Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine The Official Spider-man2 Movie Thread (No Spoilers Yet)

I have my tickets for the 6:10 showing tomorrow night. I'm expecting a really good movie. I'll post more after I've seen it.

I might try and see it tomorrow too! I'll post as the details come in!

Amazingly, thus far, this movie has a perfect 100% fresh rating on www.rottentomatoes.com thus far, with 40 critics weighing in. This is HUGE for a movie of this type, and it's safe to say that I haven't been this excited about a movie since Return of the King. I'm going tomorrow night at 10:30, and I expect great things.

Yeah... I saw that Rotten Tomatoes site posted on a toy customizing site I frequent. That really is amazing that no critic has panned Spidey2 yet. You'd think there'd be at least one type out there that would. I am officially stoked.

I'm probably not going to be able to see it until convention time. Of course I only saw RotK last month. Don't get out to movies very much anymore.

I'm with you Scott, I just saw RotK last month too and I don't seem to get out to movies very often.

I thought the Lord of the Rings trilogy had some amazing moments in it; but man, it had some real sleepy parts too. I think I'm going to pass on them for my DVD collection.

Anyway, not even talk about the LotR movies can bring me down. Spidey 2: Stoked, stoked, stoked,... etc.

Speaking of Spider-Man, Sam Raimi actually. Let me go a little off-topic with something that he came out with during an interview for Spider-Man 2 (from www.cnn.com):

I'd heard about that project! Sounds majorly cool.

Of course, none of us is going to be able to see the results... although I lean toward believing in reincarnation, so...

As do I. But I would hope that we would get those 15 seconds once or twice a year on the evening news.

Wooooooooooo!

Now that was a great movie. No spoilers here yet, but it had all the good moments of the first movie (on it's own terms), and none of the bad moments. There were times where I was almost choked up, and alot of times where I found myself smiling.

Great movie.

Damn.

That was the most fantastic super-villain work EVER. Alfred Molina is a god.

Everyone else was wonderful as well, in particular AUNT MAY!!!

I won't spoil the movie for anyone yet, my only (mild) criticism is that it had almost as many endings as Return of the King.

Fantastic, brilliant movie.

Damn! Now I won't be able to download my copy from KaZaa.

I just saw Spidey II and I thought it was great! I'm looking forward to seeing it again in IMAX next month! I just hope the action isn't too blurry.

*NO SPOILER random thoughts*
-- I thought it was odd Doc Ock could take a punch in the face from Spidey -- there was nothing to really indicate that he has increased invulnerability.
-- Doc Connors appears here in a few scenes and he's no Billie Dee ... he's a very good actor who I think would normally be above such small roles which gives me hope that we'll be seeing the Lizard in the next film!
-- The Aunt May scenes were great and full of emotion if a tad staged -- her "hero speach" in particular.
-- The little bit of characterization we saw of JJJ in the first film (where he protected Parker from the Goblin) doesn't go any further here which is too bad. He's great as comedy, but the character has a lot more depth.
-- Once again, the script works so well on characterization that the CGI fight scenes, as fun as they are, are overshadowed.
-- Alex Ross!
-- There are one or two too many coincidences here, but Spider-Man has always had his personal life closely intertwined with his "professional" life.
-- Personally, I thought there were too many "kids who look up to Spider-Man" scenes. Still not as awkward as the bridge scene in the first film though.
-- They seemed to look for any excuse for Spider-Man to take off his mask. It was fine since they needed Maguire to convey emotion and the scenes where it happened were well done, but I wonder how often they'll feel a need to do it for the third film.
-- This seemed to me like the movie Ang Lee wanted to make with "The Hulk" -- repressed emotions, love story, characterization, self-determination, etc... but reinforced what I thought of "Hulk" when I saw it -- it needed come levity to keep the film from being bogged down in angst (Rick Jones, anyone??).

It was entertaining, and I'll take Roger Ebert's lead about its being quite possibly the best superhero-movie work of its type. Yet I left feeling disappointed. Mostly with the acting and characterization of the heroic leads -- I have only praise for Molina's neatly understated, and surprisingly thoughtful, Doc Ock.

(Though such anomalies as elevated trains figuring prominently in the action -- trains Manhattan hasn't had for 35 years -- didn't help. And it's pointless to rant at all about pseudoscience in such a movie, as it's part of the landscape.)

Tobey Maguire was far too callow for having been buffeted by high expectations, unearned sorrow, and failed romance. He'd managed to enter a Columbia-ish University (it's unnamed, but that's where it was filmed), yet he makes little of his opportunity, and he can only manage pizza delivery jobs, along with being insulted by J. Jonah for his photos. He spoke as if he was still astounded by all that had happened to him, and I didn't buy it for a minute, not after the first movie. He didn't even enjoy much of what his powers gave him ... well, until love succeeded (though hardly "triumphed") in the end.

Unfortunately, the same limitations showed up for Kirsten Dunst. She gets a Heather-Locklear-caliber modeling turn, is a hit in the most unlikely revival on Broadway (with the stupidest ushers, but I digress), and yet she's still turned every which way by what she can't manage to understand in others. Come on, girl, I kept saying to the screen in my mind: Haven't you developed any grist by now to deal with these mysterious men, let alone your play's director?

Maguire and Dunst fit the forms, and the forms of the plot turns ended up moving me -- the East River closing action is especially elegant and ironic. Yet those actors in those roles did not move me, or even make me suspend my disbelief about their emotional veracity.

The leads can act their roles, and with grace, but they don't make them their own. Not yet. In a way, they shouldn't be expected to do so, since they're bound by generations of expectations from Marvel readers. I expected a bit more depth, though, nonetheless.

