Review for Spider-Man 2 (2 discs)

Introduction

To date, I have seen Spider-Man 2 just three times. The first time, I actually watched it in the cinema, buoyed by positive reviews and the pleasant experience I had watching the first film. The second time, I watched it the day the DVD fell through my letterbox, just prior to the official release date courtesy of an eager e-tailer. That was back in 2004. Last night I watched it for the third time, as I thought I really ought to get some of my thoughts about this disc into print, even though I've well and truly missed the Spider-Man boat, with Hollywood about to reboot the franchise completely, with a new cast and director. The reason for my reticence to watch this film certainly isn't down to the quality of the movie, it's still enjoyable and entertaining. It isn't down to DVD overload, the mountains of plastic I have to wade through just to survive in my house, and it certainly isn't reviewer fatigue, although perhaps the day will one day come that I see a shiny disc, and it drives me completely doolally. No, it's that Spider-Man 2 came in a Scanavo case. Scanavo cases offer you one of three options, you get the disc out intact, you snap the disc trying to extract it, or you demolish the case trying to extract it. That's just a 33% probability of successful disc extraction. I decided not to risk it for years. Last night, I swapped the case over with Spider-Man 3. I don't care what happens to those discs.
 

The first film gave us Spider-Man's origin story. Mild mannered high school kid Peter Parker was bitten by a genetically engineered spider, and obtained fantastic abilities as a result. Initially tempted to use his powers for personal gain, Peter realised the responsibility of his gifts when tragedy struck his family. Thereafter he decided to don the mantle of Spider-Man and fight crime. It was hard to be a masked crime-fighter and hold down a job at the same time, but being a press photographer freelancing for the Daily Bugle helped, especially when the editor had a personal crusade against the web-slinger, and paid handsomely… paid well… well at least paid for photographs of Spider-Man. But then best friend Harry Osborn's dad became the Green Goblin, and the girl next door that he fell in love with, Mary Jane Watson fell into danger because of his 'career'. He killed the Goblin, Harry swore revenge against Spider-Man, and Peter swore to keep MJ safe, even if it meant giving up any chance of happiness. That's all in the opening credits sequence, which just like Superman II used to recap the first movie; Spider-Man 2 does as well. And if Spider-Man was a homage in many ways to Superman The Movie, so Spider-Man 2 leans on the legacy of Superman II as well. No really it does.


We catch up with Peter Parker 2 years later, and while Spider-Man has been effective in keeping the streets of New York crime free, Peter's life hasn't been nearly as progressive or successful. He's a college student who misses his lectures, he's a photographer who can't sell his pictures (trying to convince J. Jonah Jameson that Spider-Man is anything other than a menace isn't working), he's a pizza delivery boy who can't make his deliveries, and he's still pining after the girl next door that he can't have, MJ. Harry's now the head of Oscorp, and he still wants to kill Spider-Man, while Mary Jane is now a successful Broadway actress, and she's just about to get engaged to a famous astronaut. Worse, Spider-Man's powers are on the fritz. He has to take elevators! Something's got to give, and a helpful chat with a doctor tells Peter just what he has to do. It's time to hang up the Spidey Suit and get on with his life, and see if he still has a chance with Mary Jane. He's also only got one chance left on his physics course, and if his next report isn't spectacular, he'll flunk. Fortunately Oscorp is investing in the energy of the future, nuclear fusion. Dr Otto Octavius has devised a new means of containing a fusion reaction, literally the power of the sun, and if he can get it to work, it will benefit the entire world. Harry has got Peter a face-to-face meeting, and an invite to the big experiment. Four artificially intelligent mechanical tentacles, linked to Otto's nervous system, used to control the magnetic field to contain the fusion. What could go wrong? Doc Ock is born… I guess it was too soon to hang up the Spidey Suit.

Picture

Spider-Man 2 gets a 2.40:1 anamorphic transfer, which is an upgrade from the 1.85:1 of the first film. That was ostensibly to get more of Doc Ock's tentacles on screen, but it does give the film a more epic and grand feel. The transfer itself is nigh on flawless, bringing across the film in full clarity, with no signs of digital artefacts or print damage at all apparent. It still retains that comic book brightness of the first film, similarly eschewing the dark and moody feel of many of its contemporaries, and it seems that bright and shiny works wonders with the Marvel Universe, as the Fantastic Four films can attest to. The CGI is for the most part elegantly applied, with digi-Spidey even more realistic than in the first film, completely drawing the audience into the illusion. The same can't be said for Doc Ock though, and it's a good thing that most of his scenes are created practically with the actor in situ. When on occasion they have to switch to a fully digital character, it's immediately apparent, with the figure looking as plasticky and unreal as Neo during the Burly Brawl in The Matrix Reloaded.

