Tangled Webs (Spider-Man: Far From Home, 2019)

Spider-Man_Far_From_Home_PosterAfter the massive epic that was Avengers Endgame, a smaller story to actually close stuff off may seem like an odd choice. And yet?  Well, it may have been what was needed.

Bringing back director Jon Watts and the cast of Homecoming, we get a personal story in which Peter Parker really just wants to go on his school trip abroad and confess his love to MJ. But things are complicated.  It turns out that pretty much every major character from Homecoming was caught up in the snap.  And now they have to deal with the fact that all their classmates are now five years older.  The film explores some rather interesting aspects…like all the returned people who were displaced.  Peter and May found themselves homeless, which was one of those things you just do not thing about in the grand schemes.

It turns out that Nick Fury is trying to reach Spider-Man, but Peter refuses to take his calls. But once on vacation in Italy, the class comes under attack by a water monster, which is defeated by Mysterio. A mysterious man who Nick Fury informs Peter is from an alternate earth where he fought the threat of elemental men that are now plaguing Peter’s world.

Far From Home bumps up certain characters too much bigger roles, and it is to the benefit of the film. Holland and Zendaya have real chemistry and their storyline is both adorable and a lot of fun.

The Mysterio storyline is really well done.  There is a scene where his illusion powers is straight up the stuff of the comics. The visuals in the film are terrific and Gyllenhaal gives a solid performance.

Unlike Homecoming, Happy seems more invested in Peter and Spider-Man. This makes sense on a few levels, but I really did enjoy their interactions in the film.

I really enjoyed this latest outing, even more than Homecoming.  It is funny, has heartfelt moments, good performances and great visual effects.  Oh, and stay for the Mid and Post Credit scenes.  They are game changing moments.

You Can Never Have Too Much Spider-Man (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, 2018)

Spider-Man_Into_PosterA few years ago, after the big Sony hack, Sony and Marvel resumed the failed talks about  Spider-Man films. It resulted in the very fun Spider-Man: Homecoming, pretty much run by Marvel. But Sony still holds the rights to do with the Spider-Man characters what they want.  And so…that gives us this animated feature.

Miles Morales lives with his mom and dad, but is starting life at a new school. After a frustrating week, he goes to see his uncle Aaron, who takes him to a hidden place where he can do some street art. Miles gets bit by a Spider-Man. When he witnesses a tragedy and finds himself having to make a promise to Spider-Man moments before he is killed…with no idea how to do it. Until he stumbles across Peter Parker…Spider-Man???

They discover that whatever the Spider-Man of Mile’s Morales’ world was trying to thwart has actually brought several Spider People into Miles’ world. But the world may end and so they have to team up to send everyone home and stop the destruction of the Spider-Verse.

And you know what? This only sounds confusing.  Because the movie manages to make everything pretty darn simple. Our focus is on Miles, and even the Spider-Man we meet in the beginning is a celebrity. We don’t get to know him. We just get glimpses, enough to know he was a real hero.

The film also gives us intros to each character that are a whole lot of fun. Each Spider-Man has a unique look and artistic style. And it even impacts how they interact with the world they are in. Spider-Man Noir speaks in dark pulpy fashion and is always in black and white. And he is perplexed by color.

Jake Johnson’s Spider-Man is one whose life went a bit off track compared to the Spider-Man of Mile’s world.  Spider-Gwen is keeping the world at bay, avoiding really connecting to people. And Spider-Ham is just hilarious.

This movie has a lot of heart, there are genuinely touching moments. Moments between Miles and his father, Peter and the life he has left in his universe (wondering if it is even worth going back to). Miles and Gwen, Miles and Peter….

But the film is also ridiculously funny.  I mean, seriously funny. And part of that is in how the movie makes use of its medium. I cannot recall another animated film that took such grand opportunity to put it’s possibilities on full display.

In my book? This has been the best of all the Spider-Man movies. I want more with these characters. I want more movies with this version of Miles and his family and all the other Spider-People. This was a genuinely fun movie and I recommend checking it out. Sony raised the bar here…And I did not expect that.  But Marvel better pay attention.

