SpiderMan, SpiderMan - the movie, part 2:)

[mrdreamjeans]

Dad finally felt well enough to leave the house this afternoon and so we went to the local theatre to see SpiderMan II. Afterward, I took my folks to dinner at K-Bobs Steakhouse and we're back home now debating whether to brave the 90+ degree-heat and 96% humidity to view the fireworks at dusk at Washington-on-the-Brazos.

I vote for watching fireworks on television in the comfort of my home, as I get irritated by crowds, kids running around setting off firecrackers and celebrations that center around drinking. Sweating with strangers is not always good:)

I enjoyed SpiderMan II; it wasn't as wonderful as I expected, but I realize I'm going to be in the minority. I thought the execution of certain elements of the film was the best I had ever seen, but I found small lapses in the script where you had to have seen the first film to understand what was going on or to understand the motivation of this film's characters. I kept having to explain who people were to my parents who hadn't seen the first movie.

I loved Doc Ock and found Alfred Molina's character to be the best multi-dimensional villain of all time. Molina, who I haven't liked in anything else, was brilliant. As always, I liked the work of Rosemary Harris as Peter's aunt. She grounds the emotional content of the film.

Donna Murphy (on Broadway currently in "Wonderful Town") scored big, in a brief but important role as Dr. Octavius' wife.

Kirtin Dunst is best when MJ is wet, bedraggled and worried. Dunst has quite possibly the worst hair in show business:)

Tobey Maguire is best when he can manage to animate his features. Passive Peter Parker irritates the hell out of me, so I was more fully invested when Parker finally got cojones.

Please make Peter's supposed best friend a super-villain soon, so he can be disposed of; every time the actor portraying him had screen time, I tuned into the babies and pre-teens rustling around in the auditorium. One word for this actor onscreen - YAWN!

Finally - if you've seen it, you know this SpiderMan has astounding special effects and the battle between Spidey and Doc Ock on the subway train is worth the price of admission.

I wouldn't go see this film again and I won't buy the DVD, but I'm glad I saw it!

Comments

[canadianspud.livejournal.com]

I saw Alfred Molina in a production of "Art" a few years ago in NYC. The two other actors, Alan Alda and Victor Garber, were very good but Molina was fantastic. I remember the first time I saw Molina in Raiders of the Lost Ark....yup, he's the fellow running out of the tomb ahead of Harrison Ford. Handsome man!

Spider-Man 2... Should have been called "The Amazing Spider-Man" :o)

[mncuddlecub.livejournal.com]

I've already seen the movie twice! :o) I am in the situation where everyone who knows me, knows how much I love the character of Spider-Man, so they all want to see the movie with me. I try to collect as many of these people I can in one sitting together, but alas, I'm sure I'll be seeing the movie more than the two times I've already seen it. Not that I'm complaining, I really enjoyed it for the most part.

I had issues with the movie from a "comic purest" position, but was able to let those problems go, mostly in response to the fact that this movie remains pretty faithful to the original comics.

My main problem with the movie was, there were times during it, where it didn't take itself seriously enough. I know it's a comic book movie, so you can't take yourself too seriously, but scenes like the ones where doc's arms came to life in the hospital were just a little too "Evil Dead" for me (if you get that reference), and Aunt May getting pulled into the middle of a fight on the side of a building and not getting a heart attack or even a broken bone, just didn't seem believable ENOUGH for me.

I liked Doc Ock in the movie, though he wasn't really accurate to his comic counter part.

I don't like Mary Jane in the movie because she is just too far away from her comic counter part.

The special effects crew nailed the way Spidey moves, and gave this comic geek more than one moment of giggles of glee while watching the movie. But the writing both in this and the first movie are missing one huge aspect of Spidey, and that's that he's supposed to be really funny, and a complete trash talker during fights. But, like I said, they got the other stuff right so I was happy with him for the most part.

I'm sure there's other stuff, but I'll end with, for the most part, I did like it. And the laughs I got from the elevator scene were so worth the price of admission! :o)