Spider-Man 2 (2004) (1 Viewer)

[Larry Sutliff]

THE HULK has grown on me; the only thing I still dislike is the ending.


I have tickets for a showing tommorow night at five o'clock. I'm going to have leave work a little early and rush a bit, but I can't wait. I haven't been this hyped over a movie in a long time.

 

[Robin Warren]

Ok I read a couple of the negative reviews. That has tempered my enthusiasm a bit but they aren't really all that negative. The one even admits to be gung ho for part three in 2007. Kind of hard to consider it a pan, but what can you do.

 

[Anthony Neilson]

Yeah, these ecstatic reviews worry me - the movie's almost bound to be disappointing. That Ebert and Roeper review is glowing but then you hear that Ebert thought Doc Ock was "as good a villain, if not better" than The Green Goblin, whereas Roeper disagreed and thought the Goblin was better. Personally, I didn't much like what they did with GG in the first one and it really spoiled the film for me.

BTW, SPIDERMAN 2 will be released in the IMAX format.

 

[Robert Crawford]

This thread is now designated the Official Discussion Thread for "Spider-Man 2" please, post all comments, links to outside reviews, film and box office discussion items to this thread.

All HTF member film reviews of "Spider-Man 2" should be posted to the Official Review Thread.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter.


Crawdaddy

 

[Lou Sytsma]

I feel your pain Chuck! I'm on vacation and won't get to see this till the weekend or next week!:frowning:

...and Spidey is my favourite superhero!!!!!!

 

[Scott Weinberg]

Rottem Tomatoes tally is currently at 72 Fresh and 3 Rotten, which is 96%. I just listed my review there, so it'll soon be 73 - 3.

You can check my review here if'n yuh like. I hope to be up later tonight so I can hear some reactions from the Midnight Movie Monsters.

Have a great time, whenever you see it! I hope to get a second visit this weekend. Just for the subway train scene.

 

[Nick Sievers]

I'm leaving work in 10mins to go see this. Hopefully i'll beat the crowds.

 

[Tony-B]

Gosh, I have to wait until Saturday to see it!!

 

[Tim Ke]

Here in Oz, saw it just a few hours ago. As a long time Spidey fan, I enjoyed the first movie but was annoyed by certain aspects (ie - crap Goblin costume). However, I can safely say Sam Raimi's nailed Spidey 2 REAL good.

 

[Travis_S]

Man, all these positive reviews are making me anxious. I'm seeing this at 4 PM, can't wait.

 

[Holadem]

:star::star::star:1/2 of 4. Excellent.

Some remarks:

- I shall like the third film to focus less on Parker and more on Spiderman.

- I want a vilain that is truly evil, not a misguided genius. It's pretty certain that the next installement will have more than one baddie. You-know-who will need to team up with someone to avoid a repeat.

- I want to feel that people's lives are in danger. Just saying that half of NYC might be destroyed doesn't make me feel it. This feeling is what separates a good movie from an epic. The closest I got was the train scene, not because of the coolness factor, but because people other than MJ and Aunt May were in danger. But I may be looking at the wrong superhero here, as I get the impression that the scale of the comics is more intimate (no end of the world, or everyone is gonna die type deal) than X-Men or Superman.

But overall, excellent movie, well worth the wait.

--
H

 

[Patrick Sun]

I saw it, and spoilers below, so stop reading now if you haven't seen it yet.

As I stated in my review, the CGI of the fight scenes between Spidey and Doc Ock felt like the same quality from the Burly Brawl in The Matrix Reloaded, so while the action was fast and furious, it wasn't 100% convincing. But it serviced the story well enough, so I can look past it.

So, exactly how many people know what Spider-Man looks like? A train-full, that's how many. That scene actually choked me up a little when the 2 little kids said they wouldn't tell and handed Peter his mask.

The amazing shot of MJ finally seeing the real Peter for first time in the 3rd act also got to me. I had moist eyes for the rest of the film after that. Peter's willing sacrifice of not letting anyone get close to him, even after MJ knows was touching, but MJ's decision on her wedding day makes for a much more complex life ahead for Peter.

So now Harry knows the truth, but what will he do with his father's hardware/toys?