 

The Never Ending Story (Avengers: Infinity War, 2018)

Avengers_Infinity_War_PosterIn 2008 Marvel began their ambitious plan of creating a cinematic version of their comic book universe. The lead up to the Avengers seemed like a giant mountain to climb…and it paid off for Marvel. And over and over, Marvel saw themselves succeed.  And here we are at ten years and 21 movies later were arrive at the culmination of that success.

The Avengers were left in a pretty broken state after Captain America Civil War.  Picking up shortly after the end credits sequence of Thor Ragnarok, the film kicks off with a sense of sacrifice. Thanos has finally stepped into the light and with his acolytes has decided he must collect the stones that have been the undercurrent of the  films for so long himself.

As the various corners of the Marvel Universe come together, Thanos and his minions get closer and closer to achieving his goal.  This can be a tricky balancing act, to bring together such a large number of characters.  And the film mostly is able to make this work by pairing groups off.  The Guardians of the Galaxy meet up with Thor and they split into two groups while Iron Man, Spidey and Doctor Strange go on a trip through space and so on.

Thanos is one of the stronger villains the Marvel Universe has presented.  Brolin gives him a dark sincerity.  He clearly believes in his goal, and sees it as good.  It becomes clear that when his acolytes proclaim he brings mercy, he actually believes this.

Seeing the interactions between characters who have, so far, been in their own worlds, such as the Guardians and Doctor Strange is a lot of fun.  The film contains plenty of entertaining and light hearted dialog.

The movie is full of exciting action and moves along at such a fast clip the two and a half hours just flew right on by. Infinity War is fun, with just enough seriousness to keep some of the shocking moments from feeling cheap.

I really enjoyed Avengers: Infinity War and am looking to see how this all plays out in the films to follow (well, Ant Man & the Wasp and Captain Marvel both take place before Avengers: Infinity War, but hey, there is an Avengers movie after that).

 

Swing High (Spider-Man: Homecoming, 2017)

Spider-Man-Homecoming-PosterSpider-Man has the distinction of having been rebooted three times in the last fifteen years.  Both the Raimi Films and the Marc Webb films have good points.  Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 is a high point for super-hero themed films.  But they also never quite fully got Spider-Man as a character.  Maguire’s Peter Parker could be to goofy, while Garfield’s Peter was to moody and mopey.

Sony hit some hard times, made all the worse by a major hack that exposed all sorts of internal issues.  One thing it revealed?  Sony had talked with Marvel about a deal that would allow Spider-Man to be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  The talks fell apart before the hack.  But this brought them back to life.

Sony decided to let Marvel bring a heavy creative hand in.  In exchange, Sony got to include MCU characters in their Spider-Films.  The MCU introduced Spider-Man into their world via Captain America: Civil War.  Spider-Man was a highlight of that film.  And rather than try to retrofit Peter Parker in, as if Spider-Man had been there all along… they stepped into his career early, so he is new on the scene.

Homecoming picks up roughly eight months after Civil War, with Peter enjoying using his Stark supplied super-suit and anxiously awaiting his next big Avengers mission.  Which seems to never come along.  Instead, Peter races around trying to get better by fighting street crime and helping lost old ladies.  His day to day life has, of course, been tougher since Tony Stark has come into his life, and he starts to withdraw to make more time.  He dreams of beautiful classmate Liz and hangs out with his closest friend Gan-uh-Ned.  Of course, he makes a major discovery, the adults don’t listen and Peter over-confidently decides to take on guys who may be out of his league.

One of the refreshing story points is that this is not about Peter learning about “with Great Power comes Great Responsibility”…at this point, he has learned that lesson.  We only get vague reference to Uncle Ben’s death.  In fact, the origin of Spider-Man is tossed out in a two second exchange.

