Oh where oh where to begin...
First off, I want to thank Kup for braving the hordes of Geekdom and staying up until 3am to do it-- it takes a special kind of friend to put up with that many geeks at once.
Now, on to the show.
The short review is thus, as spoken by Kup, "It was better than the first one."
My review, well, that's going to take a bit longer.
Without giving anything away:
IT'S SO MUCH MORE INCREDIBLE THAN THE FIRST ONE.
You see, I counted "Spider-Man" as the finest superhero film ever made when it came out two years ago. I thought it was better than even the first Superman, and that's saying quite a ton. I even thought it stood out even in comparison to X2, my personal favorite. I figured that once my X-Men bias was taken out of the equation, they come out pretty much equal. Well, true believers, if you liked either Spider-Man or X2, you'll LOVE this movie.
There's so much good to talk about, but I'll try to keep it short. First, EVERY performance here is fantastic, even James Franco (who i think acts about as well as cardboard) brings the goods. And yes, although she starts out slowly, without a ton to play with, even Kirsten comes around by the end, delivering the movie's most memorable line (at least for Geeks) in just the way she should. Maquire is AMAZING, Molina (while not diabolical) truly captures Doc Ock, and JK Simmons continues to chew scenery and steal every scene he's in. Aunt May is perfect, and none of the cameos miss a beat. (I refuse to ruin any surprises.)
The true star, here, though, is Director Sam Raimi. He just LET'S LOOSE with this thing. Doc Ock's first big scene just SCREAMS "EVIL DEAD" and is as much fun as that sentence indicates. Spidey swinging around? That should be old hat by now, right? NO WAY-- Raimi takes it to a whole new level (with CGI that blows the first movie's out of the water), and the "Big Train Scene" is flat-out amazing.
Nothing's perfect, and there are miniscule nit-picky issues with the movie, but if you dwell on them-- you're missing the point. (And the little things missing were probably cut or shortened out of time, or will be dealt with soon...)
Where the movie excells though, is that for the first time in a superhero movie, you're not a spectator. You actually become immersed in Peter Parker's shitty life, and get just as mixed up about what he should do as he is, and that's the mark of a great movie. Peter's own personal hell, yet fight to overcome and remain a hero is what has made the comic resonate for 40 years, and it resonates in this movie.
I'd hate to call it the "best superhero movie ever" (even though it is), because that's really short-changing it. It's really just a fantastic movie all around, and those that might get caught up in "geeky superheroey-ness" of it all are probably the same people that will, to this day, refuse to read a comic book, because they're "for kids." Now, now, I realize it's a big summer blockbuster popcorn movie- and it is that. But it's so GOOD at being that, because its so much MORE, if that makes any sense.
I won't delve any deeper, because yinz probably won't want to listen to me rant about the comic book character as the modern myth, or about how both the medium (and especially the "superhero" concept) are one of the only truly American artforms, in the same way that Jazz is, so here's the final word.
It's a TON of fun, with a TON of laughs, a TON of excitement and chills, etc.
..but it's got even more characater, and more heart.
I couldn't recommend it more.
Go see it NOW-- I'm going again on Friday.
AND, as always, I'd love to hear what you have to think!
-apk
