Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Widescreen Edition Special Edition 2 Discs DVD

Once the MARVEL card appears and fades, and the title sequence begins displaying an account of the previous installment's events in the form of Alex Ross paintings, the audience is treated to a gift: a comic book come to life. I am completely surprised that I can watch a comic book movie that actually does the source material justice. And it's Spider-Man, for cryin' out loud, every form of medium gets this story wrong.

STORY

The continuing story of Spider-Man takes us to the next level as an audience. It is powerful with its human emotion, development, and inner struggles. The strength here is in the film's storytelling, and not the action-oriented web-slinging this time around. Every character from the first one goes through an arc, and develops quite nicely. Even though subplots exist, they tie-in to the overall main plot device and weave together seamlessly.

Spidey takes the dramatic route with this offering, attempting to balance a normalcy within his life as ordinary Peter Parker while doubling as an extraordinary superhero crimefighter by night. I'm glad the writers (who are superb by the way, Smallville's Miles Millar & Alfred Gough, with a rewrite by Michael Chabon) decided to pen this stage of Parker's story, as this is what the appeal to the source material was: a troubled, normal 20-something with a regular life. Now that the origin story has been told, this next arc is nothing short of spectacular.

The stage has been set as two years later following the end of the last flick, Parker is still in love with MJ, though he feels he must reject her love for the fear of putting her life in peril, he is in his college years, and is attempting to hold two jobs in order to survive New York's cost of living. Which, by the way, he lives in a run-down shared place in a studio apartment (him and Harry having moved out of their upscale townhouse from the last movie, due to Norman's passing and Harry's inheritance of the family mansion as well as OsCorp), and he just lost his pizza delivery day job due to his duties as the city's wallcrawler, which he really can't go around explaining "disturbance" excuses for always being late. He is still a freelance photographer for the Daily Bugle, although he is getting fed up with their libel in his alter ego's name, and it looks as if he has been getting no sleep. It all takes a toll on Parker, to the point where he keeps missing MJ's broadway stint in The Importance of Being Earnest, his platonic relationship with her is strained further, and he is completely miserable.

This all leads up to the fact that stress is causing him to lose his powers temporarily. When I first saw this in theaters on the opening day of June 30, 2004, I thought that this scene was symbolic, setting up a draining of the organic webs in order to be replaced by the inevitable scientifically-developed web-shooters. Sadly, to my dismay, no, they were never developed and this was only a sub-plot revolving around Peter's sad, miserable life and the fact that he can't be with Mary Jane. Get over yourself, Parker. You're the one who rejected her in the first place. Beggars can't be choosers, and vice versa. If you tell her you only want to be her friend, then stop complaining to the audience in slow-mo how you look at her face everyday, and she's the only one for you, and yada, yada, yada. No need for this narration, pal. Move on already. But this is what Parker fails to do. He lives in the past, whereas MJ's love isn't unrequited, yet at least she is moving on. She's got a handsome new boyfriend, the astronomical John Jameson, lives in a nice Greenwich apartment, and is striving to accomplish her dreams in the Big Apple. She's an independent woman and Parker is the loser guy friend. Ouch.

As a result, Peter gives up his great responsibility imposably for good, taking the pages directly out of Amazing Spider-Man #50, "Spider-Man: No More!" I love it when the source is adapted straight to film. As MJ has said yes to a proposal from John, Peter arrives on the scene left-field to finally catch her play, thinking that is going to mean something to her, enough to babble afterwards about ditching John and being with him now. She puts him in check, as the only thing that they had shared together was a passionate kiss, and brings him back to reality from his Fantasyland about the fact that she's getting married. Too late, webhead.

Also during the film we get to see the human side of Dr. Otto Octavius. Here is a guy who has comic origins but was never developed on this level in said books. He and his wife Rose are two of a scientific kind, and appeal greatly to college student Peter. When his fusion reaction experiment fails, and the four "actuators" are fused to his spinal column, breaking the irrelevant little inhibitor chip (really? One little thingy that prevents these massive artificial intelligent sentients from taking over your God-given free will? Not buying it), we are set up for the great and classic Spidey villain, Doctor Octopus. In a classic Raimi scene, we see the arms come to life in a Darkman-esque environment. The whole scene screams Evil Dead, and horror is mixed into this quirky genre-fused film. The first fight that Spidey has with Doc Ock is kind of over the top, if you will, and the effects are too outrageously cheesy for me to be able to get into it. And if the writers thought that lines like, "Here's you change," substituted for the web-slinger's trademark wisecracks, they don't. After saving Aunt May from Ock's tyranny, we sense she learns in this moment that Spidey is Peter. One more thing: the Spidey groupies made me laugh. "Take me with you," "No, take me." "Take me, Spider-Man!" Haha, webhead's got groupies. Classic.