Holland’s Peter Parker is sweet and awkward…his Spider-Man is quippy, but still learning.  He is not yet the confident Peter Parker, he practices lines, tries to get into a good pose before alerting bad guys to his presence.  But of the previous film versions, this is easily the strongest portrayal of Peter.  He may be in-experienced, but there are just so many things that make this version…well Spider-Man.

The rest of the cast of characters are updated in some interesting ways.  Ned Leeds is really Ganke from the Miles Morales Spider-Man comics, and he is a very fun character.  This is largely due to the comic timing and enthusiasm of actor Jacob Batalon.  I was most hesitant about Marisa Tomei as Aunt May…not because of her acting ability…but because she is only a few years older than me…and she feels more youthful and vibrant than traditional portrayals of Aunt May.  But I ended up really liking her in the role.

Michael Keaton’s Vulture is a terrific improvement on the character.  I never really cared for the comic version…he never seemed like he was all that much of a threat.  And the green suit did not help.  Keaton’s performance is solid and menacing…yet his motives are understandable.  He is a guy who wants to provide for his family, and saw secret government agencies undercutting his business.  He turns to crime to make up for that.  The Vulture look is a nice combination of modern with hints of his original look.  It works very well.

The action scenes are all nice and effective.  Sometimes these films can get confusing during busy action scenes.  Homecoming makes the action easy to follow.  And the film is infused with humor.  While theses were not absent from the previous versions, it is much more present here.  And yet, the humor is not at the expense of Peter’s character.  He feels the heavy weight of responsibility, regardless of his experience.

Admittedly, the film does not break new ground for Spider-Man…but I think it may be the best of the Spider-Man films so far.  Or, at worst, a close second to Raimi’s second Spider-Man film.  This is a fun film, and fun should be part of (a lot more) super-hero films.  Being overseen by Marvel, there are plenty of easter eggs…but what Marvel is usually really good about is that the easter eggs are a bonus for fans who love the comics…and if you have not read the comics, you won’t feel like you are missing something.

Honestly, I recommend seeing Spider-Man: Homecoming in the theater.  It benefits from being seen with an audience.

Lost to An Alternate Universe?

So, the day Sony and Disney drop the new Spider-Man: Homecoming trailer (which was met with a pretty positive response) producer Amy Pascal drops the bomb.

One of the things that I think is so amazing about this experience is that you don’t have studios deciding to work together to make a film very often.

In fact, it may never happen again–after we do the sequel.

It appears Sony is hoping to pull Peter back into their fold-out of the Marvel  Cinematic Universe.  We probably should have seen this coming, after Sony announced plans for their own Spider-Verse, starting with an ‘R’ rated Venom movie.  Sony and Pascal seem to be misreading this situation.

Sony had some success in 2002 and 2004 with the Spider-Man franchise when it was headed by Sam Raimi.  But after the mess of Spider-Man 3 and then a somewhat lackluster reboot…Sony was floundering.  They made the deal with Disney after the big hack two years ago humiliated the studio.

Marvel Studios, on the other hand, won praise for Peter Parker’s appearance in Captain America: Civil War.  The previous incarnations of Spider-Man tended to get aspects right, but Marvel’s team pretty much got it all right.

And I suspect that everything that looks so good about Spider-Man: Homecoming is from the Marvel Studio’s side.  Backing out and taking him out after the next sequel and Avengers: Infinity War would be a mistake.  Sony will, no doubt, mess up their progress.  To remove him from the MCU just to start their own Marvel Universe?  Not a wise decision.

If Sony insists on starting their own Spider-Verse.  I propose the following…

Leave Peter Parker in the Marvel Cinematic Universe proper.  Let Marvel continue to handle him.  Instead, create your Sony MCU around Miles Morales from Ultimate Spider-Man.  Sony can double their money and have their alternate Spider-Man themed MCU.  And fans get to see Spider-Man remain in the MCU.