Sound

You have a choice between DD 5.1 English and Czech, DD 2.0 Surround English, and a DD 2.0 Surround English Audio Descriptive Track for the visually impaired. The dialogue is clear throughout, Danny Elfman once again scores the film, giving Spider-Man a very memorable theme, and the action is quite properly represented in the sound design. It's just the sort of audio that a summer blockbuster demands, but I find that it's one of the rare summer blockbusters that gets the balance just right, not overwhelming the viewer with a cacophony of sound in the race for ultimate multiplex loudness.

Extras

Well, my copy came in a Scanavo case, but I guess it's just the luck of the draw. Apparently my e-tailer sourced a European copy when I bought it, so the case is also free of BBFC logos. Which is nice. But it is identical to the UK release, meaning that the blooper reel that was available in Region 1 has been dropped to maintain a PG rating, and in the movie, a head butt has been replaced by a punch.

Disc 1 autoplays with the trailer for Hellboy, before launching into one of those 'best bits of the movie' animated menus. You'll be able to select the trailer again from the menu, along with trailers for Seinfeld, Steamboy, Astroboy, Christmas With The Cranks, and of course Spider-Man 2.

Disc 1 gets 2 commentaries to accompany the film. The first is the Cast and Crew Commentary, and is the more accessible of the pair. It is itself edited together from two commentaries, with Tobey Maguire and director Sam Raimi in one booth, and producer Avi Arad and co-producer Grant Curtis in another. It's a little bit patchwork, but it does flow well and the editing eliminates most of the dead air that you often get in commentary tracks.


The second is the Technical Commentary that features Steve Johnson and Eric Hayden talking about the Doc Ock tentacle puppets, as well as John Dykstra and an army of effects artists talking about all the other CGI effects. This is the dry and less accessible of the tracks, although your mileage may vary.

Spidey-Sense 2 is another subtitle trivia track, in the same vein as on the first film. If your brain can handle the info upload, you can have it on and listen to a commentary track as well. I had it on and ignored the Technical Commentary instead.

There are 4 Web-i-sodes on this disc, looking at Costume Design, Comic-Con Q&A, J. Jonah Jameson, and Peter Parker & Mary Jane Watson. There run to around 8 minutes in total.

Finally there is a Music Video, "Ordinary" by Train, and there is an Easter Egg to ferret out.


Disc Two is also jammed with extra goodness, and there are two Easter Eggs here to hunt for as well.

Making The Amazing collects the documentaries together, twelve in all. You can watch them individually, but I find the best thing to do is to just press Play All and watch them as one big feature documentary, running to 126 minutes in total. That way you can watch at your leisure chapters on the Story and Character, Visual and Costume Design, the Director, the innovative Spyder-Cam, the Stunts the Practical Effects, Editing, Visual Effects, Sound & Music, and the Lessons Learned. It in essence takes you from the genesis of the movie, all the way to the release, with the usual mix of interviews with the cast and crew, behind the scenes footage, and clips from the film.

A submenu takes you to the option of three featurettes.

Hero in Crisis lasts 15 minutes and the cast and crew, as well as noted contributors to the Spidey-verse take a look at the Peter Parker character, and the issues that drive him to disillusionment with being a superhero, and just why he would give such a life up.


Ock-Umentary: Eight Arms to Hold You lasts 22 minutes, and looks at the history of Doc Ock in the comics, and how the character was brought to life on screen, with a mixture of visual and practical effects.

Interwoven: The Women of Spider-Man lasts 16 minutes. As well as looking at Aunt May and Mary Jane Watson, they also look at Betty Brant and Ursula, as well as Gwen Stacy from the comics.

Another menu option lets you Enter The Web, a multi-angle featurette looking at how certain scenes were filmed. There's a choice of four streams, three full screen options, and a fourth with four panels, with the three options shown in quarter screen, with the fourth panel used to show the film footage being shot. It's a pretty neat way of showing what happens behind the scenes, although it's not all that practical or informative. It's just nice to look at.


The Gallery contains the paintings used in the opening credits sequence, while Interactive holds a trailer for the console game, a three-minute making of documentary for the console game, and a reminder that there is DVD-ROM material on the disc. I remember what the DVD-ROM material for Spider-Man did to my PC. There's no way that I'm risking that again.

Conclusion

There used to be a law of sequels, where each successive film would deliver diminishing returns, and that drop became exponential for superhero movies. A big part of that was, and indeed still is that the big fascination with superheroes is their origin. It's intriguing to find out who these people were before they donned the spandex and tights, the mechanics of whatever it was that transformed them, and indeed how they come to terms with their newfound circumstances. A fully formed Batman isn't half as interesting as a tortured Bruce Wayne, compelled by his grief for his fallen parents to become a scourge on criminals. But the second film has to deal with the fully formed character, the third winds up supported by gimmicks, while the fourth, if a Superhero franchise ever gets that far, turns out to be a lengthy and expensive suicide note, at least that was the path that both the Superman and Batman franchises followed.


