SPIDERMAN 2

Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Alfred Molina, Rosemary Harris

So the ultimate summer blockbuster has finally arrived in theatres, and you know I was going to have my $6 help make Spiderman 2 break box-office records!

This movie is about some guy who wears a red suit and has an identity crisis. Now that we have THAT out of the way, here's my thoughts on the movie. I definitely liked this installment of the Spiderman franchise a LOT more than I liked the first movie. I was not completely won over by the first one, and I ended up picking up the DVD from Hollywood Video when they had it in the previously viewed bin. Not to say I didn't like it, but I wasn't all crazy to buy the DVD for it....which is saying a LOT. But flash forward two years, and dayum, this was one helluva ride. I think what got me going on this one was the first trailer I saw for Spiderman 2. It was that one where MJ and Peter are in the cafe and he is telling her he doesn't love her. She demands a kiss..... and as they move in closer to each other, his spidey sense suddenly goes all crazy-like and he jumps to MJ to take her to the floor as a car is hurled through the window right at them. WOAH. That's pretty much what this movie does for you. It has scenes just like that where you completely in tune with what is going on and then whammmo, time for action, or time for weeping, or time for drama, or time for scares.

My friend Noel has a wife who is deaf and I was talking to him about the movie before I saw it, and he was thinking he'd probably have to wait for it on DVD but perhaps not, because these movies typically aren't wordy. At the time, I agreed with him, but now after seeing it for myself, this isn't just a brainless explosion movie. There is actually quite a bit of drama and exposition and conversation in this movie, which really makes this a great superhero movie. There have been numerous comparisons of this movie to Superman: The Movie from 1978 and ultimately saying that this has dethroned Superman. Well, I can't say that's a fair contest, especially with the nearly-30-years difference in special effects. But it is probably one of the best you'll have seen recently and definitely better than the first one. Another comment that I've heard when regarding the comparison to Superman is the score. Nothing, I repeat, NOTHING, can beat John Williams' score for Superman. Can you even hum the X-Men movie tune? I don't think I can even hum the Spiderman tune, and I just saw the damn thing. That's one thing that was probably the weak spot of the movie - lots of good chorus-type music to accentuate his soaring in New York, but nothing that just says, "Spiderman"! Well, except for the old Asian lady singing and playing the Spiderman theme on her violin.

Doc Ock was a fantastic villain and Alfred Molina does a great job. Those tentacles are freakin' scary. And the whole ending of the movie.....can you say Spiderman 3? Obviously that was going to happen what with the money being made, but they didn't leave too much doubt about what was going to happen next time. I was surprised to see the surprise cameo though - I hadn't heard about that! I was also pleasantly surprised about <spoilers about the END OF THE MOVIE - to read, just click and drag with your mouse> MJ ditching her astronaut 'Captain' (give me a break! A Captain Astronaut - bah!) and saying she wanted to deal with life with Peter....yet that longing and somewhat sad look by her closing out the movie eerily makes me think that this is not going to be easy for her to do.....anyone remember Lois Lane at the end of Superman 2? <end spoilers>.

Good movie, and a definite DVD purchase!

Additionally, this movie has one of the ultimate sick lines ever, and caused me, Sgt Jenny and Schofield to burst into an extended fit of the giggles while everyone else in the theatre just casually watched the movie:

"You can't get off if you never got on!" - Word, brotha. No truer words have ever been spoken! Thanks to Sgt Jenny for reminding me about this line!

Shoot me an email if you have any comments!