Dr. Connor makes an one-armed appearance, laying the seeds for the Lizard, perhaps, in a future sequel.

Doc Ock was sort of given the short-shrift in development, but there's enough to flesh out the good Doc from the bad Doc that this was a minor issue considering how much was put into Peter's troubles with accepting Spider-Man fully into his life. Doc Ock's arms and their heads reminded me of the Squiddies from The Matrix films as well.

The 1st act has many fun little laughs at Peter's expense, and Sam Raimi tosses in a few homages to boot. Stan Lee performs a heroic act, pulling someone out of harm's way in a quick scene. Bruce Campbell gets to act snooty to Peter at the play. JJ Jameson was hilarious, he practically stole every scene he was in.

Tobey Maguire appear to be in "Seabisquit" shape in many scenes, I doubt he's able to put on weight/muscle as quickly as the shooting schedule dictated, but he was in fine form. In the 3rd act, when there's a big close-up of Doc Ock's face, and then Peter's face, they reverse the footage for Peter's face because Tobey's scar on his right cheek shows up on his left cheek in the quick shot. I wonder how that happens.

Kirsten Dunst looked sort of ragged in the early scenes, but came on strong for the last half of the film.

I found many similarities between this film and Superman II in how they handle each hero's desire for a normal life, giving up their powers (by Krytonite chamber, or by psychosomatic stress) and then dealing with the repurcussions of not being true to who they are, but in the end, they heed to call to duty, even if it means giving up their dreams for the greater good by pushing their personal needs in service of helping others in need or making things right.

 

[Adam.Heckman]

Saw it. Loved it. Will see it again before 72 hours is up. Seriously, it deserves ALL of the praise it's already gotten.

I'll be lurking around later. But it's 3:18 in boston and I'm crashing.

 

[Matt Stone]

Full thoughts in the review thread, but I'll say this...Wow! I was really pumped to see this, but it really exceeded my expectations. This may be the best comic book movie I've seen. This film deserves all the praise it's getting.

Can't wait for Spidey 3

 

[Chris]

loved it. more after i get some sleep.

 

[Nick Sievers]

I'll back most of the previous comments, it was a corker. Raimi and his team hit this one out of the park. Captured the Spider-man I grew up with and thats all that mattered to me.

I thought Molina would have had a bit more development with his character. But anyone who can converse with metal tentacles and pull it off is a top actor.

Maybe a little to much comic relief but most of it worked and Jameson was even funnier this time around. It was also great to have a chainsaw back in a Raimi film.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

For the most part, that's not how SPider-Man works. If they keep up the sequels, we'll probably eventually get to Carnage, who does fall in this category.

 

[Matt Stone]

Amen to that. I forgot about the chainsaw when I was writing my comments. The whole operating room massacre reminded me of the old Sam Raimi. I was glad that there was no music during that scene. It added a lot of tension.

 

[ThomasC]

That operating room massacre...holy shit. I avoid horror movies like the plague, because I know that they'll give me nightmares. That stands as, if not the most, one of the most horrifying scenes that I have ever seen put on film, probably partly due to the fact that it was totally unexpected.

In the scene where Parker tries to jump from one rooftop to another but falls on a couple cars, did anyone see a Christopher Reeve similarity when the camera zoomed in on his face? That shot was awesome.

Man, when Peter and MJ were looking at each other at the river (after her fianc?arrived), I might've started crying if it weren't for my two cousins sitting next to me.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I also loved the chainsaw in the operating room scene. Raimi must have loved putting that together as a nod to Army of Darkness (oops, had typed "Dead" earlier).

I didn't have a problem with Peter's power outage being mainly from a psychosomatic standpoint because in the past 2 years, he felt like Spider-Man was overtaking him completely, and he saw how he was losing out on the "normal" things that normal guy aspired to have/want, but his fear of those close to him being used by his enemies to get to him drove him into this psychological state that sabotaged his use of his powers, thus, he lost the will to be Spider-Man, and his powers sputtered on him. I liked how Raimi framed that "Spider-Man...no more" scene, highly reminiscent of the comic book panel that inspired it.

That "my back...my back..." scene paid off in huge laughs with the crowd I was with last night. And the "It's heavy" line also gave the audience the comic relief they needed while the world was going to hell in a handbasket at the end.