I've Always Been Standing At Your Door: "Spider-Man 2"

I find that superhero franchises occasionally follow a certain patter, which is their first film is usually a solid first go-around with the character(s) but one that, on retrospect, feels like a set up for bigger and better things. This is what it's like watching Bryan Singer's first X-Men. I even find Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins, which I think is one the best depictions of an origin story on film and is a good standalone movie, only scratches the surface of Nolan would do in The Dark Knight. Sam Raimi's first Spider-Man film is another example of a director and franchise finding their legs (in this case eight of them), doing a straight forward origin story and setting up the blocks for future stories. Spider-Man 2 is the payoff to the set up and a wonderfully relatable and energetic superhero epic. It's the best of Sam Raimi's trilogy and the one of the strongest superhero films of the last decade.

I like when we can just jump in to the action in a superhero film. I don't nescessarily mean action sequences, just that we're jumping in to the character's life as a superhero, which we do in Spider-Man 2. I like this because it feels like when we read a comic book and are shoved right in to a story with already established characters. Spider-Man 2 gives a sense of what's it like being a superhero after a while, once the awe of discovery is over, and you've settled into a rut where you're just trying to balance being a superhero while still trying to live a normal life, and despearately just wanting a normal existence, particularly so you can be with the person you love. Spider-Man 2 opens with a billboard of Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) staring down at Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire), and Peter tells us "She looks at me everyday." This opening image and narration personifies Peter's guilt over breaking Mary Jane's heart at the end of the first film, unable to tell her the truth about why he couldn't be with her- as well as his crushing desire to be with her. It also puts her high above Peter, where he's always metaphorically put her, like Cleopatra, Joan of Arc or Aphrodite. Yes- I just made that joke.

Peter loses his job as a Pizza Delivery man after he has to save some kids before finally getting the pizzas to their destinations. The patron (Emily Deschanel from Bones) won't pay because Peter works for one of those 30 minutes or less places. It's a nicely relatable situation that the film specializes in. If you were a superhero you would probably lose your job because you'd always have to save a kitten or something. Okay...probably something more extreme than that but you get the idea. The film, despite its giant spectacle, is all about these kind of down to earth conflicts. Peter can't get to class and his grades are slipping, he can't get to Mary Jane's play on time, she's going to marry someone else, his best friend Harry (James Franco) hates Spider-Man because he believes he killed his father Norman, who of course was also the Green Goblin. On top of all this, Peter starts to lose his powers. In one very funny scene, he has to, in his Spider-Man suit, has to ride an elevator with another passenger. Adding insult to injury, the passenger doesn't even realize it's actually Spider-Man next to him. This deflates any kind of confidence Peter has while in the suit and makes the suit an embarassment to him in this situation. It's a funny scene but also one that emphasizes how, despite Peter's remarkable powers, he's still a guy who can't catch a break.

One of the most quietly powerful scenes in the film is when Peter tells Aunt May that he was responsible for Uncle Ben's murder. It captures beautifully the pain of having to tell someone horrible secret and how Peter's guilt also extends to robbing his aunt of her husband.  It's around this time that Peter has quit being Spider-Man- essentially going back on motto of "With great power comes great responsibility." While it may seem like the film is having Peter learn this lesson again, it's a little more complicated this time around. Peter begins to feel he was never meant to be a hero- that's he just not up to it, which has a lot to do with his losing his powers. It's only when Aunt May tells him that everyone needs a hero, that he realizes it is his destiny to be Spider-Man-maybe even regardless of Uncle Ben's death.

Of course, you always have to have an atagonist in a superhero film. In this film, it's Dr. Otto Octavious (Alfred Molina), a brilliant scientist, who, after a science demonstration gone wrong, has his mechanical tentacles fused in to his body, making him Dr. Octopus. I love how J. Jonah Jameson remarks about the odds of a guy named Otto Octavious having extra arms like an octopus. Now, fans have criticized the film for making Doc Ock sympathetic rather than just an evil scientist like he is in the comics. I like how Doc Ock does get more of an arc in this film-from good to evil to redemption. I also really enjoy Molina's performance as well. He goes from the warm, mentor figure to Peter to a man out to achieve his goals at any cost.

