Spider-Man 2 - It's About Time!

After the cliffhanger of an ending that the first Spider-Man had, I was ready to bust a fit and throw a cap at someone’s face. It’s Mary Jane Watson, AKA Kirsten Dunst! I’m probably in the minority of guys who think that Kirsten Dunst is one of the prettiest actresses on the Earth (note that I said actresses), and I don’t really care, because underneath my girlfriend and next to Lindsay Lohan (she surfs? well she can surf my board any day), Kirsten Dunst is the best looking actress. Now, onto a point. The original Spider-Man became a record breaker back in May 2002. I was one of those people that waited in a line for an hour and a half before the ticket window would open and let us in to the movie on opening night, and was “ohhh” and “awww” -ed at the magnificence that led to this sequel.

If you haven’t seen the first Spider-Man, then you’re going to be a little lost. Some people might be able to pick up the gist just from the inadvertent flash backs from the first movie, but it is very wise to see Spider-Man before this because it starts almost right off where the first movie ended. I saw Spider-Man in theaters, and I have the regular DVD and the special edition DVD that came out sometime last month, so I would say that I was ready for this sequel.

At the end of the first Spider-Man, we see ole’ Petey, AKA Peter Parker, AKA Tobey Maguire, walk away from the girl that he has loved since he was little, after she told him that she loved him. Spider-Man 2 picks up some time after that (as opposed to happening before), and starts out with a quarrel between Peter and his boss at some pizza joint that promises 29 minute delivery or less, or else everything that was ordered is free. This sets up why Peter’s life isn’t the easiest at hand. How is one suppose to balance being two people at once, and be able to live a regular life? Well, Peter definitely finds out how tough it is when his Spider-Man duties start to get in the way of his life, including is college class work, which he would normally be passing with flying peacocks and a couple of French shepherds if he hadn’t had such a responsibility for the city.

The worst of it is his diminishing friendship with the always beautiful Mary-Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst, all you haters shut up, I’m wearing steel toe boots and I kick hard), which leads Peter to try and throw away his second identity. Along with Peter’s regular life just going to the pits, he also starts to lose some of his powers. It’s not very good when you’re in mid-swing over the city and your web power decides not to work anymore, so you pretty much only have the air to protect your fall. So Peter throws away his Spider Man personality, and tries to live a regular life.

Oh how Pete didn’t know that trying to live a regular life would impact the whole city, and there were several instances where police chases were going on, people were getting mugged (which you don’t need super powers to stop in the first place, I know this personally). But where’s Spider-Man?! Oh yeah, Peter had to bite his tongue and move along. Crime goes up 75%, and a new villain has been “fused.” Mr. Doc Octavius (Alfred Molina), who is trying to create a material capable of destroying half of New York.

Harry Osborne (James Franco), Peter’s best buddy since High School, was the one who funded Dr. Otto Octavius’s scientific work until the project went bad. Then, an existing love triangle is resurfaced, and a new octagon is created, as Mary Jane now has a fiancee, and Harry wants Spider Man (aka Peter Parker, which he doesn’t know) to pay for killing Harry’s father, Normal Osborne. Worse comes to worse, and Mary Jane once again becomes Daphne from the Scooby-Doo gang, and Spider Man has to return, leading to some key plot events that I had been waiting for since the first movie. As far as the rest of the movie, there isn’t much else that I can or want to say that won’t spoil the movie big time. I’m sure I’ve left gaping clues in my review, but gaping clues are better than just telling what happens in the movie.

While the first Spider-Man was more of a coming of age than Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 2 whooped Spider-Man’s backside with flaming torches in the action scenes. Spider-Man was all about the mushy crap and everything, and the heartbreak of old Uncle Ben (yes, I did cry when he passed away), while Spider-Man 2 was a feast for the eyes. You can really tell how much better the special effects have gotten, and I was sitting up, eyes wide open through every action scene. When it comes to Spider-Man, the action scenes are all about the aerial combat, and Spider-Man 2 does not disappoint. The CGI for Spider-Man while he is flying may still look pretty cheap in certain scenes, but my forgiveness was given for every minute of action there was. I mean, I was just blown away at the special effects, the camera shots, and how fast paced the action was.

I was listening to my local radio morning show about a week before Spider-Man 2 came out, and they were reading something about how the role for Spider-Man was almost re-casted. Not that I’m a huge fan of Tobey Maguire, but after his performance in the first movie, there’s no way that Spider-Man 2 would feel the same unless Maguire would be Spider-Man again. Thankfully, the part wasn’t re-casted, so Spider-Man 2 was all that and a bag of chips. Kirsten Dunst once again proves to me that not all actresses are getting pregnant and turning ugly, and Rosemary Harris reprises her role as aunt May, a big, but also not so big character in both Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2.

Could Spider-Man 2 have been any better? Maybe so. But it was one hell of a ride, and I suspect that I will be going back to the theater for more multiple times before it is finally released on DVD and I can wear out my DVD and player like I did with the first Spider-Man. Spider-Man was no fluke, as it went on to a $400mil. gross, and Spider-Man 2 looks like it’s already well on it’s way with a $180mil. 6 day opening. And with the cliffhanger at the end of Spider-Man 2, bring on Spider-Man 3!

“So you DO love me!”