has to constantly stop crimes, and
as result, gets too late for school, his grades suffer, he is exhausted, is
late for work, loses jobs, and Aunt May can`t pay the bank, and is threatened
to lose her house. The bank denies her a refinance. Peter just keeps giving
pictures of Spiderman to the newspaper and taking special jobs, like taking
pictures of Jameson’s son. He uses Harry’s connection to meet Doc Oc, and still
makes time to do his homework as well. As a result, he keeps enough money to
not get thrown out of his apartment and keeps surviving at school. Aunt May
just gets a new house and moves, so we see that hard work eventually gets
rewarded. We shouldn`t just give up. This is really wise, since indeed if we
work hard, eventually it will pay off because we learn from our mistakes. We
will get better at things and come across new solutions. They also continue the
theme of the first film, which was whether everyone would hate a hero or appreciate
them. We see Jameson got most people to hate Spiderman. It seems people are
ungrateful, but we see some people were really inspired by him and are really
grateful by saving him from falling and not telling anyone his identity. Even under
bad Journalist presses, people will still appreciate a hero, and learn from him.
Eventually people will grow and see the true meaning of being a hero, because
near the end, people love him. After he was gone, crime went up 75% and no one
could stop Doc Oc. This is again wise because some people can truly be grateful.
Heroism grows on people, as they will see for a long time that when you’re hard
work is persistent, they eventually must realize how noble you are. Also,
another very deep theme with Mary Jane is that we should trust our heart. She
suspected Peter was Spiderman and that he loved her, but her insecurities let
her assume he didn`t care for him. This caused her to date Jameson’s son,
assume the worst when Peter missed her play, and almost marry Jameson’s son. However,
her heart, through her instincts by kissing Jameson’s son, told her he wasn`t
the right guy. She decides to kiss Peter and find out if he is Spiderman. When
she gets kidnapped and sees him without his mask, she turns out to be right. When
he sees they can`t be together, she almost marries Jameson’s son, but she realizes
she truly loves Peter and decides to face the risk with him and take the risks.
She loves him as Peter Parker and Spiderman. As a result, she finally is with
the person she truly loves, and makes Peter happy. This is a very wise theme as
well. We should trust our instincts, as our feelings can be very clever and our
insecurities are corrupted feelings. Love is always sincere. Also, they have a
theme of the importance of love. Doc Oc has a wife who he loves, although he
had to work on it and is a difficult man, but they love each other. When it is Doc
Oc’s fault that he loses her, this is causes his obsession to become a lot
worse. Peter gets hopeless without Mary Jane, almost gives up being Spiderman,
and when she is with him, this truly makes him a million times happier. Love is
the basis of happiness. This is a wise theme, since humans need to have the
feeling to feel loved and share things with someone as to give their lives
emotional meaning. That is really deep. Also, a very deep theme is the theme
with Doc Oc: Intelligence is a gift to be used for the good of mankind, not a
privilege. This is Doc Oc’s philosophy, and like “with great power comes great
responsibility” needs to be taken with a grain of salt, Peter becomes Spiderman
willingly in this film. He uses his gifts willingly and does it out of
compassion. The same use applies to Doc Oc, so it isn`t an obligation as much
as admirable, it is more that you shouldn`t abuse it, as Peter did on Flash
Thompson. Now, Doc Oc does the same thing with the experiment that hurts people.
