Spider-Man 2

The first Spider-Man movie was a careful, appropriate, and sincere retelling of the Spider-Man mythology. In essence, the mythology of Spider-Man carried the movie, not the movie itself. In contrast, Tim Burton's Batman was extremely...Burtonesque. It's a tribute to Raimi's directorial skill that he was able to put his ego aside and get the heck out of the way of a great story.

Spider-Man 2, on the other hand, has Raimi written all over it. Spider-Man 2 isn't just Raimi's magnum opus--it's bigger, better, more stylized, and ultimately, a different kind of movie altogether.

In Spider-Man 2, we pick up two years later and yet, things are still pretty much the same. Peter's (Tobey Maquire) living week-to-week on jobs he can't keep due to his nighttime superhero antics. His grades suffer. He never gets a date. Peter is a big loser...smart, but unlucky in just about everything.

Conversely, things are going swimmingly well for Mary-Jane (Kirsten Dunst). She's marrying J. Jonah Jameson's (J.K. Simmons) son (Danielle Gillies, who eventually becomes Man-Wolf after finding a weird space rock on the moon). She models for billboards. She gets great acting gigs.

In the background, Harry Osborn (James Franco), is now the CEO of Oscorp after his father died in a battle with Spider-Man. Harry is gambling on a dangerous perpetual fusion project, led by the inimitable Doctor Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina).

Comic book fans know the drill: Otto creates mechanical tentacles, attached at his waist, to act as his hands when performing experiments of extreme heat and radiation. That's why Dr. Octavius stands behind a reinforced wall and inserts his tentacles in a fashion similar to modern scientists manipulating dangerous chemicals today.

Oh wait. No that was the comic. In the movie, against all reason, Otto uses the tentacles without any protective gear whatsoever. Since Otto's conducting an open room demonstration with the people funding the project in a warehouse, mere feet away from a pulsating globe of energy, one must wonder if the tentacles have any use at all.

In the comic, Doctor Octopus had six tentacles. Here has only four, but they're plenty. It also becomes immediately evident why Alfred Molina had to play the part - wearing tentacles and not looking like an idiot requires a BIG man, and Molina is huge. Unlike the comic, where the tentacles bond with Doc Ock as a result of the explosion, giving him "telepathic control over them," these tentacles are artificially intelligent. Each tentacle snaps and hisses like a snake, with a glaring red eye in its palm. And oh yeah, the tentacles work based off of Doc Ock's neuro-transmissions, so the suit that controls the tentacles digs directly into his spinal column.

My wife turned to me at this point and said, "Why didn't they just sell the tentacles to make a profit?" She's right - in the rush to get on with the rest of the plot, the weirdly plausible tentacles didn't need much explaining. And since when are scientists both mechanical engineers AND brilliant physicists?

The word "tentacles" should have perked up the ears of Raimi fans. Raimi is fond of tentacles, as evidenced by the Evil Dead movies (which in turn, was taken from Chinese Ghost Story). Doc Ock's tentacles attack with a mind of their own, flailing surgeons in a surrealistic scene that could only be described as Raimi's brand of horror. There's even a surgeon who grabs a medical chainsaw and tries to cut one of the tentacles. It doesn't save him.

I won't dwell on the unnecessary Mrs. Octavius (Rosalie) or some of the other minor quibbles about the Doc Ock character. However, once Doc Ock's rushed origin is over, all is forgiven. His tentacles have a personality of their own and they undulate and twist in the background as Doc Ock gestures. He has the round glasses, the trench coat, and all the moves that make Doc Ock Doc Ock. Visually, anyway, Raimi got it right. Certainly, he still makes more sense than the painfully strained justifications created for the Green Goblin (a surfboard AND a green suit AND little bombs that happen to look like pumpkins? What an amazing coincidence!).

The rest of the movie is Peter navigating the wrecked shambles of his life (and peripherally, that of his Aunt May). Spider-Man 2 stays firmly focused on the dizzying highs and piteous lows of a kid trying to make it on his own, including family squabbles, failed romance, and strained friendships. We are led to believe that Peter begins to lose his powers because he no longer believes in himself. Can't climb? Sure. Can't shoot webbing? Okay. Is physically weaker? Gimme a break. Spider-Man's muscles didn't deflate, so there's no reason for Parker to limp after a fall...except to make an in-joke about Tobey Maquire's back problem.

The first movie had a lot of CGI effects that just weren't up to par. Yes, Spider-Man needs to move like a superhero, but often times he looked like some kind of weird robot with extra joints, flipping around in ways that didn't feel like it could be a man in a suit. In Spider-Man 2, Raimi is cognizant of the limitations of CGI. We never see Spider-Man up close when the special effects are required, just like every director's been doing for years with good old fashioned make-up and animatronics.

Despite the change in pace, the fight scenes are filled with amazing feats of agility. Spider-Man's not just acrobatic, he THINKS fast and the contortions he resorts to display that magnificent superhuman speed. He has to move fast too, because Doc Ock's got six limbs to Spider-Man's four.

Props to Raimi for making a movie that doesn't flinch in dealing with its subject. Heck, the ending puts a stake in the ground that puts to rest the "who will be the next villain?" game. Barring some plot flaws that can be chalked up to a comic book style, Spider-Man 2 is a real treat.