Two years have passed since the death of the Green Goblin and the introduction of the Amazing Spider-Man to the world. Peter Parker has moved on to college and is living on his own in a run down apartment. His friends, Harry Osborn and Mary Jane have also moved on with their lives. Harry Osborn has to taken over his father’s company and Mary Jane has moved on with a new boyfriend and gotten a job as a stage actress. With college, a part time job, and playing as Spider-Man, Peter’s life has become more hectic and stressful than before leaving him with little time to enjoy for himself and possibly a relationship with Mary Jane.
The toll of all these problems started to affect his powers where they’ve disappeared on him when he needs them the most. While at Oscorp, a fusion project under Harry Osborn’s scientist, Dr. Otto Octavius, has gone horribly wrong leaving people dead and the good doctor fused with mechanical arms in a coma. With his powers seemingly slipping away and the love of his life, Mary Jane, in the arms of another man, Peter Parker decides it’s time to give up Spider-Man so he can have a life of his own. However such action and decision does not have its own consequences as with great powers come great responsibilities. A new evil has awakened and that evil is name Dr. Octopus. After awakening from his coma, the good doctor now depressed and sadden from the failure of his experiment and the death of his wife, his mind now corrupted by his artificial arms, Dr. Octavius decides it’s time for him to rebuild and restart his once failed project that nearly destroy Oscorp building. This time he will create an even bigger fusion chamber even at the cost of New York City if the project fails once again. With Spider-Man out of action, the future of New York City look dimmed. The journey of self redemption begins in this 2 hour action packed adventure.
What you looking at?!
Spider-Man No More
Good
When the movie ends, the first thing you notice that you like the most is the story. The reason for this is that it isn’t so much about Doc Ock vs. Spider-Man or the whole Peter Parker and Mary Jane love thing; it’s the underlining message on what it takes to be a hero. To be a hero, you have to make self sacrifices in the things you love. This is why not everyone can be a hero. There are many scenes in this movie but one of the best or the best scene in my mind is the scene where Aunt May gives Peter Parker a wonderful speech about there’s a hero in all of us, it is what makes as strong and gives us hope, something in that line. It’s a very original speech and it moved me while I was watching that scene just as it moved Peter Parker. The development of Doc Ock from the comic book to the movie is done wonderfully. If someone were to ask me if this can be done 3 years ago, I would say no. It would look dumb and stupid. Even back in the days when I was still collecting Spider-Man comics, I thought Doc Ock was one of my least favorite villains because I thought the idea of a fat guy with 4 mechanical arms giving Spider-Man problems was over blown. It’s the same kind of image I get from the Vulture where you have an old man in his 70s giving Spider-Man problems. But the movie changed that. The special effects and fight scenes with Spider-Man and Doc Ock looked very realistic and believable, from the top of buildings to the top of a moving train. Sam Raimi, the director, manage to capture the essence of Doc Ock perfectly from the comic book. Seeing scenes where Doc Ock climbing buildings and holding Aunt May hostage is right out of the comic book. I loved it. This movie gave me a greater appreciation for Doc Ock as a villain than before. Another good scene that capture the essence of the history in the comic book is the scene where Peter Parkers left his costume in the garbage bin with Peter Parker narrating the phase, “Spider-Man No More’’. For those who are too young, that’s right out of the cover of Amazing Spider-Man comic book issue #50 back in the 60s when you weren’t even born yet. The returning cast and new cast of actors is another bright spot. We already know about the big three in Toby Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, and James Franco, the introduction of Alfred Molina as Doc Ock is great. To this day, I really can’t think of any other actor that can play Doc Ock any better. At this point, Alfred Molina just looks like a Doc Ock right now. LOL. Rosemary Harris as Aunt May is beautiful and effective in this sequel. She had little to no impact in the first movie so it’s really nice to see her character get a shine in this movie. Finally the flow of the movie is nice as well. The movie is fast pace to the point where you hardly notice the time fly by at all when watching this movie. I think it’s due to the fact that since this is a sequel, there’s no need to spend too much time introducing the world to Spider-Man and the characters in the Spider-Man universe except for maybe Doc Ock. A good story and a fast even pace movie is all you can ask for.
She loves me?
You're no Green Goblin.
