Fanfare for a common man

Rating: 9/10 (16 July 2004)

It's back, and it promised razzle-dazzle galore and a tremendous amount of ass-kicking to go with it. The question, however, lied in if they would be able to equal the first one's uniqueness. They should, they created it, but the Wachowskis failed and they were masters and commanders of their creation. Good to know that, for the first time in years, the sequel beats its own predecessor. The bar was raised very high, the responsibility was huge. But with great responsibility, as the movie still says, comes also great power. And such power comes not from the jaw dropping set-pieces or the superior CGI. It breathes from its script, teaching a Jacksonesque lesson to Hollywood studios that movies can't rely in effects to amaze its audiences. They got to have a huge heart, and bathe everyone who sees it in its glow and its magic. To succeed, you gotta have great actors, and, most of all, great stories. And the way this story rages through the screen is unbelievable, all centered in one man: Peter Parker, a simple guy that, like many people of his age, goes through changes and personal conflict. That and a spider costume. We can be watching a CGI-filled scene with heavy explosions and hyperkinetic action, but we never forget that behind the mask is a human character, who suffers due to the incredible powers he has been given. And boy, does he suffer. Rarely a leading character was so put to the test in a Hollywood blockbuster. And I'm not talking about Doctor Octopus' fightback capabilities (which make him one of the toughest movie villains of recent memory). I'm talking about the way the way Parker, the man, dives to hell and comes back. And this is what really puts "Spider Man 2" among the best of the year: it is a haunting tale of fall and ascension of a simple guy who is trapped in many of life's webs, the story of the person beneath the layer. And such situation has its high point in a sublime sequence, after the showdown in the elevated subway (won't give it away). Of course, all the things that surround it are essential to the glorious sights presented here: it is still a joy to see Spidey flying among the skyscrapers to the powerful choirs of Danny Elfman's score. But after that you can always count on an having an even more powerful dialogue scene which could be taken from a melodrama. The movie's ending, unlike the first one, is such a punch for such an experience that it leaves you craving for the third picture. Superior fare, an unexpected move from Hollywood, that has learned much with the "Rings" trilogy, specially that the audience is getting more and more demanding these days, and the bar is always rising...