The Second Most Amazing Spider-Man (the Amazing Spider-Man 2, 2014)

spider-man-amazing-2-poster-imax1The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was pretty much greenlit before the previous film was released.  Sony has been trying to make their Spider-Verse work…and to date they just cannot seem to find the footing.  Spider-Man 2 was not just a sequel, it was meant to set up other films, such as a Sinister Six film.Which means the film is packed with villains.

We meet the Rhino, though he is only in the film for a few minutes, setting him up for a Sinister Six film.  We also meet the Green Goblin and Electro.  The film wastes Chris Cooper, who plays Norman Osborne.  In the previous film we barely met Osborne.  We were told he had a debilitating disease, and was eager for Dr. Conner’s work to have results.  The disease apparently gnarls the body and turns flesh a greenish tint.  Harry is brought home to see his father.  His father tells him about the disease and how it is genetic.  This sets up Harry to become obsessed with a cure as well.  And he believes Spider-Man’s blood contains that cure.  He and Peter re-kindle their friendship and when he finds out Peter “knows” Spider-Man, he begs him for help.

Meanwhile, Peter is constantly dating and then breaking up with Gwen.  He is haunted by the “ghost” of Captain Stacy.  So, they are together, then he gets emo and pushes Gwen away.  It becomes frustrating.

Peter and Spider-Man deny Harry’s request causing a strain in the friendship.  Jamie Fox plays Max Dillon as a nebbish but smart electrician.  He fancies himself as Spider-Man’s friend after Spider-Man saves him and calls him his buddy.  After a freak accident with a tank of electric eels, Max is  given the power to generate and manipulate electricity.  When Spider-Man cannot quite recognize him he becomes enraged.  After Spider-Man takes him down, his anger only grows.

Of course, Harry becomes Green Goblin to gain revenge on Spider-Man and teams up with Electro to take Spidey down.  In some ways, the Amazing Spider-Man 2 is better than the previous film.  Spider-Man is a bit more Spider-Man.  But they still have him mopey about his dad.  In a flashback, we see where he and Peter’s mother went after dropping Peter off with Aunt May and Uncle Ben.  The problem with this is that Uncle Ben is the catalyst for Peter Becoming Spider-Man and yet he seems to not spend much time dwelling on Ben, he is more driven to find out more about his dad.

The film recreates one of the comic books most tragic moments for Peter.  And this results in Spider-Man disappearing for awhile.  But, of course he comes back.  The sequence where he returns to action is nicely done, involving a kid in a Spider-Man costume standing up to Rhino.

The biggest problem with this film is that it feels like a massive setup for other films.  We even see a sequence where different costumes of future villains are on display cases.  Tying all of Spider-Man’s rogues gallery makes for some lazy storytelling.  The film is still entertaining, but not in a way that it would ever be seen as a classic.  A third Amazing Spider-Man had been announced, but it was put on the back-burner.  Eventually, it was scrapped all together and Sony partnered with Marvel Studios to bring Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The Ah-Mahzing Spider-Man (Amazing Spider-Man, 2012)

spider-man-amazing-movie-posterAfter Spider-Man 3 had it’s tepid response, Sony tried to cover it’s butt.  They had Raimi developing a fourth Spider-Man film…and 500 Days of Summer Director Marc Webb (the humor there was not lost on anybody) was developing another Spider-Film.  Sony decided to go with Marc Webb’s version and dumped the entire Raimi version.  Webb promised this would not be a reboot, even though it would have an entirely new cast.  In the end, we definitely got a reboot.

And the film has a focus that Raimi’s series never thought of.  Peter is really upset about his parents disappearing.  There is a big conspiracy based subplot where Richard Parker was actually involved with  the experiments that result in Peter getting bit by the spider.  And instead of the spider being some random research lab, Peter is bitten at Oscorp.  On the other hand, it is nice to see this film not seeing how many villains that they can pack in.  Instead, we are offered one new villain.  And he was not featured in Raimi’s trilogy.  He was set up, as Rhys Ifans is playing Doctor Curt Conners, who was played by Dylan Baker in the previous set of films.  But we never met his alter-ego the lizard.  And they make Peter part of his creation, because Everything Must Be Tied Together.