That is immoral, and Doc Oc is also selfless out of kindness. This is again
true because if you are truly a good person who uses your luck to help others,
not just yourself, it is unfair if only you enjoy something you just happen to
get. Also, a really deep theme is that you need to work on love. Doc Oc, who is
married to a loving wife, was a difficult man, but he worked on it with her,
and now they are a long standing couple. The same happens with Peter and Mary
Jane. He learns to understand her sadness and explain it to her, and she grows
to trust him and understand his problem. Then, they get together. This is again
really smart indeed. A relationship often requires work, since it is really
important to people, and really complex, so there will be a lot of aspects. You
don`t understand each other, even if you are made for each other. Also, a deep
theme is that being cold and objective makes you succeed, where being
subjective and obsessive is destructive. Peter wisely advises Harry and Doc Oc,
convincing them to the right thing: saving the city because he focus’s only on
what is truly right, and not his own feelings or obsession. He stops the train
by not thinking of himself, where Doc Oc threw his principles out the window
and only thought of his own obsession. Therefore, he got his wife killed, the
arms took over him, and he almost destroyed the whole city, requiring his
sacrifice to save it. Another deep theme comes with Doc Oc, which parallels
Peter. Doc Oc also only thought of himself but not in that he didn`t want to
help others, he was even willing to hurt them. As a result, he loses everything,
his wife; he gets infected by the tentacles, and endangers innocent people. He,
like Peter, did the opposite. He sacrificed the world for himself, instead of himself
for the world, and, as the result, got nothing but destruction, because
violence is uncontrollable. He, like Peter, grows to realize there are other
people that have feelings too, and that he therefore doesn`t have the right to
hurt them. He should sacrifice himself to save them, where with Peter was
neutral to think of himself and do nothing, and was great to help people. With
Doc Oc thinking of himself and murdering people was evil, but sacrificing himself
and taking responsibility right, so he is a darker version of Peter. Like Peter,
he realizes the value of the world, and therefore realizes how wrong evil is. This
shows that because of the value of other people using them for your own gain is
pure evil and you should take responsibility for hurting others, the same
reason that helping them is noble. It redeems you. So it parallels good and
evil, the reasons and meaning, is deep and again completely correct. Hurting
others is evil since the world outside from us has meaning too. Other people
have feelings, you can`t use them. That is heartless. However, if you take
responsibility for it, you can be redeemed because any person deserves a second
chance. People can change, and taking responsibility is important because other
people have value also. Also, Harry parallels both and doesn`t change. He’s
obsessed over killing Spiderman over personal obsession of proving himself to
his father and his company crashing. As a result, he is cold to himself, and endangers
people. He does follow Peter, saves the city and Mary Jane, postponing his
revenge. But he continues to hate Spiderman over his personal hatred, now that
he finds out he is Peter, and Peter stole Mary Jane and his father from him. He
doesn`t realize that Peter is a good person since he helps people. Harry becomes
The New Green Goblin, opposing a hero and friend. If we don`t let go of our
personal feelings, we become monsters, like The Green Goblin. That is again
really wise, since if we indeed can`t let go of obsessions on vengeance on good
people, we become aggressive and hurt the innocent. That makes us vicious
animals. This cleverly parallels Doc Oc and Peter, the way Peter parallels Doc
Oc.
The film combines many different genres, thereby being multisided, having
action, superhero horror, science fiction, romance, morality play, adventure,
and comedy combined. It is also very dark and really dramatic but funny and has
exciting parts as well, not making it hopeless or draining and keeping it energetic.
It has a really optimistic ending, being very supportive. The film is very well
paced, taking its time to flesh out all the elements with something new constantly.
It had really human, deep, and meaningful dialogue, which is even immensely
better than in the first film. Like, “I liked seeing you tonight, Peter.” “Oh
boy, yeah…” showing Peter is really enthralled by Mary Jane and is totally full
of her, sounding very corny. “How’s the bug these days,” perfectly reflects
Harry is really bitter so much, that he jokes. He is really angry. “Day by day
he gazed upon her, day by day he sighed with passion, day by day,” “Don`t start
that,” showing Peter is still awkward, quoting poetry. That is very old,
showing he is out of touch. But by commenting that he gazes upon her day by day,
because he is so enthralled with her, and Mary Jane reacts so cold because she
thinks he doesn`t really care for her. “Oh you were so wonderful. That was such
a great play,” clearly reflects he still admires Mary Jane. He wants to try to
be with her. “You could have told you were coming” shows she is still
frustrated and, “You think just because you saw my play you think you can talk
me out of getting married,” shows she feels as though Peter doesn`t care for
her and wants to move on. “You once told me you loved me.” “I let things get in
the way. There was something I thought I had to do. I don`t have to really”
clearly conveys Peter tries to explain he had a mistake, but wants to be with
her now. He thinks he was wrong, and wants to explain he didn`t mean to hurt
her. “You are too late,” showing she is a bit bitter. “Will you think about it?”
