Spider-Man 2 (2004) (1 Viewer)

[paul_v]

I know the film is PG-13 but is it too intense for an 8 yr old boy and 6 yr old girl? The first movie wasn't too bad except for when the green goblin died which was kinda gruesome for kids to watch.

 

[Nick Sievers]

The violence is about on par with the first (maybe a little more), definitely not too intense for children who saw the first one, there were a couple of 6-7yr olds that were dressed up as Spidey at the screening I went to and they really seemed to love the movie. Doc Ock's tentacles probably cause the most violence (slamming people around a hospital room etc.).

 

[JonZ]

I loved it!

Yea there were quite a few humorous scenes. My favorites were the elevator scene,Bruce Cambell cameo and the "Ow!My back!" scene. Also liked how Peter couldnt get a break at the party with the drinks.

The subway scene was just stellar. I dont mind the mask coming off in that scene. No one on the subway knows him - hes just some kid. Great touch the way everyone stuck up for him and the kids said they wouldnt tell anyone.

Doc Ock - no words - just speechless. Amazing!

Seeing it again saturday morning.

:star: :star: :star: :star: out of 4 :star:s

About the next film focusing more on Spiderman, with the origin out of the way and the Peter/MJ stuff pretty much sorted out - I think Spidey 3 will feature 2 villians (Lizard and Hob or Green Goblin) and will be more action oriented.

6 months into the year, this is my highest rated film so far.

 

[Angel Pagan]

Yes and they were nicely spread out. I liked the "Man, he stole that guy's pizza" line. Broke everyone up.

I thought Peter's doctor looked familiar. It was director John Landis.

Didn't think the movie was too violent or intense for kids. My soon-to-be 7yo had no problem with it and he also saw SM1 in the theaters.

I also agree that Venom would make a great villian in a future SM movie but would there be any problems bringing him to screen? I mean, I understand he's a Marvel product but didn't Todd McFarlane create him and have some say? Or is this a wrong assumption on my part?

 

[Stephen_L]

Saw the film last night and was very impressed. The first film left me cold but this one packed a real knockout punch. Beyond the villain and special effects which were a notch above this time, I found the emotion of this sequel to be its best feature. Tobey Maguire really made me feel the frustration and disappointment of his life: his personal life is caving in, and even when he's being the hero, he gets reviled and villified. In this film we see that Spiderman is really appreciated. The subway scene with the riders standing up for Spiderman was great. Hey, I know they saw his face and some jerk could sell a drawing for some bucks but at least in the movies, I like to believe average people can be as heroic as superheroes. Special kudos to Rosemary Harris; the quiet way she underplayed her role, the dignity she gave it, made me choke up several times. Even Mary Jane, who became so disappointed by Peter's lapses can now understand him and back him up. (I loved the comic book "go get em tiger" reference) As she revealed in her dialogue, I always thought she guessed Peter was Spiderman, or wished he was; that's why she kept giving him second chances.

Really fun time at the movies. This film demonstrates the formula for a successful comic book movie: the more human the hero and villain, the better the story.

***1/2 out of ****

 

[todd s]

I saw it last night and enjoyed it. Although, the scenes where Peter looses his powers and becomes "mortal" & "nerdy" again reminded me of Superman in Superman 2. When he gives up his powers to be with Lois.

And yes it is because two different studios did Spidey/Daredevil that Kingpin will not even be mentioned in Spidey. Also, I believe the reporter in Daredevil Ulrich worked for the Bugle. But, since that was Spidey. It was changed to the Post.

 

[Haggai]

Maybe the most expensive listed budget ever, but I always assumed that Titanic cost a lot more than that. I remember the budget number for that one being at $200 million even before they delayed the release for a while, with all sorts of rumors of on-set disasters and expensive re-shoots swirling around.

 

[CraigL]

put my thoughts in the review thread

In short, a disappointment.

**edited**

 

[TonyD]

i thought the naming of doc ock scene was funny when the guy siad dr strange and j.j.j. said , oh sheesh what did he say? was it, "taken"?

 

[Galen_V]

I also saw it last night, and I agree with Holadem too; it would have been more enjoyable had they focused less on Parker and more on Spidey. While X-Men 2 showed that it is possible to combine both a personal quest for ones identity with good old fashioned comic book action, it had enough characters in it so that Bryan Singer could change things up a bit when the quest started bogging down the movie. After all, while the Peter Parker side of the character is extremely important, his problems do become a little bit too much; there are only so many moments of financial insecurity and relationship issues that a person can take, especially when you really came to see him as Spider-man. While I don't think this is the fault of Rami or the screenwriters, I think that they should look to adding multiple villains to keep things interesting.

That said, I did enjoy the ramped up humor in the movie, as it did help to liven up and offset an otherwise depressing situation. Even though there were a fair share of audience moments, they didn't detract from the movie at all. I thought that Doc Ock's arms were really really incredible, and they did a great job giving them personality instead of making them fashion accessories. And, I must admit, I did have some fun with all of the homages (whenever we would hear Doc Ock's arms thudding in the background, I couldn't resist turning to my friend and saying "Awww shit...It's the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man!")