Really, there is plenty to like here.  Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield have a wonderful chemistry.  They were dating at the time, but that is never a guarantee of onscreen chemistry.  Emma is great in the role of Gwen Stacy, while Denis Leary is her Police Chief father.  Leary brings his working class everyman persona to the role and it is quite effective here.  Sally Field and Martin Sheen make for a fine Aunt May and Uncle Ben.  Andrew Garfield is likeable, and his Spider-Man is a wise cracker…but..Peter is excessively morose.  He is constantly in a state of passive rage.  And while there is comic book precedence for this in the early years, it feels out of place here.

Uncle Ben’s death seems…lacking.  Peter storms out after an argument.  Peter does not prevent a robbery at a convenience store, but it does not seem as effective as the comics version or Raimi’s first Spider-Man.  Peter’s darkness, especially in relationship to his missing father (and it is really his father, Peter seems to not feel the same emptiness in regards to his mother).  Peter has never been that haunted by the loss of his parents, he saw Aunt May and Uncle Ben as his parental figures.

One the biggest holes is…there is no J. Jonah Jameson.  And it makes the film feel not quite like a Spider-Man story.

The Peter and Gwen story is compelling and the relationship between Peter And Captain Stacy make for great tension.  At the same time, Peter makes a promise to Captain Stacy that he almost immediately breaks…and Peter is flat out unkind to Gwen in a moment where she really needs his support.  He of all people should understand her loss, and he is pretty much a jerk.

The whole conspiracy aspect feels unnecessary and worse, drags the film down, even though it hinges on the conspiracy to make sense.

The effects are good, and they have improved a lot since 2002. The Spider-Man models and the Lizard look great, and are very slick.  In the overall design, I appreciated the look of the new Spider-Man costume.  It is colorful and stays faithful to the traditional costume of the comics.

There is plenty to like, some things that improve on the last incarnation and yet…where it fails, it fails pretty big.  It is entertaining, but still does not reach…great.

 

Stretching the Web (Spider-Man 3, 2007)

Spider-man_3_PosterThe Spider-Man franchise is one of the first super-hero films to feature it’s entire series with the singular vision of a specific director.  Raimi did a good job with the first one and a spectacular job with the second film.  It still stands as a high watermark for the superhero film genre.  Three is a bit more…complicated.  There is a Spider-Man comic for Marvel to publish.  The Complicated Spider-Man.

We open with Peter telling us just how awesome his life is.  He has a hot girlfriend who is successfully performing plays, school is going excellently, he has money.  It is here where we get our introduction to Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard), who is apparently doing pretty well in school herself.  Peter runs into Harry at MJ’s play.  Peter is contemplating proposal, especially after a night of star watching with MJ.  It is a fun use of powers in the scene as they lie next to each other in a giant web.  Unknown to Peter, a meteor crashes near by and a black goo crawls out…it appears to have some sentience, as it leaps onto Peter’s scooter.

We get introduced to Flint Marko, played by the talented Thomas Haden Church.  He has escaped prison and snuck into his home.  In a nice bit of back-story, he has a daughter whom he loves very much, and the crimes he committed were to try and help her.  Raimi was very good at finding human connections for the villains in all three films.  You could sympathize with their motivations.  On the other hand, There is Harry Osbourne…who is becoming a cartoonish revenged obsessed guy.  I get that they want us to see him as a tragic figure…becoming his father, whom he always wanted to please.  But it seems he is suddenly a technology genius he never was in the previous films.

Meanwhile, Peter declares his intentions to propose to Aunt May.  As usual, Rosemary Harris hits it out of the park, reminiscing about when Uncle Ben proposed to her.  Peter leaves feeling hopeful-only to be hit by a flying snow border.  Yes.  You heard me.  Just like the terrible Green Goblin costume, the the Hobgoblin costume is terrible, only worse.  This is rather stunning to me, because for all the efforts to visual fidelity by Raimi?  Both Goblins look as distant from the comics as you can get.   Great actor choices (both Defoe and Franco) and terrible outfits.  They have a elaborate fight, that actually looks pretty good, and shows Peter has become quite skilled in his role.  He manages to take down Harry-but almost kills him in the process.  When he wakes up in the hospital, he has no memory of anything…that Peter is Spider-Man, how his father died, or that he was angry with Peter.

