By Tanya Batson-Savage, Freelance Writer
What makes Spider-Man (Toby Maguire) a hero is that he is willing to sacrifice the mundanity and wonderful aspects of the ordinary human life to use his gift for good.
SPIDER-MAN 2 PRESENTS more of a drama than the action packed adventure that the end of Spider-Man seemed to have promised. With the current vein of action epics driven by both gripping drama and intense action sequences, Spider-Man 2 settles for a more sedate pace, despite all the web work.
According to the cast and crew listing for Spider-Man 2 on the Internet Movie Database, the talent of over 500 persons went into creating the movie and allow it to swing into theatres. Rather than delivering a mind altering web of action sequences, this cast and crew attempts to focus on the more human side of the superhero.
UNVEILED
Spider-Man 2 shows the man behind the mask, as it unveils the things that make Spider-Man heroic. As with most superheroes, Spider-Man is not a superhero merely because of an unexplained and slightly discomfiting infatuation with skin-tight clothing. Additionally, it's not the cool stunts and the swinging around on his web (although it is quite great for avoiding traffic) that makes Spider-Man great.
What makes Spider-Man a hero is that he is willing to sacrifice the mundanity and wonderful aspects of the ordinary human life to use his gift for good.
As a result, this Spider-Man is very vulnerable incarnation of the comic book hero. With Toby Maguire taking on the role of Spider-Man that should have come as no surprise, as Maguire's strong suit so far is his ability to capture heroic vulnerability. Maguire plays this very well, as well as the quirky side which continues from part one.
Indeed, several members of the support cast help to add to the quirky belly of Spider-Man 2. J. K Simmons as the sleazy newspaper editor J. Jonah Jameson heads this list. Simmons is perfect in this role, creating the picture of barely controlled madness. Aasif Mandvi (Mr. Aziz) and Bruce Campbell (Snooty Usher) also deliver well, making for some very entertaining moments.
The superhero story has always asked us to accept an intrinsic difference between the vengeance sought by the superhero and that sought by his nemesis. Spider-Man 2 attempts to explore those issues further. To that end it sacrifices much of its swing, but the movie remains highly entertaining.
SPARKS
Spider-Man 2 spends much time developing the relationship between Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst). While this has some interesting romantic spark and much drama, there is just a bit too much attention on the longing doe-eyed expressions and never anything as sizzling as the upside down kiss from Spider-Man.
It also prepares Spider-Man/Peter Parker for the ultimate conflict with his childhood friend Harry Osborn (James Franco). As such, Franco is only gearing up for villainy. The villain in Spider-Man 2 is Dr. Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina), who discovers that the difference between genius and madness is a single microchip and his gets smashed. As far as villains go, he is adequate.
Fortunately, among all the romance, drama and laughs there are some very impressive stunts, so those who really want to see just that will not be too disappointed. In a sense Spider-Man 2 seems to be the launching pad for the third movie in the sequence. Spider-Man showed the boy deciding to take on the challenges of a hero. In Spider-Man 2 we see how he tries to balance manhood, life and heroism. So, in Spider-Man 3 he should have nothing else to do but knock the webbing out of the bad guys, and that should be an action adventure worth seeing.
But, for what it was worth, Spider-Man 2 was an entertaining middle.
