Product: Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Rating: 5.0
The Immaculate Reconception
The second film in the Spider-Man series is the most physically and emotionally realistic, as well as mythically and philosophically relevant, American super-hero film to date. Philosophically, it is an entry point into post-existential America, intelligently but simply emphasizing the idea of the individual and the importance of conscious choices in the shaping of world around him or her. Emotionally, we see in Peter Parker an intelligent but otherwise normal man who often says and does stupid things, and we see a realistic emotional evolution of the man. Parker isn't a simple character, and he has intrinsic faults and conflicts. Most people can relate to this on a very personal leverl. We also see an intense interconncted, um, web of relationships between every character in the film, and not some typical action merde of the invulnerable leader/hero that is about five, six hundred years dead now but still ridiculously prevalent in films and novels. I speak of those beautiful near perfect ideals of manhood who perform acts of heroism and maintain ideal personal relationships, in other words doing things which are impossible to acheive even in our fantasies, and yet we see portrayed more than often in our culture's stories. On the mythic level (and this, of course, originates from the original comic book level concept), this film puts forth a new Hero prototype that has not yet been seen and will not perhaps be fully appreciated for many years to come. A film like this, and I cannot namer another like it, deftly reshapes the modern concept of what a hero is, and the production does it with a wonderful sense of humor and professional sangfroid. And, hey, it has some of the most kick-arse fight scenes ever put to film.