Since he
discovered he had the power to protect the defenseless, Peter Parker’s life has
become one big scheduling conflict. Between his 9-5 job as a pizza delivery guy,
college classes and keeping the streets of New York safer, Peter (Tobey Maguire)
has no time for a personal life… including seeing his childhood crush, the pretty
red-head, MJ (Kirsten Dunst). Struggling to keep up on his rent in a crummy
apartment, Peter must also dodge his landlord – a problem compounded by losing his job. The recent success of MJ as a
Broadway actress makes Peter proud but his best-laid plans to finally see her
perform after re-connecting are foiled when he is again pulled into helping
police and then not allowed admittance. Dejected over disappointing the girl of
his dreams yet again, Peter watches from the sidelines as she puts her faith
elsewhere.
Living in
anonymity is something Peter relies on as Spider-Man which means he cannot
reveal to anyone who he is – especially since his best friend Harry (James
Franco) continues his thirst for revenge, blaming Spider-Man for the death of
his father. Meeting the great scientist Doctor Octavius (Alfred Molina) and
standing in on his latest invention is something Harry arranges for Peter but
when the experiment goes horribly array, the man is left injured and his
beloved wife dead. Before doctor’s can detangle him from the robotic arms, Dr.
Octavius finds himself unable to control his experiment and his scientific
project is no longer controlled by him leading to nothing but evil doings as
Peter realizes that choosing between lives is not as easy as it sounds.
Working my way
through the Marvel adaptations has been lots more fun than it should be. Such
is the case with round two of Spider-Man’s adventures. I found this sequel just
a smidgeon more fun despite the fact that the villain was equally… well, ridiculous!
This franchise takes an interesting approach to their villains. Unlike most
counterparts that bring their scripts to the table, here are villains who are
fighting against themselves – both of the bad guys aren’t “bad” people prior to
an experiment that goes horribly array giving them powers that see them
battling against their own worst enemy: Their self. Giving Peter a new enemy
each movie is also something I appreciate as I detest seeing the same villain repeatedly come up against the good guy – max, you can get away with it twice before it
becomes old and feels like the hero never wins.
Part of this
series appeal is Peter’s crush on MJ – it is so pure and just plain adorable! I
love their banter though at times, she royally gets on my nerves! Nevertheless,
I loved their final scene together (about time she had some gumption!) and the
preceding one as she runs through the streets, which I suspect, had something
to do with her gown and the filming. Same as before, the cast is impressive and
in addition to its top-billed stars we see Elizabeth Banks, J.K. Simmons (The Closer) and in a surprise
appearance, Emily Deschanel (Bones),
watch closely though or you’ll miss her. Filming saw an improvement in this
movie and the overall direction it went in was greatly improved (plus the opening title sequence is not just creative but also a snapshot reminder of what happened in film one). The messages
by the end were poignant and by that, the story-telling was approached with
more heart. In particular, the scene closer to the end in which the people
Spidey just saved was well directed and hits a nerve in sticking up for a cause
– a champion, to believe in without reservations. Still not my favorite hero
from Marvel, Spider-Man is nothing if not a good time.
(Use discretion:
There are some tense moments in the battles Peter takes up – he gets beat up several
times and Doc. Ock terrorizes citizens. One “intense” scene finds a train
almost going over a dead end portion of tracks into the water. MJ is kidnapped.
Profanity is rare if anywhere in the script. The film is rated PG13.)
This one has a special place in my heart because I was in NYC the weekend it came out. The night before we saw Alfred Molina in Fiddler on the Roof, then got up the next morning and he was on the morning show just down the street! It was... cool. He's a great actor-- very under-appreciated. Glad you are enjoying the films.
ReplyDeleteThis just got me all excited again for the new spider man that is out! Loving your blog!
ReplyDeleteOh and my GFC is being weird, but it let me follow you through my twitter account, did you know you could do that?! I didnt! Cool :)
Charity - that is such a cool story! I love that. Someday, I'd love to see New York though I am confident it isn't a place I'd like to live. :-)
ReplyDeleteThese were fun. I don't think they are my favorite from Marvel but they were excellent. Now all I need is to see the new version. ;-)
Alycia - I know! I cannot wait to see the re-boot; it looks so good plus I like Emma as an actress.
Thank you! I really appreciate you stopping by - do so again sometime - and the follow! GFC can be annoying sometimes but I have seen that you could follow via Twitter and as a matter of fact just did that the other day after it was causing me some problems. *sigh* Gotta' love technology, right!?
One of my friends asked me at the time if it was weird if she professed to be an Alfred Molina fangirl that weekend. I told her to get line! :p
ReplyDeletePS: NYC IS an awesome place to visit. Guilanni did a great job cleaning up Broadway to make it fun for visitors. I loved NYC so much I wanted to move there but yeah, it would get tiresome after awhile! Soooo many people!
ReplyDeleteIronically, I just saw Alfred in another movie - The Forger. He wasn't as brilliant because it was a so-so flick but it was funny to see him again so soon after this one.
ReplyDeleteI'd imagine NYC is unlike anything I've ever seen. It is one of the places I'd love to see though my mother thinks I'm crazy. My dad jokes about taking me there just to see a Broadway show. I just smile and say, "sure, dad." :-)
NYC is... mind-blowing. You emerge from the long tunnel and suddenly -- cabs everywhere (and limos), billboards sixty feet high, a line of theaters on Broadway, the best pizza in the world... on our first walk out, we had to stop at a traffic light. I happened to look up and there was an eighty foot Josh Groban billboard. We stood there for two light changes squealing and acting like total dorks.
ReplyDeleteThe best thing for me, though, was Phantom of the Opera in its permanent theater. The building is absolutely gorgeous inside. We had excellent seats, midway up the first tier. Afterward, we went around back and met the Phantom as he left -- but another show had just opened across the alley, so when we emerged, it was to a wall of fans and cameras. They stared at us, we stared at them, and we finally just hurried off. (I'm sure they were thinking, "Who was that and how did they get back there?!" -- on our way to around back, we had to pass two larger-than-life bodyguards; I don't know who the star was opening across the alley but... I guess they let us through because we were forty minutes earlier than their showing let out and we didn't look like crazy people.)
The hilarious thing, though, is that you can see a cop halfway down the block, walk five paces up the crowded street, and hit a stand of movie bootlegs. It's... insane.
Guess in New York, you can act like "dorks" and no one notices. ;-) LOL!
ReplyDeleteYou've got some awesome stories here, and in that, memories that you'll remember as wonderful. :-) Great stories!
Hmm... that best pizza remark? Yeah, I may have to argue with you there - have I mentioned that my uncle makes, like, the best pizza EVER!? ;-)