The rest of the story revolves around Ock trying to rebuild his experiment for the sake of his own sanity, and Peter trying to convince MJ to be with him. Which, she finally wants to and meets him confessing her love and putting herself out there, only for Parker to shun her down this time. Thinking he's playing more head games (well, you deserve it MJ, you played with his head at the beginning of the movie), she asks him straight up, no beating around the burgundy bush. After trying to regain his powers and take the mantle back up, Parker says he doesn't love her. Ahem, Ock...that's your cue. Ock? Has someone seen Doc Ock? He's probably in his trailer doing six-arm push-ups again preparing for his scene... Oh wait a minute. Okay yes, here comes the car hurdling towards the restaurant, which crashes through the window on a collision course with the two lovebirds. At which time Parker displays an impressive grab-and-360 technique with MJ through the air while the car barely misses them. At which time, if I were MJ, I would have known right then that he was Spidey. Telling Parker to have the wallcrawler meet him at the NYC clock tower at 3:00 sharp, he takes MJ hostage (and in another cheesy special effects shot, up the side of the building).

The final act is composed of Spidey taking back his dirty costume (remember, it was in the garbage) from JJJ's office of the Bugle, and confronting Ock. Which is two battles. One on the train that is majorly cut, and Spidey commits a terrorist act himself by almost bringing down buildings with his super-strong webs. The other is the climactic Pier sequence, but first Spidey is wore out from stopping the train and blacks out, therefore creating the opportunity for Ock to take him for his part of a deal with Harry Osborn: Spidey for the tritium.

Harry is another great arc of this film. His character has undergone some changes within the last two years since his father's death, such as developing a drinking problem, a welcomed switch from drugs from the comics, and obsessing over hating Spider-Man, whom he believes aided in his father's untimely demise. He finally gets his chance when Doc Ock delivers him wrapped in barbed wire on his couch in his father's study. Holding up to his part of the deal, Harry delivers the tritium and Ock is gone.

Harry is adamant for closure, but first, he must know who's behind the mask. Holding the dagger above Spidey's unconscious body, he thrusts off the mask as he comes to. Harry is shocked when it is revealed to be his best friend Peter, and staggers backward, dropping the blade. As Parker easily breaks the obviously fake barbed wire, it all hits Harry like a ton of bricks. "Peter...you killed my father," he exclaims. In a moment of unresolved matters, Parker shrugs this off by stating that there are bigger things happening here, to which he is right. Ock will kill MJ and half of the entire city if he doesn't stop him. Fans of this series might have felt a little bit of a non-payoff here as this sub-plot is pushed to the side.

The final showdown involves an epic battle with Ock while his machine fuses out of control. MJ is freed from being chained up and attempts to aid Spidey by use of a rafter beam behind Ock's back, which he can see due to his metal arms and their built-in "eye" cameras. The battle is literally over in less than a minute, and Parker must appeal to Otto emotionally, by taking off his mask and revealing his identity. The villain then becomes the hero in a twist of events, and suddenly Ock can control his arms, instead of them controlling him. ...Huh? As Ock goes off to save the city from his own madness, Spidey turns around maskless to face MJ. She is in awe that the city's hero and her once superhero stalker is really her best friend. Just as he learns this, Peter must come to her rescue from the falling Pier. Ock goes down with the machine, and Parker swings off with the girl. But not before some retarded conversation on his spun web about how even now, they still can never have a relationship because he's a superhero. MJ also points out that she thinks that she always knew....Double Huh?

As Harry is contemplating the night's events, he suddenly hears his father's laughter and sees his image in a schizophrenic scene reminiscent of the first movie. Norman's image tells him to avenge his death by killing Peter, and Harry angrily throws the dagger at the mirror...the same one where Norman was talking to his alter ego in the last installment...and discovers the Goblin Lair, complete with an assortment of pumpkin bombs, the Green Goblin mask, and the modified OsCorp Glider.

The last scene is John and MJ's wedding, to which Mary Jane is a no-show. She runs off to Parker's crappy apartment, and fully confesses her love like never before. This is a great example of how I stated earlier of her independence, she vows to make up her own mind in the matter of their affair, to which he accepts, and the two are finally boyfriend/girlfriend as they share an exotic kiss. As Spidey jumps out the window after some patrol units blaring their sirens, she calls him "Tiger," and flashes a quick look of unhappiness. Precursor, anyone?

ACTING

The core three return in the second installment. Tobey Maguire is better here as Parker, as his story arc becomes more relevant to his cause. He geniusly displays Parker's struggle, and captivates the audience with his poster-boy close-ups, and emotional arcs throughout the film. I felt that his entire swagger was better represented in this second story, and I started to warm up to him as the lead role (that is, until I saw 3).