But then suddenly superhero sequels began to appear that did in fact live up to their origin stories, did in fact turn out to be better than the first film, or if not better than, at least as good as. It seemed that the rule of thumb had been broken. X2 managed to be bigger and better than X-Men and so it was I wandered into a multiplex to see whether Spider-Man 2 could indeed be bigger, better, faster, more exciting, and tell a better story than the first film. Could it actually tell a more engaging and exciting story than one of the few pitch perfect origin stories in comic books? I came out of the cinema fully believing that it had succeeded, and that Spider-Man 2 had indeed topped the first film. Then when I first got the DVD and had my second viewing of the film, my opinion was unchanged. But now, having seen the film for the third time, my opinion is beginning to waver, Spider-Man 2 is still a hoot, it's an enjoyable couple of hours, set in a brilliantly realised comic book universe, with a host of fantastic characters brought to vivid life. It does actually follow the Superman lead in the story that it tells, of the superhero that is willing to give up his powers for the love of his life, but then having to again take up the burden of responsibility when the chips are down. Of course it's better than Superman II in that it doesn't have the comic tone of Richard Lester's direction at odds with Richard Donner's first film, as Sam Raimi keeps the style and the quality consistent across both Spider-Man films. But the more that I think about it, the more that little things niggle at me, convincing me that it isn't all that much better than the first film, and in some ways is actually a little worse.


The thing that bugs me most about Spider-Man 2 is probably that which will annoy less than one percent of the audience, the bad science. I've seen some crazy, and ill-considered nonsense in my film watching life, hand-waving like 'unobtanium', magic computers that do anything that plots require, mobile phones that work two hundred feet underground, never get a bad signal, and never run out of power, but that is all as nothing as compared to what Spider-Man 2 makes of nuclear fusion. Now nuclear fusion isn't an esoteric science. This isn't Stephen Hawking talking about wormholes; this is basic stuff that we've known about for over 60 years. We've made fusion bombs, we've been trying to get a fusion reactor to work for 50 years now with little or no success, so when the creators of Spider-Man 2 decided to include nuclear fusion as a plot device, they had oodles of material available on Wikipedia they could have researched. Even an elementary school book would have told them something of use. Instead, they ignored everything and just made crap up. Spider-World: There's only 25lb of tritium fuel on the whole planet, they say, it's solid and it's kept in Harry Osborn's safe. Real World: The oceans are full of tritium (it's a form of hydrogen), in its isolated, natural state it's a gas, and it's radioactive. Spider-World: If you're not careful, a nuclear fusion reaction (which is safe enough to occur without shielding, in front of an audience) will run out of control and destroy a city. Real World: If you're not careful, a nuclear fusion reaction (radioactive, requires shielding) will just fizzle out and not work. In fact that's what usually happens, which is why we don't have Mr Fusion on the back of our DeLoreans. Spider-World: An out of control fusion reaction can be doused with water… Real World: Anyone with more than an F in GCSE Science is telling this film to go forth and multiply…


At least I hope anyone with more than an F in GCSE Science is doing so, although I wouldn't be surprised if they are more likely to tell me to get a life. But really, this is perhaps the worst science I have seen in a mainstream Hollywood movie, who usually employ writers to try and disguise their ill-informed bullshit with a smidgen of technobabble. A little more general than the science is my reaction to the movie's characters, as something just doesn't sit right with me when I compare this film to the first. Most of the supporting cast is fine enough, Al Molina makes a perfectly serviceable Doc Ock, although as Otto Octavius he's hamstrung by that bad science I mentioned. It seems though that the main characters are being let down by the writing. Harry Osborn in particular goes through a movie long tantrum that makes Anakin Skywalker look like a well-adjusted individual, while poor Peter Parker has every ignominy possible dumped upon him. I know it's part of the story arc that he go on a downward spiral in his personal life, in terms of friendships, relationships and career, but the writers really dump on him. I was expecting a comedy moment where a pigeon craps on his shoulder, and a dog pees on his leg, while in the background violins play a lament. What works as a grand event movie, rich with melodrama and emotion on the big screen, just seems a little overwrought and contrived on the small. The eternal loser shtick just gets old long before the film comes to a conclusion.


These are things that knock the film down in my estimation. Spider-Man 2 is certainly no classic of the genre, and neither is it a great movie. It is however a thoroughly enjoyable summer blockbuster, full of the good versus evil antics that we've come to expect from superhero movies, laden with eye-watering special effects, and taking the viewers on a ride through the story, which while not exactly intellectually rigorous, does enough to stimulate the more visceral emotions to leave the majority satisfied. And best of all, it has the sublime J. Jonah Jameson, a richly drawn comic book character, given even more dimension by J. K. Simmons. What I remember most fondly about this film though, is that it subverts that defiant New Yorkers scene that left me ever so slightly nauseous in the first film. It's also got in Doc Ock's 'birth', one of the scariest moments ever realised in a recent PG rated film. Spider-Man 2 is a fun film, but not one that I see aging all that well.