He swings from building to building! He climbs up walls! He ties up unshaven
crooks with webbing! He stubbornly crawls out of the plughole even after
youve washed him away! We all know and love Spider-Man, and Im
sure you enjoyed the 2002 movie as much as I did. A great director
Sam Raimi brings Spider-Man to life as a web-slinging hero amongst
the skyscrapers. Tobey McGuire is a dorky Peter Parker. Kirsten Dunst
gets trapped in light rain. The second installment promises more of that,
but with greater peril, bigger setpieces, high drama and the imposing
threat of a certain Dr Octopus. It certainly sounds good. Lets take
a look, shall we?
We take our seats...
|
Oh yes, this is good. The minor flaws of the first film have been fixed
for this sequel, not least when it comes to the hero. Spider-Man looks
much more realistic when hes in action, which betrays a substantial
increase in the effects budget. And Dr Octopus, the man with huge mechanical
killer tentacles, is a much more impressive villian than that lame Goblin
they had last time. Doc Ock is an ungodly mix of computer effects, metal
tentacles and Alfred Molina, and is as awesome as he sounds. You wont
believe the sequence where Spidey and Octopus fight their way up a skyscraper!
Spider-Man 2 has the best, most exciting action of any film this year,
but thats only to be expected from the director of Evil Dead
II.
We fidget and attempt to open bags of popcorn...
Perhaps the reason the action works so well is that its restricted
to only a few big scenes. Spider-Man 2 spends a great deal of its
running time exploring the soap opera drama that unfolds between Peter
Parker and his friends, and the dilemma that forces Peter to stop being
his alter-ego Spider-Man. This makes it very involving, and the film explores
the difficulty of being a man in a silly costume with wit and depth. The
script is punchy and unusually good, and offers up plenty of unexpected
twists. It makes a superb joke out of Spidey losing his powers.
I send popcorn spraying across the cinema...
That said, it is best not to get too swept up by the hype (best
superhero film ever and all those plaudits). Its not perfect.
For one thing, Peter Parkers beloved Aunt May, thankfully hospitalised
a lot in the first Spider-Man, here dominates plenty of frames, even somehow
wandering into a Spider-Man / Dr Octopus fight! After only 10 minutes
in, you begin to hope that Spidey will mistake his aunt for a fly and
eat her. Still, this may not bother you as much as it bothers me.
The End...
Spider-Man 2 is an impressive superhero film which delivers quality
entertainment. It has enough original touches to make it a cut above the
rest, and succeeds in giving a shot in the arm to the usual computer-graphics-tomfoolery-flicks
genre by using cgi tools properly. The young ones will love it. The older
ones will like it. And anyone inbetween will be looking out for the Bruce
Campbell cameo. Yes, Spider-Man 2 is fun!
We see a web being spun on the cinema screen. Is it the work of Spider-Man?
No, it is just that the cinema is dirty. We vow to go to a different one
when Spider Man 3 comes out.
Jason Theodorou, July 2004
|