Comics and Movies

Rating: Null/10 (2 July 2004)

Let me first state my views on comic books and movies made out of them. In my opinion, there are three things that require consideration -
Most of us have read comics when we were kids. A few of us may still read them now, when we are not kids anymore, but still subconsciously revert to 'kid-mode' when we read them. As for watching a movie however, I believe we do not automatically switch to 'kid-mode', and rare is the movie that makes us do so. This leads me to me second point -
As a kid, what was your lasting image or thought when reading the comics? Mine was (and I daresay for most people) actually bring the hero. The thrill you experienced was so genuine, the action so exciting and the outcome so awe-inspiring because it was you, as the hero, that was responsible (in your imagination, consciously or subconsciously). This brings me to the concluding third point about comics and movies -
In a movie theater however, the objective is, I feel, to show you a spectacle, rather than make you part of the spectacle. And like I mentioned above, the audience cant be taken to be in 'kid-mode', which may further explain the shift in perspective. We are shown real people, with their real human faces/mannerisms/actions/behavior/social interactions - the list goes on, resulting it being hammered into us that we are watching a hero, not imagining us being one.
It maybe because active reading requires the reader to form the events in his own mind using his imagination, but the end point is that you can never recreate the same feeling you got while reading the comic, while seeing the movie in a theater.
This installment might be similar to Spiderman 1 in that aspect, but I'd seen that one with a girl, and as long as she enjoyed it (and thought I was the hero for bringing her to see it) I didn't care two hoots about the movie. (She did, and I didn't :P). But I digress..
Seeing this movie left with me mostly happy, with a few disappointments.
The bad parts first -
Maybe I'd hyped myself for the same reading-experience and didn't get it (see reasoning above). For all the devilishly evil villains Spidey fights with, there was very little feeling of danger that passed over to the audience. Sure we saw the gimmicks like girls screaming and the ground shaking, but did we feel the appropriate terror? I know they tried to make this a movie for all ages, and hence might have had to deliberately keep it that way.
And what is it about characters thrown all around the screen, with bone-breaking force, that hardly draws a reaction? Maybe we are too used and jaded to it, but in one scene - Peter and MJ at the restaurant, Doc Ock hands out his ultimatum and then crashes Peter into the nearest wall: where was the customary whimper/anxious look from MJ? We know he can take it, they don't. A perfect place to add some of the missing 'danger' feeling, but it became just another stunt.
What exactly is it about MJ that makes her so appealing? All that we're shown of her in the movie is mostly as a nagging/demanding/quick-to-doubt-love kind of person. Okay maybe that frame of mind is certainly possible with all that she's gone through, but for sake of cinema, show us something that'll make us too fall in love with her ! Ironically, the best Kirsten Dunst looks in the movie is when she's running in the bridal gown, with a full smile on her face - just a fleeting frame.
As for the good stuff - everything else; well I'm running out of space, and most of it's been mentioned, so /skip ! I will say though, the film paid attention to detail, and that made a lot of difference.
P.S. anyone caught the reference to the Matrix where Peter tries to jump off the building (just before the "my back, my back" scene ) ?