Saturday, July 3, 2004

Reel To Reel:
Spider-Man 2

How It Rates: ***1/2
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst
Rated: PG-13
Red Flags: Action Violence

Preconceived Notions: Trailer looked very promising. Fight scenes are said to be great.
The Bottom Line: Not your average comic-book movie sequel, and just like the first, it rises to another level.

Spider-Man 2 is really a love story with CGI fight scenes. It is also a story of a young man struggling to come to grips with who he is: superhero or student, savior or boyfriend, crimefighter or pizza guy. Peter Parker (Maguire) can't balance his duality as the film opens. He can't hold down a job, hold up his grades, or hold onto girlfriend Mary Jane (Dunst). And, no surprise, he can't catch a break as a photographer from gasbag Daily Bugle editor J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons, in a repeat of his over-the-top performance).

Watching Maguire through this reminds us what put the first Spider-Man above the bar and reminded all of us comic books are really novels with pictures, even though this second chapter is a new twist on an old theme: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy wants girl back.

But don't get me wrong. Spidey still has a supervillian to battle. This time, it's Doc Octavius (Alfred Molina), a man transformed into a monster with four mechanical arms when a fusion experiment goes horribly wrong. And there's a best friend and old foe: Harry Osborn (James Franco), whose father was killed by Spider-Man in the first film, and has become obsessed with revenge. Osborn and Doc Oc will eventually make a dastardly deal.

Add in some demons on the homefront. Parker's aunt (Rosemary Harris) could lose her house, and she still blames herself for the death of her husband. Now for the kicker: Spidey is losing some of his spider powers, and Parker can't figure out why.

That's enough dilemmas for two movies, maybe three. Leave it to screenwriter Alvin Sargent, who penned Ordinary People, to guide us through it all with real emotion and heart. Maguire shares the burden, too, and he sells it again. So does Dunst. Comic-book purists are going to miss Spidey's wise-guy comebacks, and they may also roll their eyes at the outcome of a scene where he has to stop a train -- including a shot so obviously symbolic I thought I was being hit over the head with it.

But overall, Spider-Man 2 swings, including its edge-of-your-seat fight scenes. But its action is in tune with its characters. Its story is in tune with their motivations. I can't ask for a lot more than that... except maybe another sequel, which undoubtedly will be made.

More movie reviews at FrancisP@ge.

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