Reviews of Spiderman and Spiderman 2

Spiderman -- June 20, 2003

The most valuable single comic book of all time is the first issue of The Amazing Spider-man.  It sells for about $30,000.    Later that year (1962) they introduced us to the Green Goblin, one of the best villains ever.

I've always enjoyed comics when they make it to the big screen.  Superman, Batman and the X-Men were some of my favorite movies.  Spider-man beats them all in one important category.  The movie stayed true to the original comic book story.  And feel.  They created a modern movie with the 1962 comic book feel.  The underground wrestling tournament, and the '60s diner that M. K. works in are great examples.  Peter lives in a little cookie cutter development, so 60's middle class Long Island.

I like this guy.  I've always liked him since Cider House Rules and the Wonder Boys.  I never expected him to do a superhero, but he turned out to be a great choice.  Peter Parker was supposed to be a frail, insecure teenager.  Tobey Maguire played Peter perfectly.  When Spider-man appears, you lose Peter and Tobey.

I like her too.  Always have.  She's been in tons of movies (44 so far) and she only turned 21 two months ago.  I probably liked Kirsten Dunst best on ER (at age 14) and in The Virgin Suicides.  In Spider-man she goes Red, and looks amazing.  She's far more talented in my opinion than some of the roles she's played.  This is a great example.  She's the damsel in distress.

Here's the basic plot.  Geeky teenager gets bitten by radioactive, genetically engineered, Super-spider, who mysteriously never makes another appearance nor bites anyone else, ever.  Teenager (who lusts after neighbor-girl) takes on strange properties of said spider.  Teenager has an Uncle Ben who says "with great power, comes great responsibility" then promptly gets killed by a car-jacker.  Teenager could have stopped the murder, but didn't.  Feels responsible then dedicates life to fighting crime.  Teenager saves girl repeatedly and defeats big ugly green guy.

Ok, it sounds cliche and done, but it wasn't.  A few little plot points made this movie more enjoyable without destroying the classic Superhero storyline.  I won't post spoilers for good movies, but I'll just say, "does he get the girl?"

The supporting cast was done well too, with one exception.  Cliff Robertson doesn't look anything like the original Uncle Ben!  You decide.  Willem Dafoe has the face of the Green Goblin.  One of my female friends once told me that he's "so ugly, it makes him sexy, kind of like Mick Jagger".  Maybe there's hope for guys like me yet!

Ok, I've raved about this movie long enough.  You are probably wondering why it didn't make my top 100 list.  One criteria of top 100 movies is that they are "done".  Lots of movies get close to "done" but never get finished.  This movie obviously needed tons of computer generated graphics.  Unfortunately, they did a terrific job throughout many scenes, but failed to finish it off.  The scenes of spider-man swinging through the city and Peter Parker jumping from rooftop to rooftop looked completely computer generated.  If you want to see absolutely amazing computer effects, check out The Matrix.  Spider-man should have hired the same guys, because they knew the computer effects would make or break this movie.  It broke it.  Overall, great movie, but not perfect.  (And perfection was within reach.)

Spiderman 2 -- July 19, 2004

One of my favorite movies is Spiderman, which honestly I thought would be kind of stupid.  I read a few Spiderman comics as a kid, but was always more of a Batman kind of guy.  Anyhow, that's why I missed Spiderman in the theaters.

Not wanting to make the same mistake twice, I saw Spiderman 2 with Kristen last night.  She typically hates comic book movies, but even she loved it.

All the reviews I've read said something like "better than the original".  I liked the original better but this is a very good film.  It's definitely worth $15 plus popcorn!

I can also see why some would think it's even better.  The visual effects are far better.  A couple scenes in Spiderman looked computer generated.  Obviously they used computers in the sequel, but the scenes in Spiderman 2 were absolutely seamless.

One other improvement was that it had more of a comic feel.  Stan Lee was a master comic book artist and they captured his look even better this time.  The photo to the right could have been a frame from the original comic. 

I'm being extremely picky when I say I enjoyed Spiderman 1 better, because they were very close.  My main reason was the villain.  I enjoyed the Green Goblin better than Dr. Octavius.

Kudos to the sequel however for not creating a "Son of Green Goblin" which would have been easy to do after the first movie.   But they didn't let the "Spiderman killed my father" storyline die either.  It was nicely woven into the sequel.

One cinematic element was repeated.  Once again we get to look at Kirsten Dunst in a tight fitting outfit during a rainstorm.  She's one of my top 10 most beautiful women in the world, and she looks amazing again. She inspired me to  create a Kirsten Dunst Photo Gallery.

One last comment, one of my favorite characters from both movies is J. Jonah Jameson.  Played by J.K. Simmons with hair, he's fantastic comic relief.  I love how he intertwines the silly-ness of comic book world to the "real" world.  (I.e. "Guy named Otto Octavius with 8 limbs. What are the odds?")

Two great movie theater films and DVDs you should add to your collection!