Meanwhile, Marko is on the run from the cops.   He slips into a field used by a testing facility and falls into a pit.  Suddenly, he hears something starting up.  We then meet the worst scientists in the world.  They notice a change in the mass, but shrug it off as a bird who will fly away.  So, then they just continue the experiment.  Marko is horrified as he seems to dissolve into dust, when the cops reach the pit, there is nothing there.  This results in him coming back to life as living sand.

And so on and so on.  The film goes through great effort to introduce character after character.

Peter is struggling to keep his relationship with MJ afloat, while getting a swelled head from all the love the public is giving him.  Not to mention her concern that he never mentioned lab partner Gwen Stacy.

The film does the comic book trope of Retconning.  This is where a story introduces some knew historical fact that we never knew about.  Here it turns out that Flint Marko was the actual killer of Uncle Ben.  This fills Peter with anger and thanks to the alien symbiote that has attached itself to him.

In a great moment, Peter thinks he has killed Marko and visits his Aunt May to tell her Marko is dead.  But her reaction is confusing for Peter.  She is not happy.  And when he tells her that Spider-Man did it, she is confounded…because she knows Spider-Man is no killer.  She was not seeking revenge, it is a dangerous path.

Peter becomes more and more selfish, mocking his friends, using other people.  And in showing this, we are witness to one of the worst sequences of the entire franchise.  Peter walks down the street, chest puffed out.  Women are looking at him with desire.    He then sees pics of Spider-Man robbing a bank.  Peter goes to the Bugle.  He shows proof that Brock doctored the photo.  He get’s Brock fired.  Peter is unmerciful, telling Brock if he wants forgiveness?  “Go get religion.”  This is last part actually a good moment…but it is surrounded by Peter acting cocky to seventies funk music.  He buys a slick new suit, steps into the street with pelvic thrusts.

Now, it is meant to show us that the suit is changing Peter…making him more confident and aggressive.  An alpha predator.  But instead, most of it is totally goofy.  We even get an embarrassing dance sequence.  In the end, Peter realizes the suit is causing him to change and decides it is time to be free of it.  Once he does, the symbiote finds the already angry Eddie Brock…the end result is Venom.  This film has three villains, between Hobgoblin, Sandman and Venom.  While Peter takes Harry out mid way through the film, it is to late to avoid the bloat.

The first thing that stands out to me in this film?  It is pretty obvious that Venom was forced on Raimi.   Venom is shoehorned in at the end, almost as if it was an obligation and frankly in a pretty clunky fashion at that.  In the comics, Eddie was Peter’s opposite.  He was a massive musclebound guy.  The film opted more for a funhouse mirror image approach.  Topher Grace is small and skinny, not unlike Peter.  He is really Parker without the ethics.  It works pretty well, for all it’s briefness, Grace makes Brock come off as the guy continuously reaping what he sows-but seeing himself as a victim of life.  It is all about how other people ruined his life.  Topher plays Brock as pretty creepy by the end…at one point, he is holding onto MJ, and says to Peter, “My Spider Sense is tingling…if you know what I mean.” and is motioning towards his crotch.  Grace works with what he has.

As the Sandman?  Church is perfectly cast.  He looks like he walked off the page.  He really is the Sandman, and is pretty sympathetic, while being a credible threat.  And the Sandman effects are terrific.  It is clear Raimi really wanted to use the Sandman, and his love of the character is obvious.  They really show off the possibilities of such a power.  The effects in general are great.  Lots of fun Spider-Action.

The supporting cast is solid as usual.  The regulars, such as J.K Simmons, Bill Nunn, Elizabeth Banks and Dylan Baker are there.  We also have James Cromwell and Bryce Dallas Howard.   As usual?  Simmons hits it out of the park and gives some of the film’s funniest moments.

