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June 30, 2004

 10:22 PM - Spiderman 2

Quite possibly this is the best comic-based action film ever, which I suppose is not entirely surprising since its predecessor was undoubtedly such. At this point it is merely a question of which of the two movies holds the title, and whether the Spiderman trilogy can accomplish a feat rarely seen in action movies, that is, a process of continuous improvement upon the original.

Of course, the real strengths of the Spiderman franchise to date is not the action sequences and concomitant special effects (which are strong enough on their own) but the strikingly believable characters and compelling human drama which one has no right to expect from people dressed up in spandex costumes. In this respect, these movies have only one serious competitor, that is, another set of Marvel comics currently being transformed into cinema – the X-men series. (There are those who might try to claim that the Hulk and Daredevil comics were equally amenable to presentation upon the silver screen; however, I doubt that non-fans would find the character development in these movies even in the same league as that found in the Spiderman series.)

In the original movie, we find ourselves sympathizing with the leading man as he is gradually transformed from geeky nobody to anonymous superhero. In the second film, we find him struggling with the paradoxical dual burden of anonymity and heroism, in a situation where he is neither recognized nor rewarded for his tireless efforts to protect the innocents of his city. Eventually, this begins to wear at him, as he wearies of the constant conflicts between his daily life and his nightly life-and-death battles.

This dynamic tension between desires and duties provides the underlying motif of this film – choice. As in the original, so too in the sequel, the hero must decide for himself to be the hero, to take seriously the notion that “with great power comes great responsibility.” Unlike the original film, however, the sequel present the anti-hero with the very same choice. When all is said and done, it is not the powers they wield but the choices they make which determine the outcome.


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