“Think about what?” “Picking up where we left off” clearly conveying he wants
to start over. “Where was that?” “We never got on. You can`t get off if you
never got on,” showing because they never got a chance to have a relationship,
she doesn`t trust him. “I don`t think it is that simple.” “Of course you don’t,
you overcomplicate things,” showing Mary Jane feels confused by Peter and she
is confused over his feelings, because she still loves him but thinks he
doesn`t love her. Because he says he seems to show he loves her, but doesn`t
act on it, and she is unclear if he has something to hide or just hates her. “Peter,
tell us about yourself. Do you have a girlfriend?” “Well… I don`t know,” showing
Peter is really confused, he can`t even explain himself. “No Uncle Ben, I am
just Peter. I am Spiderman no more, no more,” showing he just doesn`t feel comfortable
in it and is completely desperate. “Honey, you sure you don`t want to invite
your friend the photographer?” “Peter Parker? Positive.” “I thought he was your
pal?” “Peter Parker? He is just a great big jerk.” “The world is full of big
jerks.” “You are adorable,” indicating she still feels frustrated of Peter and
tries to praise Jameson’s son. It contrasts to feel better. “Everything okay?” “You
might say so,” indicating she is really conflicted. “This is funny. I’m not sure
where to begin.” “You know how our minds play tricks on us,” indicating she is
very conflicted. “Tell me about it.” “Well, mine played a real number on me. Part
of me heard what you had to say that night, but I didn`t want to listen. I was
afraid to trust you, but I have been thinking about it” showing she realizes she
still has hopes for her and Peter, and realizes her mistakes. “Listen there is
more for me to say, I maybe rushed into things, I thought…” “Wait a minute. What
are you saying?” “I am saying… I thought I could be there for you, Mary Jane…but
I can`t. My mind was playing tricks too.” By interrupting and stopping his
sentences, it indicates both conflictions. Peter tries to explain in detail why
he feels being very conflicted. “You will never guess who he wants to be.” “Who?”
“Spiderman.” “Why?” “He knows a hero when he sees one,” indicating Aunt May appreciates
how people are inspired by Spiderman, but Peter doesn`t realize why his
lifestyle would mean anything. “A few characters out there flying around there
like that, saving girls like me. And lord knows kids like Henry need a hero. Courageous,
self-sacrificing people, setting examples for all of us. Everybody loves a hero.
People stand in line for them. Cheer them. Scream their names. And years later,
they will tell how they stood in the rain for hours just to get a glimpse of
the guy who taught them to hold on a second longer. I believe there’s a hero in
all of us, keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble, and finally
allows us to die with pride. Even though sometimes we have to be steady and
give up the thing we want the most. Even our dreams. Spiderman did that for
Henry, and he wonders where he has gone. He needs him,” clearly indicating how
important heroes are to Aunt May. She gets into so much detail, talking of how
they inspire people, how they set examples, how everyone has that strength, and
how people need to make sacrifices. Also, the film had awesome humor, which fit
the tone, story, characters and themes. Humor, with lines like, “You’re getting
on my nerves.” “I`ve a neck for that.” “Not anymore.” Doc Oc takes a famous
phrase and twists it into abuse, which is really clever and sadistic fitting
the tense, but exciting action moment. It came after a less important scene of
Aunt May getting a loan, and is told by a really vicious character who is
relaxed about what he does, so is fitting. Jameson realizing Spiderman was a
hero and missing him feeling bad about actually pushing him away, because he
enjoyed fighting him, but realized that winning that fight was wrong. Then,
when he is back, and steals the suit back, he starts hating him again. Now the suit
is so minor, that if he actually saw him as a hero, it wouldn’t matter. But it
clearly indicates he just hates him for the sake of it because he doesn`t want
to destroy him. That is wrong. He is just a journalist and enjoys ruining
