Spiderman 2
First off, i'm listening to Vindicated by Dashboard Confessionals. One of the 2 songs form the OST that they actually used in the movie... and only in the credits.
To sum up this movie, i can say it is a good movie, well done and very entertaining... but it breaks no grounds. Thus in lies my problem. I guess i should first state that my judgements on movies are usually based on my expectations. So long ago at the first spiderman 2 trailers i was barely impress and expected an entertaining movie such as spiderman 1. Then i "aquired" the Spiderman 2 OST, and heard Vindicated. I think the song and lyrics elevated my hopes for this movie and i really wanted to see it, thus my midnight viewing. The song gave a lot of hope to the movie, it built up my imaginations of what this movie could of been, the possibilites. And when i saw it, it wasnt there.
All that aside, the movie its self is great. Action sequences are much better then the first movie. Spiderman is definetly a very witty fighter. Not martial-artsy but very agile and creative. Which make this 1 on 1 battles vs. Dr. Octopus very cool. Effects and stuff are also pretty seamless, Dr. Octo's arms looks great and spidy looks well blended with his enviroment. No complaints there. Music was boring in the form of 2 danny elfman tracks.. and thats about it. An enitre OST of good music, not one made it INTO the movie. But i can overlook that, as the story was what i was looking for. But that really was were it lost me.
With the song "vindicated" I expected a lot. I wanted to see character drama, in the level of this song. I wanted to see scenes that would of made me go "wow!, that was neat and multi-leved". I wanted beats that allowed me to go that last scene was amazing. The non-verbal comm. the symbolism, the undertones, the hidden messages, the un-spoken depth and conflict of each charcter. But there were none. I felt i was slapped in the face with a story in its out-of-the fridge form, hard and cold. Well i was hoping for a warmer version thats more lumpy and malliable, even with room for me to imagine parts of it. The movie explained everything showed everything, told u everything, and then handed it to u present nicely with a flower. It wasnt as bad as, "My left jacket pocket..." crap, but it was pretty much shoved in my face. I felt excited but sad.
That said, i think overall that the movie is very well made. Best i can say it as is that Raimi hit the bar, but the bar wasnt very high. The pacing was pretty much in the mood of bam, bam, and bam. Where Raimi just kept force feeding u Stan Lees doctrine. I mean sure i adfmit, i think the whole Stan lee words of wisdom is a little hard to accept, but really if i was left some room to think about it i might like them. But no, Raimi gave it to me in the face. There was just one too many scene that was almost painful to watch. A lot of the Peter/Mary jane scenes were kinda of painful to watch. Sure i can say that there suppose to be drama there. But i think, Raimi, again, weilded the drama like a warhammer.
As i'm listneing to Vindicated, i heard the the chorus, "I am Vindicated, I am selfish, I am wrong, I am right, I swear I'm right, I swear I knew it all along. And I am flawed, But I am cleaning up so well, I am seeing in me now the things you swore you saw yourself." I wanted a growing character. I wanted Parker to go through stages, i wanted see Mary jane grow from the girl next door that wants to be a model into something else. Not because they have to face villans, but i wanted to see changes, i want to feel that i grew with these characters in the last two movies. U know like good characters should. That when u leave a story, i want to wonder what will happen to them. I can say that this wasnt really there. Peter responded to his usuall Marvel-esque Stan Lee conflict, and Mary Jane? well she... things happened in her life and she deals with it. Maybe one of more liked characters is Harry Osborn. I think with the scenes and the drama he had, Raimi actually left a lot of room for him, that u can imagine. Of course a big setup for Spiderman 3.
Over all i think this is a very good movie. Again, i think its well made. Raimi does a good job of doing what he wanted to do, a Raimi film, with good action and more budget then his older stuff. It is Very entertaining, lots of cool action scenes, good effects, romance, drama (at the Marvel level) and humor. Fun to watch and very very, summer block-buster feel. Like that line from Ebert, its a movie for non-superhero movie watchers. Cause in the end, its a moive for the masses. I have a swinging opinion of movies, mostly based on expectation, which is why i like some crappy movies sometimes. In the end, i think i gave this movie too high of an expectation. I should of went in with a mindset of a summer blockbuster, and not the visuals to go with "Vindicated".
