Well, it's that magical time of year again. The time of year when Hollywood spares no expense to saturate the market with high budget action films and comedic abortions (White Chicks... the single worst movie concept I've heard in quite a while) to keep a swarm of bored Americans content. Yes, that's right, it's summer movie time in America and we're already knee-deep in atrocious films.
But enough about that. I've got my review on Spider Man 2.
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SPOILERS!!! BIG, MOTHER F*CKING SPOILERS!!! You have been warned.
There comes a time in every man's life when he asks himself "Hey! All those rave reviews
can't be right... can they?". Well, if you haven't figured it out already, the answer is "No. SeaRex, they just can't." Perhaps that's why I'm so let down by Spider Man 2. Everyone creamed their pants over this movie and it really... sucked. Hard. Like "vacuuming-semen-from-the-penis" hard. Yes, it was that bad. And let's not even bring up the fact that the first movie was actually decent. That's just rubbing salt in the wound. Besides, who's ever heard of a crappy sequel... right?
Anywho, let me get into the story here, although it brings me great pain to do so. Mild-mannered (God, I hate that adjective) Peter Parker [Toby Maguire] is at it again. That child is always swinging around in his silly little tights. Not surprisingly, this poor guy is having an identity crisis (Gasp! surely it has nothing to do with the tights!). Well, it actually has less to do with tight, form-fitting outfits and more to do with his blatantly uninteresting love interest, Mary Jane [Kirston Dunst] who we met in the first movie. Oh no! Mary's getting married for some reason?! TO SOMEONE ELSE?! Whatever shall Peter do now? Wah! Just cry about it. A Simple Plan concert could squeeze more emotion out of me than this...
simply tragic awkwardness between the two characters. The dialogue doesn't help much, either. It's rigid, banal, and above all... desperate. The writers obviously spent so much time thinking up cheesey, YET SUPER HEROIC (!), one-liners to smooth out the rough edges in the script. Hell, the grandmother/aunt/old know-it-all dust bag (who was such an astonishing character that I can't even recall the actress who played her) spoke
exclusively in a heap of stupid "inspirational" garbage stringed together to form something resembling speech. If you've seen the movie, I'm sure you remember the "moving out" scene with Peter and Granny. Case closed.
Following suit with the shite dialogue are cliche comic book movie story elements. Revenge (GASP!), a character coming to terms with his powers (WOW!), and an
OBVIOUS SET UP FOR ANOTHER DAMN SEQUEL are liberally peppered throughout the hackneyed, and therefore painfully predictable, plot. Oh, and special effects. Whoop whoop. Etc. The action scenes were passable as far and in between they were. Spider Man's costume
actually rips this time. Technology! Whee!
The "extras" aren't even worth bringing up. Yes, stick up for Spider Man, you cliche American stereotypes. And then Doc Ock kicked all of your asses. Surprise. Oh, and speaking of good ole' Doctor Octopus...
If this movie has one redeeming feature, it's Doctor Otto Octavius/Ock [skillfully played by Alfred-Too-Talented-For-This-Mound-Of-Shit-Molina], whose character was
deliciously psychotic and multi-layered... and no, I'm not kidding. When Dr. Octavius's Oscorp-funded experiment goes awry, his four armed tools become grafted to his spine. But if you don't know who Doc Ock is already, then why should I bother? Hell, I've never read a SM comic in my life and
I knew who he was. Anyway, the truly ingenious nature of his character is that he is really
two characters: Doc Ock and his robotic arms, which act as a sort of "bad influence/conscience." Cool, huh? As the movie progresses with Ock's insanity, it becomes harder to tell the two apart... but they eventually become separate again in the Doc's final moments. And in all honesty, once Doc died I had no desire to watch the rest of the movie, although I did stay. All that was standing in my way was a row of devoted movie goers/fan boys... and well, there you go.
Bottom line: I wanted to like this movie. I really did. However, I can't recommend it to anyone above the IQ of a 12 year-old boy or a zealous Spider Man fan. Wait... is there a differnce? Anywho, if you must see it, see it for Doc Ock. He's got my vote for best villain of the year.
Oh, and by the way... Harry finds the Green Goblin outfit and MJ leaves her marriage to run back to Peter. Suck a cunt.
I give it a
-2 (yes, negative) out of 5 with a side of Octopus. Happy movie going, America.
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So... what movies are you looking forward to seeing?
I'm going to see Michael Moore's next propagan... erm... "insightful documentary" on monday. I can't wait, but at the same time I really wonder if that guy
needs anymore money.
Don't feel shy, wise non-Americans. Please share with us films that might not make it to our fair continent.