An Epic Movie

Rating: 9/10 (1 May 2009)

A good superhero movie is a perfect tool to speak about deep philosophy to common people. Forget about Tarkovskij, Bergman and Kieslovsky: this Spiderman2 touches all the chords of human morality and nature. It's all about choice: a normal man have to chose between a superhuman nature and a normal life. This is a perfect representation of the dual nature of Spiderman: the heroic one (imagined by the Objectivist designer Steve Ditko) and the imperfect one (imagined by the Liberal Stan Lee). The superhuman nature allow him to save humanity, but this is a full time mission imply the sacrifice of all the real joys of life: love, friendships, career and culture. The human nature allow all of that, but imply weakness before the Evil. And then the Evil comes, under the guise of a failed scientist who doesn't want to admit his mistake and that is possessed by its own science. He's a good guy who doesn't want to accept the weakness of a normal life. Fighting the Evil, Spiderman can find a synthesis between the superhuman and the human: it's possible to make love and war in the same time. A good script makes this movie enjoyable for all audiences. It mixes all the ingredients of a very good action movie (full of new spectacular special effects) and a very good comedy. It's good both for Spiderman's fans and for people who never read a comic strip. The cast is really strong, dominated by an existential Tobey McGuire and a brave red Kirsten Dunst, a perfect image of a heroic woman. The timing was perfect: this movie was in theaters in 2004 and America was in a political crossroad. Most probably, Spiderman helped many Americans to make their choice in a period of a morally difficult war. Well done, Sam Raimi!