spider-man 2

awful.  just dreadful.  and i'm not just saying this because our audience was particularly obnoxious (cellphones ringing — and answered; babies crying; and the kid sitting next to me crinkling his candy wrappers, talking to his mother, and hogging the armrest during the entire movie, the obnoxious little twerp).

no, this movie would have been a huge disappointment all on its own, even under ideal movie-watching conditions.  the fact is, i had high hopes for this one, particularly because the original was so good and all the people i'd talked to who had seen the sequel gave it great reviews.  "so much better than the first one!" they raved.  which movie were they watching, and why didn't i pay $10.50 to go see that one instead?

my biggest complaint would have to be the lame attempts at plot and characterization.  generally, i like my action movies to have...well, action.  i expected more fight sequences, more chase sequences, more anything involving cgi and wire work, in- and out-of-costume.  instead, i got a couple good stunts on a motorcycle, a couple of all-too-brief knock-down, drag-out fight scenes, and a whole lot of angst-ridden blah-blah about peter parker's inability to get the girl or speak coherent sentences.

that would be my next issue with this movie — where the hell was spider-man?  and i'm not referring to peter parker's whole "dilemma" in this movie, because we all know where that's going, really.  c'mon, the movie is called spider-man 2.  i mean, where was the funny, witty, banter-filled web-slinger, the one who had the gumption to rattle-off one-liners as he's dodging punches and sharp objects?  the spider-man i remember was more articulate than this movie's version.  if the writer and director are gonna spend so much time on "characterization," at least keep the character consistent with the one developed in the first movie (and, i would hope, the comic book).  i can see how a bumbling peter parker is easier to cast as an underdog than a truly confident and intelligent one, but i wish someone had at least been up for a challenge.

and what's up with mary jane watson completely dissing her hotter-than-hot astronaut fiancé?  isn't the significant other of a super-hero supposed to have more common decency than that?  can we not have a comic book movie where the characters interact in an intelligent and mature way?  or is hollywood's (and the public's at large) concept of comics so grounded in pulpy, adolescent melodrama?  (duh, i suppose.)

the one thing i will say for raimi is that he had enough of a sense of humor to refer to other classic films and genres.  the horror-movie sequence in the operating room, the butch cassidy and the sundance kid montage, and even the jesus christ superstar reference were all appreciated by the older folks in the audience.  even the shot of the spider-man suit in the trash can, taken directly from one of the more famous comic book covers from the series, was a nice homage.  unfortunately, that doesn't make up for the other 90% of the movie...

*sigh!*  well, here's hoping that the hellblazer-based constantine is a lot better.

Posted by jason at July 7, 2004 07:45 AM