Everyone knows the book is always better than the movie. And every comic book fan knows the movie is always full of wild inaccuracies that sully the very heart and soul of the characters portrayed. There's just no explaining to some people that the paneled page and the big screen are simply two different mediums with two different sets of requirements. For example, the thought bubble translates to the voice-over, and extensive use of voice-over in an action movie is a big mistake.
Keeping the problem of translation in mind, Spiderman 2 succeeds at almost every turn. Obviously some details were changed for the screen, but the movie stays true to the charming earnestness of the comic book.
The sequel continue s where Spiderman left off. Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is bumbling through New York City, failing school, getting fired from his job and living in a run-down apartment. The pressures of being Spiderman have left him unable to juggle school, two jobs and his friendships with Harry Osborn (James Franco) and Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst). The latter is about to be married (though still pining for Peter's affections) and the former, who now owns his deceased dad's company Ozcorp, is about to unveil the first nuclear fusion power source, which is designed by Dr. Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina).
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Suffice it to say, everything goes nuts. The rest of the film is a combination of fabulous special effects, epic battles and soap opera-esque love triangles. But CGI isn't what lends the film its uncanny comic book feel. Despite all the special effects, it's the performances themselves. Every actor overacts just slightly. And it works brilliantly. They become what good comic book characters have always been: representatives of familiar emotions.
Each character goes through a struggle between two poles. Peter Parker wonders if he should give up being Spiderman and pursue Mary Jane or continue and abandon any relationship for fear of putting loved ones in danger. Harry Osborn struggles between the need to avenge his father's death at the hands of Spiderman and the desire to remain loyal to Peter Parker, who he thinks is Spidey's best friend. Each character has his or her own individual struggle and each one is driven primarily by that struggle.
Of course, real people don't work that way. Each one of us has more than one conflict in our lives at any given time. But comic books are often that simplistic, and the film structures itself around that simplicity. When we watch Spiderman fight Doc Ock, we're also watching both of them fight themselves. Even though most characters are limited to the familiar punch-and-quip style of comic book fight scenes, there is an underlying psychological tension that remains unspoken but heightens the effect of each battle.
Accordingly there are not simply heroes and villains in Spiderman 2. Each character is both, so when the wonderfully choreographed fight scenes happen it's not a matter of not knowing whom to root for. On some level, we want everyone to come out on top.
Sam Raimi has proven himself over and over as a smart, deceptively simple director. Of course, the action scenes and special effects are loud, bright and enormous. Raimi also knows how to counterpoint these scenes with surprisingly simple and effective one-on-one encounters between each of the principal characters.
Credit must also be given to novelist Michael Chabon, who concocted the plot. Chabon won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, a book about two comic book writers. He also wrote Wonder Boys, which made it to the screen and starred Tobey Maguire. Obviously Chabon has a deep-seated love for comic books and his ability to construct a plot that successfully combines the conventions of both comic books and movies is admirable.
The Spiderman series is part of Marvel Comics' recent flood of licensed material. It seems to do best by its most beloved characters, as the four X-Men and Spiderman movies have been excellent.
With the onslaught of summer action movies, it's nice to see that occasionally Hollywood can make a film that manages to remain intelligent while blowing up lots of big stuff.