Spiderman 2 (4/10)

This is neither good nor interesting unless you like films where people can fly and beat the heck out of each other with no visible effect, no script to speak of, and no story to speak of. It’s just hour after hour of Spiderman, aka Peter Palmer, (Tobey Maquire) attacking Doc Ock/Dr. Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina) and vice-versa. The Doc has a bunch of mechanical arms that allow him to climb up and down buildings and do other nefarious things with his octopus-like arms. Spiderman’s a short, skinny guy who can fly, climb buildings, and create his spiderweb stuff by pointing his fingers, and it’s strong enough to stop a speeding train. The special effects are spectacular, but enough is enough.

In addition to the special effects, the sound is exceptional. At one point, Doc Ock is coming and it sounds and feels like an earthquake.

Kirsten Dunst plays Spiderman’s love interest, Mary Jane Watson, although I can’t figure out why.

Oh, at one point Palmer doubts he wants to be Spiderman, so he loses his powers. Like he jumps off a tall building only to find out he can’t fly anymore. Not to worry, he lives to regain his powers. Then he has some relationship problems with Watson, which result in her making a relatively incomprehensible decision.

I can’t figure out why anybody would want to waste 127 minutes sitting through this thing, either. The only good part of it for me was that I missed the first 20 minutes and had to sit through “only” 107 minutes. I’d rather read the comic book, and I have no interest in ever doing that. I certainly don’t want to spend any more time writing about it.

June 26, 2004

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