Free your mind.

 

[Brian_H]

Ok everyone, settle in, because I have a feeling this will be a long one. Let me preface this by saying that I am as true a spidey-geek as they come. Upon initially viewing the first movie I loved it, but have since seen some problems and realize it wasn't all that it could have been. With the sequel, there is very little for me to complain about. SPOILERS AHEAD.

I kept up with the production of this movie since day one, and, to be honest, although it was being hailed all along as much better than the original, and the reviews backed that up, there were a number of things I was worried about, much of it because of my sometimes obsession with keeping the characters and story in line with the comics.

My biggest concern was Doc Ock. I knew he was gonna look great, but for months I'd been hearing that Ock was possibly going to be a much different character than his comic counterpart. To an extent this is true, but I have to give credit where it's due, I think they pulled it off very well.

For those of you who aren't as "comic geeky" as me, Ock in the comics was never portrayed as a sympathetic character. He never had a wife, and there were very few characters that he ever seemed to actually care about. Ock was always evil to the core, and I was concerned about the change and the rumors that not only would he not be in control of his actions, so to speak, with the tentacles being what was causing him to do these things, but that he would "go good" at the end as well.

Well, I was surprised at how they managed to make it so that, before the accident, you liked the guy but there was always something there that kept you from really loving him. He was short with Peter at first. He kept his experiment going even though he knew that things weren't going as they should.

Once he became Ock, he WAS the character from the comics, to a tee. He only did what he did because it benefitted him. He didn't capture Spidey because he liked Harry and wanted to help him out. He did it because he needed something and, even though he could've just demanded it, it seemed as though he knew he'd have to deal with Spider-Man eventually, so might as well get it over with.

As for his ultimate redemption, well I think it played out about as well as it possibly could for someone that really didn't like the idea to begin with. I loved how he fought it to the bitter end, with the tentacle grabbing Pete even after Ock had realized that Pete may be making some sense. The fact that he was able to gain full control over the tentacles at the end, and that, although highly unlikely, we could possibly see him again down the line (with Ock as he was in the comics, full on evil, with no memory of Spidey's identity because of what he went though at the end) has my fanboy hopes up, even though I know it will never happen. The fact that Ock sacrificed himself also rang true to me for some reason, which REALLY surprised me. In the comics Ock always looked out for "number one" only, but even there he's not foolish enough to do something that would destroy the entire city while also destroying himself (at least not in the better written stories). All in all, they made it work for me, which I didn't think they would. I would've gone a different way, but it could've been much worse.

As for the humor in the story, I think they played it perfectly. A couple moments toed the line of going into campy, but I thought it was perfect for a Spidey movie. A huge improvement, IMO, over the first film in that category.

Now onto Pete... I hated the idea of a power loss from day one. It's been done in the comics before but I thought it was way too early in the franchise for something like that. But the way they brought his loss of powers together with his desire to give up the webs, and the classic shot of the costume in the dumpster, well, let's just say I'm not complaining anymore.

I never loved Dunst in the MJ role, she definitely wouldn't have been my first choice at least. The fact that in every interview I've ever seen her in about this movie she comes off as though she has no clue what she's talking about didn't help. While I still don't love her, I thought she had some of the best scenes in the film, and that "Go get 'em, Tiger" line had me in heaven. I knew they were gonna throw a 'tiger' in there somewhere, so I was a little disappointed as I thought I saw a perfect opportunity for them to throw in the classic "Face it Tiger, you just hit the jackpot" line, but it was nice to get what we did.

Glad to see Jonah with an increased role, and, as everyone else has said, he stole every scene he was in.

The last real thing that I was worried about was Aunt May. In the comics, she always HATED Spider-Man. She was terrified of him, but she never gave any reason. Of course she was always a little clueless in the comics (at least in the early days, even warming up to the nice Doctor Octopus when he kidnapped her). Although it was only a couple of lines, I'm glad they threw in the fact that she hasn't always liked him, with the line about not talking about Spidey at Pete's birthday, and the "I was wrong about him" line to Pete after Spidey saved her. Making her a more intelligent character won't get any complaints from me, and I think Rosemary Harris pulled it off very well.

As to what's next, well they can go anywhere from here. I will admit that I'm terrified that John Jameson will become Man-Wolf, as I don't think he was ever a strong villain, although it would give us a lot more J.K. Simmons screentime. The groundwork is laid for a number of villains, including the Lizard, GG2, Venom, and possibly a couple more I haven't thought about. I know Raimi doesn't like the idea of Venom and I also believe there are a lot more villains they should use first, but they've established that Jameson is an astronaut, just send him to the moon and have him bring back the symbiote on accident if they want to go that route. One thing I always liked about Venom is that he was basically Spider-Man, or rather, Spider-Man without the upbringing by Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Eddie Brock was always down on his luck, just like Pete. When Pete got the symbiote he was able to reject it because of how strong a character he has, Brock wasn't. I think that could work well in a film, and the visuals could be spectacular.

