Spiderman 2 review
Jul. 2nd, 2004 05:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drydemOkay, so, other people have some opinions, apparently favorable about Spiderman 2. My impression was not quite as favorable overall. So, without further ado
To begin with, let me say that my experience with the Spiderman franchise is primarily from the Ultimate Spiderman line and the late 60's cartoon series. I have never extensively read any other spiderman title, though I have read a number of titles that feature him. But one of my favorite things about Spiderman is that he is always pretty nervous and witty. Spiderman throws witticisms at those he fights, mostly to keep himself sane. The Spiderman from the movie did next to none of that. He's got a lot of energy even when he's not doing the superhero thing and is affable if geeky. This was not the Spiderman in the movie. Tobey Maguire spent most of the time staring blankly, unemotionally at whoever he was talking to or out into space. This didn't convey inner struggle, it conveyed someone without the wit to deal with what's going on around them. I didn't feel any chemistry between Peter and MJ and that just made it annoying when she gave up marriage for him. Strike 1
The movie seemed unwilling to decide between being over the top comic-booky or serious movie. The sequence with Peter Parker walking around and doing the successful guy thing would have been fine, as would the whole throwing away the costume thing, if the rest of the film had matched that intensity of imagery. But it didn't. Moments of sitting around a table with Otto and his wife discussing poetry and science just didn't quite mesh well with Jonah Jameson's swift 50's wit. Strike 2
Superhero stuff was wonky. Everything with the on-again,off-again nature of Peter's powers just bothered me and seemed kind of fuzzy. I mean, does he have some sort of conscious control over his eyesight or something? The disappearing powers just didn't seem well explained or well solved. It was a problem without a solution, compounded by the whole giving up superherodom issue. Plus the whole inhibitor chip thing with Doc Ock bothered me. The 'artificial intelligence' of the arms just seemed really weird and out of left field. Also, the fact that he only puts the harness on once really bugs me, because it seems like it was a one way trip from the start. All in all, too fuzzy, it could have been done more clearly. Strike 3.
Finally, in a bizarre note, I could not get over Alfred Molina's genius performance in Frida and thus was consistently thinking, jeez, Diego Rivera has kidnapped Spiderman's girlfriend! or Diego Rivera knows the secret of fusion! Which doesn't quite count as a strike as much as something odd.
To begin with, let me say that my experience with the Spiderman franchise is primarily from the Ultimate Spiderman line and the late 60's cartoon series. I have never extensively read any other spiderman title, though I have read a number of titles that feature him. But one of my favorite things about Spiderman is that he is always pretty nervous and witty. Spiderman throws witticisms at those he fights, mostly to keep himself sane. The Spiderman from the movie did next to none of that. He's got a lot of energy even when he's not doing the superhero thing and is affable if geeky. This was not the Spiderman in the movie. Tobey Maguire spent most of the time staring blankly, unemotionally at whoever he was talking to or out into space. This didn't convey inner struggle, it conveyed someone without the wit to deal with what's going on around them. I didn't feel any chemistry between Peter and MJ and that just made it annoying when she gave up marriage for him. Strike 1
The movie seemed unwilling to decide between being over the top comic-booky or serious movie. The sequence with Peter Parker walking around and doing the successful guy thing would have been fine, as would the whole throwing away the costume thing, if the rest of the film had matched that intensity of imagery. But it didn't. Moments of sitting around a table with Otto and his wife discussing poetry and science just didn't quite mesh well with Jonah Jameson's swift 50's wit. Strike 2
Superhero stuff was wonky. Everything with the on-again,off-again nature of Peter's powers just bothered me and seemed kind of fuzzy. I mean, does he have some sort of conscious control over his eyesight or something? The disappearing powers just didn't seem well explained or well solved. It was a problem without a solution, compounded by the whole giving up superherodom issue. Plus the whole inhibitor chip thing with Doc Ock bothered me. The 'artificial intelligence' of the arms just seemed really weird and out of left field. Also, the fact that he only puts the harness on once really bugs me, because it seems like it was a one way trip from the start. All in all, too fuzzy, it could have been done more clearly. Strike 3.
Finally, in a bizarre note, I could not get over Alfred Molina's genius performance in Frida and thus was consistently thinking, jeez, Diego Rivera has kidnapped Spiderman's girlfriend! or Diego Rivera knows the secret of fusion! Which doesn't quite count as a strike as much as something odd.
