| (07.26) | Lady in the Water  |
| (05.21) | Da Vinci Code, The  |
| (05.06) | United 93  |
| (02.05) | King Kong  |
| (01.29) | Syriana |
| (01.24) | Walk the Line |
| (01.05) | Chronicles of Narnia, The: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe  |
| (01.02) | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire |
| (12.30) | Jarhead |
| (12.27) | Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit |
| (12.05) | randy: Polar Express, The |
| (12.02) | Geoff: Polar Express, The |
| (07.27) | Jen: Lady in the Water |
| (07.27) | Justin: Lady in the Water |
| (07.12) | Sarah: Da Vinci Code, The |
| (05.25) | Chris: Da Vinci Code, The |
| (05.25) | Acceler8: Da Vinci Code, The |
| (05.21) | Mr Plow: Da Vinci Code, The |
| (05.11) | Sarah: United 93 |
| (05.11) | Bread: United 93 |
Everyone seems to be raving about how much better Spiderman 2 is compared to the original. I'm not sure why -- I get the impression that a lot of these people have been holding something against the first one. I liked the first one a lot -- it's a great comic-book movie -- and I liked this one a lot, as well. But I think it's about on par with the original, though with some noticeably superior special effects.
The story covers some similar ground: Peter Parker loves Mary Jane, but fears for her safety should his 'secret identity' be revealed to any baddies. A good sequel is usually one that can take important elements from the original and then spin it in a significantly different -- but coherent and logical -- direction. In Spiderman 2, Peter decides that his love for Mary Jane is more important than his 'role' as Spiderman, and so forsakes his powers in an attempt to live a 'normal' life.
A major problem with Peter's new life direction comes in the form of Doctor Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina, in a very good piece of casting), a brilliant scientist and friend of Peter's until an experiment gone awry (do they ever go right in comic books?) turns him into an evil eight-limbed villain. "Doctor Octopus" sets out to kill Spiderman upon the urging of Harry Osborn, who, as we know from the first film, believes that Spiderman is the one responsible for his father Norman "The Green Goblin" Osborn's death. Harry tells Doctor Octopus that the only person who is regularly in contact with Spiderman is, surprise surprise, Peter Parker -- who has a knack for photographing the superhero for a local newspaper.
It's fairly potent stuff. There's lots of colour and complexity here, and I appreciate that director Sam Raimi paid as much, if not more, attention to it than to the action scenes. I also appreciated the two (that I counted, anyway) homages to Raimi's "famous" earlier works, the Evil Dead trilogy. Fans of those B-movie classics will get a kick out of at least a couple scenes in Spidey 2.
It's a good movie, and a very good sequel -- though I didn't find it significantly better than the original. However, if the same group of talent can be convinced to stick around for future instalments, Spiderman could become one of the greatest comic-book heroes to grace the screen.
spiderman 2 is better than the first one for two reasons:
1) more positives
2) less negatives
to explain, i just thought there was a lot more *cool stuff* in this one...the effects, the action, all the stuff that gets me excited about seeing a REAL spiderman, were waaaay better than the first movie
as for the negatives, anyone who's ever heard my opinion on the original will know how much i HATE the camp that raimi put into that movie...i know he was all about the corny stuff in evil dead, but after a simple plan, i wish he could have taken spiderman seriously (sense of humour? yes. complete stupidity that drives me totally insane? no thanks)
and last but not least, dashboard confessional kicks chad kroeger's as
Hehe... I know you've probably mentioned it to me before, but could you refresh my memory regarding what you found "completely stupid" about the first movie? :-)
The dorky thing about the first spiderman was that teribble costume the Green Goblin (is that his name?) had to wear...Looked like something out of a pwer rangers movie :P...
Just watched the Second one a few days ago..I downloaded it...I dont think it was that great :P
TOODLES
how about i list what i *did* like about the first one?
1)tobey maguire as peter parker/spiderman
2)seeing spidery REALLY swing around new york, just like i'd imagined
3)the whole daily bugle crew
and i guess that's about it
i really like dafoe, but not here...norman osborne needs to be terrifying as a villain and a businessman...in the movie he was a bumbling idiot at his board meetings and a total cornball in what sab accurately described as a power rangers villain outfit
i don't hate the movie, because it was just really COOL to see it, but it moved away from "fun" into "cheesy" way too often for my liking
hurry up and review hellboy (and make sure you listen to the creator commentary, picturing guillermo del toro as strong bad when you listen to him!!)
Randy... I actually watched Hellboy the same day you posted that! :-)
It's in my "review queue", behind about 4 other movies. I wasn't totally thrilled with it, though.
And I returned it before I read your post, so I didn't get a chance to listen to the commentary.
i bought it for all the mignola goodness, so i can lend it to you sometime (because del toro REALLY sounds like strong bad, especially when he says "totally")
i thought hellboy was less than perfect(especially given the more than perfect source material, but i enjoyed it)
Your anwser was just what I needed. It?s made my day!
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