Play it again, Sam!

Rating: 10/10 (7 July 2004)

To anyone currently contemplating seeing the latest and greatest of eye candy festivals, "Spider-Man 2", I have a few words of warning. If you're looking for a movie without any substance riddled with impossible and repetitive action sequences, or a film that presents virtually no talent in any regard, or even a short waste of time, don't see this work.
The folks at Sony (it is Sony, right?) apparently have decided to wise up a bit. The first film was a nostalgic trip for those of us old enough to recall the actual pulp-and-ink Spider-Man of both comic books and strips (yes people, there used to be a strip! It's in these things called newspapers, which people really don't pay as much attention to anymore with the public saturation of this whole internet thingy bobber); however, as a piece of art, it barely avoided the Absolute Suck factor. How could it be? A cast of veritable actors and actresses, hosting several actors both nominated and elected winners of recognition in the past--you'd think this film would be a shoe-in! Unfortunately, aside from the kiss in the rain, the movie produced s***. In fact, it produced something even less than s*** that I lack the creativity to apply here. So what was the problem?
The writing sucked.
Solution?
Hire a Pulitzer-Prize winning comic book afficionado to co-write the sequel.
Entrez, Mr. Michael Chabon. "Who?", you say? (Or you probably did) Mr. Chabon has been wowing the literary community since his debut novel "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" arrived on the scene in 1989. His lush romantic prose, his poignant moments of true awareness of the characters, the sad rueful humor of the protagonist--these things are part of the recipe that make his writing amazing. You might recall a fairly unknown Tobey Maguire actually playing a supporting role that earned him an Oscar nod for Male Supporting Actor in a little film Chabon wrote as a novel some time ago--"Wonderboys". Is it possible that Maguire influenced this decision? Entirely. One would think he was intelligent enough to have done so.
With the addition of Chabon, the writing apparently took an incredible turn for the better. What was once a two-dimensional saga starting off on the wrong foot became what it should be--the tale of a modern and modest hero. (The circumstances of his origin and the corniness surrounding it are irrelevant at this point) Instead of providing awkward moments of displaced pity, Maguire's angst injected into his character has matured in the new structure, bringing the audience closer to empathizing with our friendly neighborhood webslinger. Alfred Molina brought a sense of understanding to the position of the villain, without overemphasizing his character to melodramatic proportion as Dafoe had. Dafoe is a great actor of merit, and was arguably a great choice for the role--but done as it was, it was laughable. The problem is, regardless of the supporting cast, this fiction is about Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. Any misdirection of the audience's attentions to the secondary players causes a disruption of plot line. Ultimately, streamlining our focus on these two--even with an additional few minutes beyond the first one's runtime--brought this "saga" to its proper course. My congratulations to Sony, and what's more, to Michael Chabon for doing what had to be done.