Kirsten Dunst reprises Mary Jane, who is head-over-heels in love with Peter by the end of the first flick. Though she dyed her hair red this time and looks more grown up, she still is obviously completely readable. Which is not really a bad thing, as the character development is there, and the tie-ins to the comic are pretty close this time around, such as her apartment in the Greenwich Village borough of the Big Apple and her fling with John Jameson. I liked Dunst in this one, although obviously not one of her best acting gigs ever, her "do you love me" scenes are unemotional, her tears are forced and her screams are redundant, but all in all the rest is good. She plays a crazy girl in love here, as she is playing head games with her platonic soul mate and getting pissed at him when she really shouldn't because they're only friends. That's what they do, folks.

James Franco is a more true-to-the-books Harry, and even his story arc has more relevance here. Drinking heavily throughout the course of the movie, he portrays a troubled man from the boyish role he played in the predecessor. I liked Franco in all three films, just more in the first film overall. But I felt his story arc, which played out through all three movies, had more goings-on in this installment. Definitely way more character development in this one, and I enjoyed it to its core.

Alfred Molina plays the most brilliant Doc Ock I have ever seen. His Otto Octavius is human, emotional, and so much better than the comic book counterpart. The scene in the science lab where he is wearing the black opal goggles and says something along the lines of, "The power of the sun in the palm of my hand," gave me geek chills as a fanboy, that was straight from the pages of the books. Holy crap. They got Doctor Octopus right. How did that happen? Transitioning from film 1 to 2, they did their research. They must have realized, "hey, we messed up on the origins, let's tell the next story accurately."

Daniel Gillies plays a great John Jameson. His swagger is perfect. He is every girl's dream dude, makes a crapload of cash, works for the government, goes to space. Is there anything this guy doesn't do? He even romances the beautiful Mary Jane for a change, since Peter and her have entered the "weird" phase as they both have feelings for each other, yet nothing has surmised, and she's playing a guessing game with him, while he's battling inner demons. He is J. Jonah Jameson's son, the astronaut, and he proposes to MJ, and she says yes (in spite of Peter) in order to settle. Though he becomes the Man-Wolf in the books, it's still a nice homage to the material including him in this film.

J.K. Simmons, Elizabeth Banks, and Rosemary Harris come back as JJJ, Betty Brant, and Aunt May, respectively. And they all play the roles incredibly. Aunt May is a major supporter this time around, almost to the point where you think she knows Parker's secret, and Betty Brant has a more extensive role as well as JJJ is back to his old tricks and rants. A new addition to the cast is Donna Murphy, who briefly portrays Rose, Octavius' wife, who was invented specifically for the film.

Since I always target the best editions, especially for the comic book and action genres, I am excited that the Spidey series gets some justice with its extras. The first film had an abundance of them, while the second one isn't so bad either. Over ten hours worth, check 'em out.

Disc One
Commentary 1: Sam Raimi, Tobey Maguire, Avi Arad & Grant Curtis

Commentary 2: Technical

Gag Reel

"Spidey Sense 2" Trivia Track
Pop-up facts and trivia about the film and world of Spider-Man.

4 Web-i-Sodes
Original online featurettes from the film's theatrical release.

Music Video: Train - "Ordinary"

Previews
Hitch, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Christmas with the Kranks, Spanglish, Seinfeld, The Forgotten, White Chicks, and the Hellboy DVD all make the cut.

Disc Two
Making The Amazing
A 12-part documentary from pre-production to the Hollywood premiere.

Hero in Crisis
A deeper delve into Peter Parker in his personal battles in the continuing story of Spider-Man.

Eight Arms to Hold You: An Ock-umentary
A special look at Doc Ock from the comics to the silver screen.

Interwoven: The Women of Spider-Man
A look into the lives of Aunt May, Mary Jane, Betty Brant, Gwen Stacy, & Felicia Hardy also known as The Black Cat.

Enter The Web
A groundbreaking multi-angle look behind-the-scenes at the climactic Pier sequence, captured in real-time.

Art Gallery
Alex Ross' comic book paintings used in the opening title credit sequence of the film.

Spider-Man 2: Spinning the Game
A behind-the-scenes look at the making of Activision's "Spider-Man 2: The Game."

Weblinks
Wait, what? I thought I was playing this in a DVD Player, not a computer hooked into the Internet.

In all its brilliance, Spider-Man 2 looks, sounds, acts and feels like a comic book movie. There is reason behind its uncanny ability to captivate audiences around the world, and entertain movie-goers as one of the best superhero flicks of all time. It succeeds where its predecessor failed. And although some special effects looked sort of cheesy or unfinished, parallel to video games, and the action was subsided for the chick-flicky drama, it is still enjoyable on a scale of the series continuation. In my opinion, the best in the series, Spider-Man 2 nails it. Aunt May was right. There's a hero in all of us.