The fight scenes between Spider-Man and Doc Ock are terrifically staged and I think an improvement on the action in the first film. The train sequence is a highlight, especially when Peter has to stop a train after Doc Ock has destroyed the control panel. Using just his webbing, Peter is able to slow the train down. It's a great moment because it shows how powerful Peter can be.  At the same time, we see how this takes a great deal out of him. The people on the train pass him down over their heads before setting him down. When he wakes up, he's maskless. Many fans don't like how often he's unmasked in the films but I think this is a beautiful moment. Peter is afraid that everyone can see his face but ultimately what the people see isn't "Peter Parker" but a hero. When a child gives him back his mask he calls him "Spider-Man." That's who he is in that moment.

Mary Jane's motivation in this film seems to be to make Peter her boyfriend. Looking back on the film, I wish she'd had more scenes to herself to breath as a seperate character. She also becomes the damsel in distress...again. I do however really like how she takes initiative at the end of the film and tells Peter she can live with the risks of him being Spider-Man. This is after she learns the truth during the final fight between Spider-Man an Doc Ock. It's a strong character moment. She brings balance to Peter's life, allowing him to be with her but still be Spider-Man. She tells him to "Go get'em tiger" to which he dons his costume and goes out the window to fight crime. The final shot of Mary Jane, looking out the window, knowing he could die, takes us by surprise, particularly after the excitement of Spider-Man swinging by helicopters. It reminds us the difficulties that lie ahead for this couple, a very relatable idea regarding being a superhero. You can have love but there will always be risks.

With Great Power...: "Spider-Man"

With The Amazing Spider-Man swinging in to theatres pretty soon, what better time to revisit the series that brought the webslinger to the big screen in the first place, the first movie of which, along with Bryan Singer's first X-Men film, led the charge for the superhero films of the last decade. Today, it's easy to take a film like Spider-Man for granted- especially the younger generation. We live in a world where cinema seems to be dominated by superhero films. We have three Spider-Man films and a fourth is on the way. Heck, we got The Avengers this year, which is more than any comic book fan could ask for. But back in 2002, getting a Spider-Man movie was a big deal. I remember being so excited to see it and when I did I absolutely loved it. There's been a lot of criticism directed towards Sam Raimi's original Spider-Man trilogy with Marc Webb's new film coming. I knew watching the first film again after several years, I'd be affected by those criticisms and admittedly I was worried I would have to admit that the film wasn't very good.

I was pleasantly surprised that I still enjoy this film. While it's not as strong as it's sequel, Spider-Man 2, and feels a little too boxed in by being an origin story, it's still a funny, humane and visually exciting film that does a good job of embracing its comic book origins while still trying to tell a down to earth romance.

The film is essentially a origin story- two to be exact. The primary origin is that of Spider-Man- Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire), a smart but shy high school student who gets bitten by a genetically enhanced spider, which gives him spider like  powers. The second origin belongs to the film's antagonist, the Green Goblin. Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe) is the CEO of the manufacturing company Oscorp, who, after testing a performance enhancing chemical on himself, becomes a Jekyll/Hyde character, the Green Goblin being his Hyde.

