After reading this thread, and all the reviews out there, I think I may have seen a different movie. Man, I REALLY wanna say I loved it, that it rocked my world, but I just can't. I guesse I went in expecting WAY too much, and it just wasn't there. I mean, the movie is great, but Raimi kept saying how he was even MORE faithful to the character's comic roots in this one, and he just wasn't!
Seriously, they need to stop hiring "known" actors to play lead super-heroes, it's getting ridiculous. Was it on Tobey's contract that he HAD to show his face the whole time? If we have 10 Spidey sequences, Parker's face is showing in 8 of them. The train sequence was awesome, untill he got his mask off and started chatting with people. And after he stops the train, that's just cheesy, how New Yorkers once again unite to save Spidey. Last time was in wake of 9/11, what is it this time? "We won't tell nobody." Geez, he might as well start a page, ParkerisSpidey.com.
Sorry had to vent.
Now, on a more constructive note, I'll actually elucidate. Please bear with the comic geek:
- Some stuff bothers me since the first one, but they're acceptable, being a movie adaptation and all. Mainly, the organic web-shooters that produce bungee-jump webbing that is so weak (compared to its comic counterpart) it can't even hold a cable car. The way Spidey catches Aunt May in this movie? Yeah, that's how Gwen Stacy got killed. And she was a teenager. But yeah, an old lady can handle it because, like I said before, it's bungee-jump webbing. And also his spider-sense, I think it only works once in the movie. I'm kinda blaming that on the whole power short-circuit storyline, but I've never seem Pete stumble around so much after he got his powers.
- I could also very well live with the fact that they took Doc Ock, who was one smug, pompous cientist and turned him into Uncle Ben 2. Seriously, Ock didn't die, but he can't really come back as a villain because he "redeemed" at the end.
And that whole neural chip bit was really stupid. He talks to the tentacles? Sigh...
On this same line, I hope they set Harry for Hobgoblin, although cannon orders GG 2. But I guess we all agree that, if Dafoe was stupid as a Power Ranger reject, Franco will be 10 times worse. So here's hoping they do a little costume tweaking.
And Dan, I also kept thinking we'll see 2 villains this time, even though Raimi has opted twice not to do it. We've had the Lizard, Man-Wolf, Hobgoblin (or GG 2) and Venom (if you count that Brock was mentioned, not seen, in the first one). Of course, there's also the possibility they could bring in a stray, like Electro, the Vulture or Sandman, who happens to be one of Raimi's favorites. But the fact that Connors mentioned he's a friend of Octavius means he can get a hold of some of his technology to help in his own experiments, so it's more certain the Lizard and a Goblin.
- And finally, my main problem with Spider-Man 2. Or the only one, really, because, although it doesn't seem like it, I enjoyed the movie. I just wanted to love it like verybody else did, but this last point spoiled it for me. Raimi nailed the whole Peter Parker/Spider-Man thing with perfection, especially because he's a fan. But he still needs to do more work on Spidey. Where are the one-every-nanosecond jokes he splurts off at bad guys? Why can't Spidey win one fight? He only beats thugs. Not once he wins over Gobby or Ock. Even Aunt May clobbered Ock, but both of them managed to do themselves away. I don't know, it's weird. Likewise, Tobey is an amazing Peter Parker. But he just can't do Spidey. The suit helps a lot, he seems so uncomfortable in that thing, the mask looks like a helmet. And he keeps showing his FACE! We know it's him, his name is in the credits AND he has all the Parker scenes. He falls into an alley, off comes the mask. Really, was it necessary to let half the city know who he was? Did he HAVE to show himself to Ock? I know eventually both Harry and MJ find out who he is, but both find out on their own. With Harry, I was expecting for him to get up and say something along the lines of: "Gee, Octavius came after me asking for Spidey, I said I didn't know where he was, so he knocked me out and dressed me uplike this." But no, he had to do show himself. So MJ also knows, she decides to stay with him, but they already show in her face signs of doubt. So in the next movie we're gonna get the old "every time you go out, I worry you won't come back. I can't deal with it". Cause they're not gonna get married in the third one, right?
Ok, I'm done. Sorry. But I had to get it out.
Really, that train car scene was worse than the "you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!" scene. They even had a white, a blcak and a chinese hold him so he didn't fall, to show that close shot of "different people helping out", different hands and color of hands, and than the passing of the body... Sigh.
Sorry. Really, I'm done.
