Spiderman 2: Just How Good is it?

As much as I love to watch movies and televisions shows, well.. anything that tells a story really. But as much as I enjoy that, as a writer the one thing that I typically stay away from writing reviews of movies or television. Unfortunately I do not have a good reason why, I just do not write them. However, in this case I will make an exception simply because the movie was just that good. I am talking about Spiderman 2.

The Overall Setting

Another thing that I don't do quite as often as other people is go to the theater. With all of the media technology available to the general public I find it far too convenient (and comfortable) to watch movies or any other video for that matter in the comfort of my own home and on my own couch. This time I was surprised however by the eldest of my offspring. My beautiful 16 year old daughter bought two tickets to the 3D IMAX opening night showing of Spiderman 2. If I did anything right as a father it was to instill a love for all things Spidey in my kids.

We had what I thought were really good seats in a not so crowded theater at 10pm. I opted for the no popcorn and no drink watching style because there is no pause button when your in the IMAX theater with nearly 50 of your neighbors. I did not want anything to pull me away from the movie. So my daughter and I sat through the previews and eagerly awaited the opening scenes. I must say that I didn't expect the movie to open on Richard Parker (Peter Parkers father) and his wife Mary on the run from something and leaving poor little peter with Aunt May and Uncle Ben. The story tries to build some back story and maybe pick up a little from where the last film left off.

After the excitement with the Parkers comes the good stuff. While Gwen Stacey awaits Peter at their high school graduation ceremony he is busy trying to help the police stop a highjacking of some high-grade plutonium from Oscorp. Like most movies this entire scene is filled with action, crashes, and explosions. The best part however is the work and special effects done on Spiderman himself. There is a minute or so of him flying really high and web-swinging between skyscrapers coming very close to the ground before pulling himself back up again on a web from his wrist.

I had a really good feeling about the films special effects and attention to detail when I saw Spiderman make his first appearance falling gracefully  to the ground and swinging into the action. You could see the wind moving around the loose bits of the suit on Peter's back as he cut through the wind like a professional skydiver. Everything just looked very realistic. The little details like that are things that are missed sometimes and it is those small details that many of us are looking for. Attention to detail.

 Special Effects

Today the words special effects just does not seem so special anymore. The movies made today are usually filled with various CGI scenes and other camera tricks to get the director the shot that they want. Sometimes there is more money spent on the computer generated graphics that what some high level CEO's make in Chicago or New York. Thing is, with all that money being spent there are a lot of movies that would have been better off investing that money elsewhere. The CGI work on a film can either make it look beyond fantastic or just make it look cheap. It is an art these days to be able to take the CGI work done by some very talented individuals and merge it with the live action shots and edit it all together. The team that worked on Spiderman 2 deserve an oscar!

When I originally saw the trailers for this movie I was pretty upset about a couple things. They were assumptions really, but from what In was seeing and what I remembered from past films I saw the whole Jaimi Foxx as Electro thing as a mistake. Then when I saw how they decided to present Electro I thought, "oohh.. mistake number 2." You know what though.. I have never been more wrong in my life! First of all Jaimie Foxx did a marvelous job of portraying the juxtaposition of his characters personalities. He was wonderful as the loner, shy, alone, introverted genius and equally as terrifying as the powered up and mad as hell Electro!

The lightening effects used were very realistic in my opinion and beyond that the angles and type of shots they used to capture the action and where they blended the CGI was just fabulous. Man, there's a word I do not use that often. Still.. I found myself thrilled at the prospect of the big fight between Spidey and Electro just based on seeing how they made his powers evolve and change. Then, as he used them against Spidey and objects like walls and cars, it just looked great. Afterwards I was excited about Jaimie Foxx and happy they chose him because he did a great job and I am not sure if anyone else could have played that role quite like he did.

As the Story Goes...

One of the biggest ongoing arguments with any and all of these so-called "comic book movies" is will they or wont they stay true to the original story? Then people argue that maybe they shouldn't. Maybe they should use it as a basis only but explore other ideas as they build the story. I for one am a believer that the comic book should not be messed with. I feel that there are certain things that are shall we say.. adjustable. Yet, other aspects of the original story should be left alone. If you're going to make a movie based on a comic book it is just like doing a remake or making a movie from a book. You have the basis for your story and you should stay true to the story and the vision the author had for their characters. But the visual medium gives you a little bit of a different outlook on how you can present those things to the audience.

With Spiderman you have a character that is universally loved by all and there are a ton of people who are more than aware of the original story. So to mess with the story is to doom your project to fail with the true fans from the start.  A great example of this is the web shooters for the Toby Maguire movies and the Andrew Garfield movies. They decided to make Spiderman have organic web shooting ability in the first movies but in the present Andrew Garfield movies they made it so that Peter Parker had to design and develop the web shooters - just like in the comic book. This was something that might have been seen by some as a small part of the story but to the true fans it was something that really turned them off right from the start on the Maguire movies.

The same can be said about the Mary Jane and Gwen Stacey relationships with Peter Parker. Both movies took a different path on this but again, the Garfield movies got it right once more. With a character that has such a loyal and devoted following as this one does it is hard to go against the grain. They tried it with the Toby Maguire versions and because of that they had an uphill battle from the start. The present incarnation of Spiderman is so much more a movie that follows the original story and because of this the fan base is really getting behind it. At this point and especially after Spiderman 2 has been released if I was Toby Maguire I would be embarrassed to show my face in public.

Turn on the Lights

I'm not all that excited about the new X-Men movie and there is at least a year and a half until the next Spiderman, if there is a third movie. I would think there would have to be. Everything is made in threes these days. Overall I was very happy with this movie and I am sure if I tried really hard I could find a few faults with the movie. I don't want to do that though. I have always hated when a movie critic would over-analyze a movie and tell people it was no good as a result. There is a time and place for that type of examination of the final product but it is not necessary for the fans. Our job is to enjoy the movie. It is entertainment and that is precisely how we should look at it.

As far as entertainment goes I was excited, thrilled, anxious, happy, and sad throughout the film. This movie was well worth the money to see. If my opinion was worth anything I would try very hard to get everyone involved with the film to hear my opinion. If my opinion mattered I would want them all to know how much I absolutely loved the movie. How much I was happy they made the film exactly how they made it and just how happy I was about all of their acting. This movie was a thrill to watch and I will surely see it many more times before the next one comes out.

I have been a comic book fan for a very long time and Spiderman has always been my favorite. When they started making comic book movies I think I was one of the happiest geeks on the planet. So I have seen every comic book related movie produced in the last 20 years and I have loved most of them. When the first Spiderman came out you could not imagine my joy. I enjoyed it, but overall it was not what I wanted. That being said, you should already have guessed that I absolutely love this new movie. However, I will take it a bit further than that. As far as any and all comic book movies are concerned, Spiderman 2 is the absolute best comic book movie ever made!!