As for the Stacys, Cromwell gets almost no time, so there is no real sense of what Stacy is about.  We know he is Gwen’s father, but he has almost no relationship to Peter or Spider-Man.  Gwen is used in a criminal fashion.  While Gwen moons over Peter Parker, she lacks a solid identity.  The writers use her as a mere plot point to interfere in Peter and MJ’s relationship.  I am a little surprised Raimi went along with this, but it really is disappointing.  Bryce Dallas Howard looks terrific as Gwen, but she is barely a character.  And she just disappears from the film.

Also disappointing?  The black suit is just the Spider-Man costume painted black.  It would have been nice to have at least seen the big white spider on the chest.

But what really hurts this film?  It is just ridiculously over populated.  We have three villains, separate motives and stories.  You practically have two or three films worth of stuff.  Really, it would have been better to give the the symbiote the story of Spider-Man 3 and make Venom the villain in number four.  And it is unfortunate that they tried to cram in so much that no story point really gets to be dealt with in a satisfying way.  It is so much, every story gets cheated.

Raimi ends his trilogy with a “Meh” instead of a “Hooray”…and that is unfortunate.  After the heights of number 2, this film just feels so…messy and the result is it feels a bit mediocre.  Oh, it has it’s moments, but nothing ever comes together.

But Can You Relate?!

I’ve seen a trend over the past several years in some fans of Spider-Man.  They prize a certain aspect of the character among all others.  And that is “relate-able”.  In fact, they thrive and push for this to such an extreme that it suggests they do not understand the fundamental core of the character.

Spider-Man, and by extension Peter Parker, is not really about how relate-ability he is.  It isn’t his girl problems, struggles to make ends meet or whatever.  And what’s worse, some fans push for Peter to engage in behavior that… well, might be normal for the rest of us…but for Spidey?  Not accurate at all.  A few years ago, a neighbor showed me a letter in an issue of Spider-Man in which a young woman called for Peter to get tipsy and hook-up “like we all do”.  First of all, “we” don’t “all do that”.  But, hey, the point is, Spidey should be care free and not burdened with commitments and stuff.

This young woman is not alone.  Apparently, the folks at Marvel felt the same way.  A few years back, the did a story-line that undid the 20 year Spider-Marriage.  Aunt May was on her death bed and to save her life, Peter and MJ made a deal with Marvel’s version of the Devil (Mephisto).  He demanded they give up  their happy marriage to save the life of Aunt May.  The end result was nobody remembered the marriage of Peter and MJ.  Joe Quesada and others would lament how they missed the Spidey with money trouble, girl problems…his steady job and marriage were an impediment to that.  So Marvel got rid of those things.  Peter’s marriage was erased.  He was no longer a high school teacher.  Because he had to be “relate-able”.

It blows my mind that people who supposedly know Spider-Man so well forgot a little something.  The absolute core of the character of Spider-Man is this: With great power comes great responsibility.  But Marvel and some of it’s fans want Peter Parker to have as few responsibilities as possible.  Peter learns from his mistakes, even if sometimes the mantle of responsibility seem overwhelming.  Sometime Peter wants to run away.  But in the end, he makes the choices he has to, not always the ones he wants to.

Peter is not the type of hero that gets drunk or tipsy.  He knows he has to be ready at all times, that he may have to step up to the plate as Spider-Man at anytime.  Frankly, if your Spider-Man story features Peter Parker getting drunk and he doesn’t have a lesson to learn from it?  You are writing the wrong character.  That’s not Spider-Man.  Period.  He has to learn lessons, and avoid making repeat mistakes.  And for a super hero?  Getting tipsy or light headed is rarely a sensible option.

Peter may have struggled with job and relationships, but that is due to the interference of his alternate identity of Spider-Man.  Peter Parker is, above all else, about responsibility and lessons learned.  Not being a failure in relationships and jobs…those are situations where he ought to struggle to meet his high standards of responsibility.  Peter Parker is not about “relate-ability”… he is about great responsibility.

