SPIDERMAN 2

You should go see Spiderman 2. I know everyone is saying you should go, and the last time that happened the movie was a freeze-framed, circularly wiped lemon, but Spidey 2 doesn’t disappoint. That’s probably because I’m not nearly as invested in it as I am in Harry Potter, but it’s still a great flick. Even midweek. Even sitting near a guy with the breath of a dead badger that itself died choking on carrion. Even beside another guy who laughed too loud and far too deliberately. All the things they say are true: the movie’s got heart, actual character development, and a hero of the people, from the people. But the action scenes are also fantastically assembled. All engagements with tentacular Doc Ock are sweaty palmed endeavors, fraught with break-neck action that you can still follow and judicious but creative use of webbing. In fact, I can’t remember a movie in which the action truly impressed me more, not since the Matrix at least.

The one thing that unsettled me about this sequel, and I can’t remember if it was true of the original, is its skirting of the line between heavy irony and earnest schmaltz. Some characters, like the newspaper editor, are pure cartoons, surpassing melodrama and landing squarely in the realm of caricature. Scenes with Mary Jane, or when Spidey interacts with the public, are often so heavy handed that I wondered whether I should have been laughing or not. And then they turn around and give very heartfelt soliloquies, like Peter’s aunts’ when she was moving out. In most cases both kinds of scene work well, but they’re occasionally jarring. Perhaps the cartoonish moments serve to accommodate the still jerky, obviously CG movements of the masked Spidey. Any movie featuring vigilantes donning primary colored spandex runs the risk of taking itself a little too seriously (recall The Hulk), but it’s not too far from there to Adam West. I guess it’s tough.

Regardless, Spiderman 2 is well worth the ticket price. Don’t wait for the DVD.