Bad
Most of the stuff that I consider bad in the movie is more or less just nick picking for the sake of having to add something in this section. Small flaws at best if you will call it that. Scenes that involve the Daily Bugle and J. Jonah Jameson are one example. I find them to be annoying for the most part and take away the focus of the movie. The whole act of Spider-Man is a menace to society and a criminal is really getting old and boring. The Daily Bugle also comes off more like a tabloid newspaper than a legit newspaper that it’s suppose to be in the movie. While Jonah Jameson is acting like he’s suppose to base on his character in the comic book, his editor or assistant editor, Joe Robertson, seems to be nothing more than a yes man. In the comic, Joe Robertson, is the one who’s suppose to be opposite of Jonah and helps maintain the integrity of the paper by opposing Jonah’s bias opinion of Spider-Man. Here in the movie he doesn’t do much but stand there. Scenes involving the Daily Bugle are more a waste of time than anything productive to the movie. Exaggeration or a bit of exaggeration is another flaw. That seems kind of weird coming from a movie but there’s a point where you need to get more in line with the comic book. In the comic book, Spider-Man is about a 10-15 ton class weight in terms of strength. That’s minor league compare to the heavy weights like the Hulk. There’s no way Spider-Man would be able to stop a moving train at super high speed. But he did it, a bit of exaggeration for the sake of the movie. Even the fight scene with Doc Ock is an example of this. Doc Ock outside of his metal arms is still human and consist of human strength. Yet you see Spider-Man punching and throwing this guy around with his strength and it doesn’t faze him. Even a small little Spider-punch in the face should’ve knock Doc Ock out. LOL. Minor annoyances that the producers would hope you would ignore. The portrayal of Harry Osborn character in this movie is another annoyance for me. His anti-Spider-Man rants are much like those of J. Jonah Jameson, an old act that’s boring. Do we really need two characters with their anti-Spider-Man rant in this movie? I think not. The bad news is that this looks like it will be drawn out even longer to the third Spider-Man movie with Harry vs. Peter. Not something I’m excited to see. And incase I forget, the whole Harry Osborn as a president of a big company. It comes off too fake and unrealistic. And finally secret identity, doesn’t secret identity mean anything anymore? Why is it that I’m not surprised one bit that in the end Doc Ock will find out who Spider-Man is? There seem to be a tradition now that the bad guys always find out who the hero is in the end because they are going to die. It’s so predictable.
That’s about it in terms of the bad. I could definitely do less of Harry Osborn and J.Jonah Jameson in the third installment of the series. Oh wait…you can add Stan Lee to the list as well. Yes, I know Stan Lee is the man who created these characters and seeing him do cameos in these movies was fun at first but now the act is getting old. Must Stan Lee always have a small cameo in each of these Marvel movies? I think not.
We're gonna die.
My father's past.
Bonus
This DVD set contains two discs with bonus features. The first disc contains Commentary with the director and producers, previews, Blooper Reel, Technical Commentary, Spider Sense Trivia, and a music video. The second disc contains nothing but bonus features such as Art Gallery, a look at the making of the Spider-Man 2 video game, a behind the look at the Pier scene in the movie, the Women of Spider-Man feature, a special in-depth look on Doc Octopus, and a 12 part documentary on the making of the movie. If you look at all that, you would notice the enormous amount of extra bonus feature in this two disc package. Pretty much gives you the insight on Doctor Octopus and how this movie was brought to life. I’m sure you can spend a couple of hours into these bonuses and learn something new about the movie and about Spider-Man history. It’s a shame there are no deleted scenes to look at. When digging through bonus materials, I always like to look for deleted scenes.
Final Analysis
Looking for an action pack movie that is a roller coaster ride? Than this one is the one. The good thing about this movie is that it’s just not an action pack movie, it’s a movie that tries to move you emotionally in the struggle between the average joe that works hard to make a difference in life but yet no matter how hard he tries, he gets screwed in the end. Something that a lot of us average joes can relate to. The movie also send a very good message to all of us that sometimes we must give up the things we love the most or want the most for the good in all of us to help those that we love out. This movie clearly shows why Spider-Man is the hero for the average joes. It brings out the very essence in what Spider-Man is about. This is why I love this movie because the underlining message struck a cord with me. This is probably my favorite super hero movie now. Spider-Man 3 seems to be heading for another Goblin return. I’m not sure if I’m looking forward to that. We already had a Goblin in the first one and a second goblin appearance in the third installment in such a short time seem to be a cry of help in terms of finding good bad guys for Spider-man to fight. Just my humble opinions mind you.