Having these origins play out simultaneously, albeit with a stronger focus on Peter, emphasizes an important archetype of not just the superhero genre but literature itself, which is that the hero and antagonist are mirror images of each other. Both Peter and Norman are brillant men who have something freakish happen to them. In Peter's case, he uses his powers to help people after being responsible for his Uncle Ben's (Cliff Robertson) murder. In Norman's case, the Goblin wants to help Norman by taking revenge on Norman's enemies. Norman's relationship to Peter and the Goblin's to Spider-Man are also similar. Norman is the father of Peter's friend Harry (James Franco) but treats Peter like the son he never had. Goblin wants Spider-Man to join forces with him. I would have like for them to've played up the surrogate father angle between Peter and Norman. When Norman tells Peter at the end "I've been like a father to you, be a son to me," it's kind of a bizarre line because there aren't enough scenes between Norman and Peter. Maybe it's just a ruse by the Goblin to throw Peter off but I still would have liked that angle fleshed out.

On this recent viewing I actually found a lot of the Norman stuff was shoved in to the background, particularly when he starts becoming aware of the Goblin personality inside of him. I wish more scenes were dedicated to this transformation as well as his relationship with Harry.

The real focus of the film is the romance between Peter and Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst). Spider-Man is essentially a love story-Peter even sets this up in his opening narration, telling us "it all started with a girl," which looking back at it now makes me think, "No Peter, it started with a spider bite." The romance is very sweet and Maguire and Dunst make you feel there's a connection between these two people that can't quite be spoken. What's interesting about the relationship between Peter and Mary Jane is while it's Peter who's always been in love with her, the movie is secretly about Mary Jane falling in love with Peter. The irony is by the time she learns she loves him, Peter feels he has to push her away in order to protect her. It was quite a bold move to end the film on such a bittersweet note- but it's the right one for Peter Parker- a guy who has to sacrifice a lot in order to be a hero.     
One element of this film, and the Raimi films in general, fans are disappointed by is that Spider-Man isn't as sarcastic and snarky as he is in the comics. I think this is because Raimi is homaging the 1960s era of Spider-Man and by my memory of recently reading those early comics, wasn't as sarcastic as we usually think of him. Also, he's still jokey and goofy in the film.  During the wrestling match he tells his opponent "That''s a cute outfit. Did your husband give it to you?" I also like when the Goblin asks him if he's in or out, regarding joining forces, and Spider-Man with "It's you who's out Gobby. Out of your mind."

In the comics Peter builds mechanical webshooters but some people prefer the organic webshooters and feel it makes sense they'd be part of Peter's powers. It's actually a pretty funny debate and I don't mean that in a mocking way. I like the old school webshooters and am looking forward to seeing them in the new film.

Maguire seems to get a lot of hate which is unfortunate because he gives a pretty solid performance. He goes from the shy outsider who only wants to get with Mary Jane to the man who walks away from her at the end with a stoicism that suggests a man who has accepted he can never go back to living a completely normal life. Dafoe and J.K. Simmons, who plays J. Jonah Jameson are the actors who are clearly having the most fun, especially since they get the most "comic-booky" roles. Dafoe, even behind a big greeb helmet creates a wonderfully sinister voice and attitude and I love the scene where Norman is having a conversation with the Goblin personality through a mirror. Simmons is one of the most spot on castings in a superhero film. Simmons gets the insufferable blowhard known as J.J.J down to a tee. I also liked Cliff Robertson and Rosemary Harris as Uncle Ben and Aunt May. I wished there was a few more scenes between Uncle Ben and Peter but I think Robertson exudes the warmth and wisdom needed to show why his death matters so much to Peter and haunts him when he realizes he's responsible.

Visually, it creates wonderful comic book visuals like Spider-Man's first fight with the Goblin and Spider-Man's dodging of Goblin's razors. I think my favourite shot in the film is when Peter climbs a wall for the first time and the camera tilts as he's climbing, making him look horizontal on the wall.

The movie does try to condense a lot in to its running time. As I mentioned before I would've liked more Uncle Ben and more Norman leading up to his transformation. The film's also held back by being an origin story, meaning that much of the film is going over stuff we already know from the comics. It's only when we get to the sequel can we jump right in to story about Peter Parker being Spider-Man. Still, I can't undervalue how important this movie was in my life- and to the decade of costume crimefighters it was part of.