The effects work is far more polished than in the first movie, in how it's integrated with the story, but much of it goes by so fast that you have no chance to savor it. I'll see this again at some point, probably when the crowds have thinned, to savor the technical craft. (And Rosemary Harris.)

Molina gave Otto more depth in his limited screen time than most of the others did in their more generous roles...Aunt May being the exception.

Simmons as JJJ doesn't really count, as he chewss up every scene he's in with gusto. Yeah, there may be more to JJJ than that, but it's a blast to watch.

I also liked the subtle nod that they gave to Robbie's character when talking to JJJ and Peter about Spider Man.

Maguire is hands down my favorite actor in a comic book hero role. He makes the nerdy aspects of Peter Parker compatible with his heroism -- no small feat. He doesn't own the role, Grey? I disagree. Peter in the comics was never so nerdy or gosh-darn likeable to me. Maguire adds the dimension of bringing Peter's struggles to life in a wholly believable fashion.

Kirsten Dunst ... I pointed out to a friend that she makes the ideal girl-next-door, but he pointed out that M.J. was never the girl-next-door type. He's right. Dunst is basically Gwen Stacy with red hair, and that's fine. But I would agree that she doesn't "own" this role. She does little else but give Spidey a reason to be miserable because he can't be with her. I was happy, of course, that M.J. turned the tables on him in the end, but that was nothing new and was in keeping, more or less, with what happened in the comic. (I did enjoy her closing line, "Go get 'em, Tiger.")

In fact my only disappointments with the film were that some of the CGI effects of Spidey swinging looked fake and the M.J.-in-danger plot gets old the second time around.

Maguire fills the role admirably, though he doesn't show enough range of emotion to have it make sense. (Somber resignation to dutiful focus, with a few moments of being giddy, but most transitions hidden by the mask.)

Yet he contemplated not doing this sequel, as you may remember reading. He nearly bowed out because of back pain -- the line where Spidey alludes to this is all too rooted in reality. Replacements were already lined up. That's enough in itself to suggest that he filled a role, rather than owned it -- the franchise would go on. The same could be said of the three recent Batmen, o'course.

I hadn't heard about him considering not doing the sequel. Even if he had left, I don't think it would affect whether or not he owns he role. Marvel would want their franchise to continue, regardless.

Your point about Batman is well-taken. I do think that Maguire makes a better Peter Parker than any of the various actors made a good Bruce Wayne, though, for a variety of reasons. Perhaps its because Wayne never really had a clearly defined personality in the comics, or certainly not as clearly defined with a range of emotions as Peter Parker. (Peter could be heroic, unlucky, self-pitying and selfish, whereas Bruce has mostly been just grim.) Keaton also had the misfortune of being overshadowed by Jack Nicholson, which, fortunately didn't happen to Maguire with either Dafoe or Molina. So, I think Maguire had more to work with than Keaton did. (And I won't even touch Kilmer and Clooney's turns, since they had the additional misfortune of abominable scripts.)

Speaking of actors, James Franco definitely shines as Harry Osborn. He owns that as much as Maguire does Peter, if not more so.

I forgot to mention this before, but the "Rain Drops Keep Falling On My Head" sequence was hilarious! Raimi took a chance with that one possibly being a little too out there, but I think it was great.

Saw this with Jen on Saturday. And I thought this was much better than the first. Loved the action scenes and Molina's Doc Ock was wonderful

Some of the preachie stuff dragged a bit, but overall not enough to detract from the film.

Jen is not a great comics buff, but she loved this so it must have something

I saw this twice already, and have been meaning to post about it.

Here it is: I think this is probably the best comic book movie ever made so far. Better than X-Men 2, better than Hellboy, Batman I, the Rocketeer, etc. And I liked those movies a *REAL* lot.

But this movie kicked ass! There's so much about it that's good that I know I'll miss stuff.

Excellent story, excellent acting, Dr. Octupus and Molina's performance being the best villian performance ever (besides Magneto), James Franco doing an amazing and heart-breaking Harry Osbourn, great effects and action, and so much more.

It was heart-breaking and heart-warming. Harry and Peter's scenes and Aunt May and Peter's scenes were exactly what this life-long Spidey wanted. Kirsten Dunst was great, and MJ's motivations throughout the whole thing were very well thought out.

And it was fun. Sam Raimi knows how to have fun. The Doc Ock scene in the hospital was campy a la "Army of Darkness" with chainsaw and all, and it was perfect. Stan Lee, Bruce Campell and Raimi's brother all making appearances. Jonah Jameson once again stealing every single scene he's in, leaving wanting more each time.

And great endings. Where does Harry go from here? Dr. Octopus and "I will not die a monster", the tribute to Spidey #33, the greatest Spider-Man story ever told, and MJ and Spidey getting some excellent progression that took thirty years in the comics.

I want Spider-Man 3. Now.

I also liked Pete's cute neighbor (from "Joan of Arcadia") who offers him cake. It was a nice, if random scene (and tell me if I'm wrong, but doesn't she offer him "chocolate" cake? They end up having yellow cake with chocolate frosting).

Man, I *so* hope the next movie has Doc Connors turning into the Lizard. It's such a tease that they put a good actor into that role if it doesn't get developed in the next film (and you know it'd look so friggin cool!).

I agree about Doc Connors. I think the actor who played him (an excellent actor BTW, just watch the movie "Happiness") did a great job giving the character some depth in a very limited amount of time.

The scene with the neighbor (and the crush she has on him) was a nice touch too. Just a subtle reminder to Peter that not everything is always going to go wrong.

One more thing- the scene on the train (the fight was great, but I mean after) was excellent. Superior to the ending of the first movie, and very touching. It was during this scene that I felt the most genuinely moved by the movie, and there were a lot of scenes that made me feel that way.