Well, I've rambled on long enough, although I could go on even longer. I'm happy to say they pulled it off better than I expected, although I am a little disappointed that they had to make Ock so sympathetic as it will diminish how we feel about the ultimate sympathetic villain when he finally comes along... The Lizard. Finally, the opening credits were great, but was anyone else a little sad when they showed the awesome Alex Ross painting of Norman, with half his regular face, and half Goblin face, thinking of what might have been if the costume designers had realized that "hey, Dafoe already looks like a freaking Goblin, why don't we use that"?

Ok, I'm done. Great film. It's not the comics, but it's about as close as they could get with the changes they made for a different medium. I can't wait to see it again.

 

[Andy Sheets]

McFarlane has no control over Venom. You might be remembering a snit he had with writer David Michilinie (I know I spelled that wrong) over who created the character, but that had nothing to do with who actually owned him. There might be some question, however, of whether the film rights to Venom are still optioned by anyone. Marvel was trying to get him his own movie for a while.

 

[JonZ]

Unless special arrangements are made, Marvel ownes everything.

Claremont, Byrne, Kirby,etc made dozens of great characters and they all belong to Marvel. This was one of the reasons why so many of the top guys left the company in the 90s to form Image. They wanted to control and have of piece of what they created.

Independent publisher Dave Sim has been preaching about this since the 70s - creators should publish their own books so they will own what they create.

They wouldnt even let Chris Claremont write a goodbye letter to the fans when he left X-Men.

"although I am a little disappointed that they had to make Ock so sympathetic"

Remember the Byrne FF issue where Reed needed Ocks help with Sues pregnancy? Reed appealed to the Doctor in him and Doc Ock came off as very sympethetic. The arms went crazy and influenced the "villian to come out" when they were threatened that Otto was doing something nobel. Great issue.

 

[Brian_H]

No, I never read that issue. Do you have the number, I'd definitely love to check it out.

I'm really surprised that they made me forget about the problems I had with the changes to Ock. I know he's done some "good" things in the comics, but what you mention is really the first time I'd heard of him just doing something good with nothing in return.

I know that he cured Peter from a poison that the Vulture gave him, claiming that if Spider-Man was going to die, he would be the one to kill him and that he wouldn't know what to do with his life without Spidey around to scrap with. I also know that he helped Spidey hold up a collapsing building once so people could get out. Of course, once all the innocents were safe he dropped the building on Spidey .

 

[Adam.Heckman]

The end shot of the movie hasn't been brought up at all in these talks. I glazed over it the first time (recognized it but it got drowned out by the rest of the movie), but second time through I made a point to remember it.

Spoiler:

In the final shot of the movie, MJ is seen gripping the window frame after spiderman leaps out... and as the camera zooms in on her there's a downturn in the music and her face changes. Maybe fear, trepidation, regret... something. I thought that to end the movie in this fashion was perfect. Showing more than just a happy 'after school movie' ending. Also showing that there's more to MJ than just the blind devotion.

Anyone else and their thoughts?

 

[Richard Kim]

Saw the film last night. There was huge line circling all aroud the block at the theatre I went to. Anyone else experience this?

I really liked the opening credits with the Alex Ross artwork. Much better than the the first.

I had a hard time picturing Magure as Spidey in the first film, but his performance is much improved in 2. He seems more comfortable. Doc Ock's character is a bit shallow, but his tentacles are very impressive. Loved the subway fight scene.

The film packs an emotional punch, like when MJ finally finds out who Peter really is, and the interaction with the subway passangers.

There's alot of humor as well to lighten up the darker moments of the film. I know many people like J.K. Simmons
as J Jonah Jameson, but in the comics he's a foul tempered son of a bitch. I remember people suggesting that Lee Ermey should play Jameson. Simmons role is more of comic relief. Not that I'm complaining, just noting the difference from the comic. Also I believe the screwball nature of the Daily Bugle scenes may be an homage to The Hudsucker Proxy, which Sam Raimi co-wrote.

 

[DougWright]

Can anyone tell me what the scene with Peter's landlord's daughter adds to the story. Is it setting something up for the future?
I was just waiting for something to happen there.

It made me want cake and milk though...

oh, and I loved the film, I am only curious!

 

[JonZ]

"Do you have the number, I'd definitely love to check it out."

FF# 267. You can see a cover scan here....

Just go down to #267

http://www.missfantastic.com/images/...lseries/byrne/

 

[WadeB]

Doug, I was wondering about that this morning. My thinking is that it was part of Peter's attempt to get on with a "normal" non spiderman life. Wasn't MJ still pissed at him at this point? So he's thinking, I have to move on and do what a normal guy does, go to class, study, and eat cake with Swiss Miss.

If the above is not the reason, then maybe it was seting up somthing in the future and we will see her again. Otherwise, the scene seems rather tacked-on

 

[WadeB]

Adam:

I noticed this too. There's definately a change from her initial "Go get 'em tiger" comment, and a shadow sort of falls over her expression, as if the seriousnes of it hits her right then. Her life must be fastforwarding thru the future and she's seeing him jump out of the window in the middle of the night, when the kid is sick, when she is lonely, when they are supposed to have a hot date, and she's thinking, this is gonna be hard.