reputations. That is very in character and fits the moment. Peter becomes
Spiderman again because it is an exciting optimistic moment. Peter missing the
last block of cheese is dark and fits him having problems with Mary Jane, and
is funny because it fits how Peter always had bad luck. Aunt May trying not to
fall to her death when there is a ledge right under her is really funny because
it makes the dramatic build up scene so pointless and fits how there is some
luck on a bad moment. It is also funny how there happens to be a holy statue
and she thanks it, clearly indicating she is always a true Christian, and fits
the relief of the scene. The film has immensely wonderful action scenes, which
further the story and are even more exciting, intense, and complex then in the
first film. The action scene where Spiderman moves in between a trucks cargo
and driving part was fast and unpredictable. He shot machine guns, uses many
different small webs and swings them around a lantern. This is a really complex
and fast sequence, and helped show how Peter missed Mary Jane due to having to
stop crime. The scene where Doc Oc robs the bank is really multilayered,
exciting, intense, and epic. Doc Oc throws a bank door, Peter and Aunt May
barely dodge it, 4 cops arrive and are thrown about, he makes side turns to
throw bags of money, and Peter dodges them, throws them back swinging, he jumps,
but his powers malfunction, and he gets hit. Doc Oc grabs her and squashes his,
but then he gets two tables thrown at him. Doc Oc throws car doors, and he hits
Spiderman in a while, Dupree falls, he dodges him, uses his web to pull Doc Oc
to him and hit. He climbs and gets pulled away, hits, they roll, and he punches
more, they fly, and he punches. He gets thrown through windows, launches
himself, Aunt May hits him, Spiderman saves her, Doc Oc dodges cops bullets,
and the scene showed how Doc Oc got the money to build a fusion reactor. The
fight with Doc Oc on the clock tower is intense, complex and fast. Peter swings
to him fast, and hits him and his tentacles away from his face to hit him in
the face. He gets hit and punched into the building, he falls, grabs onto the
clock piece, which he gets hit by. This breaks off and he falls, he holds onto
a web, he throws the thing back, it gets split into two and he dodges both, but
gets hit and falls. It drags him down, they roll, he grabs onto a train, uses
webs to remove his tentacles, dodges tentacles, swings on them, jumps through
bridge openings, gets smashed into a train, swings around a poll, holds his tentacles,
gets hit off, uses his webs to maneuver past cars, and jump over the building.
Doc Oc throws people. Spiderman catches them, and lets them land on webs. Doc
Oc then causes the train to go fast and breaks the handle, so Peter tries to
stop it with his legs, which doesn`t work, so he tries to have two webs on
either side to help him take the pressure, but the pieces of the building they
are attached to break off. He uses loads of webs taking in the pressures with
windows breaking, webs snapping, and his suit tearing, and he just stops the
train, completely exhausting him, and then when Doc Oc comes back for an
exhausted Peter, he pushes the people aside and takes them out with one stroke.
This scene allowed Doc Oc to capture Peter, asking Harry to find out who he was,
and giving Doc Oc the tritium to create the reactor. Then, in the fight in his
lair, he gets swung around, thrown through roofs, swings back, kicking him into
the water, he hits him, and then he uses a web to save Mary Jane who is almost
sucked into a fusion reactor. Peter gets hit and nearly stabbed, but uses a web
to swing a cable in front of Doc Oc, causing him to be electrocuted. This
helped to give Peter time to save Mary Jane. Then him stopping a collapsing
building and dodging flying cages was fast and complex and helped him save Mary
Jane. The film also has wonderful atmosphere, a lot more then the first film. It
is a lot slower and has more restrain, calm, pacing of scenes with the characters
moving less franticly, with scenes being longer, being fleshed out more, and
being quick with not all too much loud sounds.
The acting is brilliant and even a lot better than in the first film.