On a Swing And a Prayer (Spider-Man 2, 2004)

spider-man-2-posterSeriously…not the Amazing Spider-Man?  Not Spectacular Spider-Man?!  Despite the blandly titled Spider-Man 2…I sensed a trend for Marvel Movies.

The nice thing for the creative team was that they were not saddled with telling the origin story.  Instead, they were free to jump right in to start a new story.  And jump in they do-to Peter struggling to make ends meet with a job delivering pizzas by scooter.  Realizing he is running out of time for the delivery, he switches into his spider-duds and swings through the city.  He still fails to make the delivery on time…resulting in a chewing out from his boss.  We find out that while he still pines for MJ, she is engaged to J. Jonah Jameson’s son (an Astronaut).  Aunt May has fallen on hard times.  Peter and Harry’s friendship is strained, as Harry has become a vocal anti-Spider-Man type after seeing Spider-Man deliver his dead father to their penthouse.  His friendship with Mary Jane is stretched because he seems unreliable and unsupportive of her dreams.

On the other hand, Peter is thrilled when he is sent to take pictures at a press event for scientific hero of Parker’s- Dr. Otto Octavious (Alfred Molina).  He is showing his new potential energy source.  He also is showing off his “assistants”-a set of mechanical arms.  The experiment goes awry (as scientific experiments are want to do) and Spider-Man jumps into the fray.  Unfortunately, Otto is hospitalized and his wife killed in the turmoil.

The doctors find the arms fused to the Doctor’s body.  The arms wake up and attack the hospital staff and taking the Doctor with them.  Meanwhile, Peter is starting to have trouble with his powers, and is wanting to be done with Spider-Man.  Understandably, he is tired about how much that aspect of his life interferes with the rest of his life.  The arms apparently are driving Doc Ock a bit…crazy…he becomes obsessed with perfecting his experiment-not understanding that it is actually a destructive force.

The plot takes twists and turns, with Harry Osborne seeking Doctor Octopus’ help in catching Spider-Man, so he can take his revenge for his father’s death.Peter’s attempts at a regular life when his spider powers seem to be failing is handled nicely.

Sam Raimi really hit it out of the park here.  Spider-Man 2 has everything a good comic book movie requires.  It is exciting, funny, dramatic…when they announced the villain was Doctor Octopus, fans worried.  I am unsure why.  Spider-Man has a solid rogues gallery, second to Batman.  And Doctor Octopus is a classic villain.  And Spider-Man 2 beat all complaints into the ground.  The casting of Alfred Molina was perfect.  He manages to capture a wide range of character traits.  In the beginning he is a funny, genial.  Yet He becomes ominous and frightening.

Raimi reaches into his horror routes-especially in the hospital scene where Doc Ock’s arms violently come to life.  It is intense and pretty scary sequence that definitely sets a tone for the film for the danger Spider-Man will face.

Maguire turns in a pretty nice performance as Parker again.  And Kirsten Dunst does okay…but still lacks the real fire and spunk of the MJ in the comics.  MJ is to depressed and beaten down by life to feel like the character comics fans know.  Rosemary Harris’s performance as Aunt May is wonderful.  The costuming department deserves credit for making sure actors looked like they sprung from the pages.  Franco turns in a nice dark performance as Harry.

The writing for this film is much stronger than it’s predecessor.  There is a “New Yorkers Unite” moment that is so very well done.  After Spider-Man narrowly saves a train, the passengers save him.

Clearly, Raimi has a true love of the early Spider-Man books, and he shines with his choices in this installment.  He modernizes the characters without sacrificing why they work.  I was so pleased with this one that I could not wait for the third film.   If you are doing a second installment of a super-hero franchise?  You should watch this and X2.  If you just like super-heroes?  You should watch this and X2.

Of course, the most important aspect of the film is the presence of Community’s Joel McHale as “Bank Guy”.

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