Tobey Maguire can look sad very well, just by having his eyes unfocused, and he
can strongly look painful by very tense but subtle fronting. He can sound awkward
well by being very slow and stuttering, and being very quiet and swallowing his
words. By whispering, he sounds sincere, and he can smile very naturally and be
sweet. He can look obsessed very intensely by looking overly focused, and can
look depressed very well by balking his eyes, and have a very bleak look on his
face. He can sound kind, sounding very fluent in his pronunciation, and sound
frustrated, look very angry in his eyes and moving shockingly. It is even more
subtle then in the first film, more multilayered and more intense and natural.
Kirsten Dunst can sound very supportive with a sweet voice and smile. She can
be frustrated, sound angry, and look very sparingly. She can be really obsessed
as well, talking fast. She can be conflicted well, talking stressed, and she
can cry immensely well, showing she is very hard trying to compose herself and
making her eyes partially closed very naturally. Finally, she can look worried
a little, staring very blandly.
Jams Franco is brilliant. His voice, when cynical, can sound sharp. He can
sound warm. He can perfectly sound a bit believable and muted when talking
about becoming rich. He can sound very restrained and inertly hateful, and like
his hate boiled up by talking in a very shaky matter when drunk. He can look unstressed
by turning away smoothly well. He can play shocked immensely well by dropping
the danker when he finds out Peter is Spiderman, and looks shocked with stress
in his eyes when seeing his father in the mirror.
Alfred Molina can sound warm well, and also due to his fancy mannerism and
relaxed voice, sound moralistic very well. He can sound obsessed by talking
raspy well, and really look hateful with a stressed face and very hateful
movement. He can talk casually while being hateful, and sound genuinely caring
about redeeming himself, sounding intense, and he can come off hurt very
naturally. He is menacing, deep and human.
Rosemary Harris can sound sweet, look supportive, look self-assured, sound
brave, look shocked, and be advising, sad, and tough all very naturally.
The direction is energetic in moments of importance with very elaborate framing.
The emotional scenes, more soften, but still really fluent and have emotional close-ups.
The cinematography adds to the realism, insecurity, and depression with really
muted gray and white colors. The lighting is grim, adding to the darkness
further. The set design is detailed with very elaborate walls, and halls in Doc
Ocs layer. Where Jameson’s son is photographed, there are pieces of debris,
shares, pipes, and cables, and Doc Ocs layer is broken down. Peter’s apartment
has very streamlined broken walls, warn down furniture, and Harry’s home still
has a really fancy look, with all kind of squares and smooth tables. It is
elaborate and realistic, fitting the scene, all the props are detailed with
many edges, and the costume are very gritty as well. The editing is soft and
smooth. The sound is subtle and poignant. The music is wonderful, The Spiderman
Theme, with its guitar cues and operatic elements, is still magical, epic, exciting,
dark, sad, yet optimistic, and deep. Doc Oc’s theme, which is slow and then becoming
fast rhythm, with high trumpets, is stressed and menacing, the romance theme
with violence, which is very slow, and then builds, rhythmic, is sad and emotional.
The epic action music is very epic and colorful, and the dramatic music is very
soft and piano driven, with very emotional cues and slope becomes higher. So
the dramatic music is really subtle, calm, and deep. The Special Visual Effects
are even vastly better than in the first film. There isn`t a single fake or
even slightly flawed scene or moment. The swinging in the chase of the criminals
felt natural, the buildings looked detailed, the shots had weight, the trucks had
mass, the criminals were moved around by force, with the bank door, it looked detailed
and looked like shiny metal. The bags with money were light and flexible, and
the ambles were hard. The car doors reflective, and is blinding, feels natural,
and the tentacles look harsh and rough. His suit looks plastic, and the
punching looks organic, and the buildings have mass. The train looks hard, the
building gritty, the webs sticky, the pressure strong and the people had moist
faces. The swinging around looked like it had force, the metal look naturally
light, and the electricity, energetic, the fusion three-dimensional, the
building has size and the cages looked deep. They were all also vast and really
epic.
So Spiderman 2 is an outstanding masterpiece, and
even better than the first film and one of the best superhero films of all time. I consider this one of my favorite comic book adaptations.
Go see it, I give it a 10+.
Again, I apologize for the long post. Stay tuned next week when I review the final film in Sam Raimi's Spiderman trilogy.
