The 2004 movie “Spider-Man 2” is a film that is close to my heart. When I decided to undertake the project of articulating why I love it, I quickly realized that I could go on and on. I will try to cover it all in 2 parts, but to adequately capture it, it may actually be 3. To begin, I’m going to present this in sections, each beginning with the same letters. First off, we need to think about the context. Or what I’m going to call…
Continuing
Story
At the very end of 2002’s “Spider-Man” Peter left Mary Jane in tears, not to mention broke his
own heart. He chose to not reciprocate
the feelings MJ had declared she had for him.
The film ends with Peter choosing responsibility over heart. It’s a noble, inspiring end to the film, for
sure. But what are the ramifications of
Peter’s decision? “Spider-Man 2” gives us the answer.
Consistent
Suffering
Act one of the film shows that nothing is going right in
Peter’s life. He is so strapped for cash
that he takes a second job as a pizza deliveryman, which he loses because he
was late (again) in delivering it.
Why? Because he was saving lives
as Spider-Man. His grades are slipping;
he is late to classes. Why? Because of his duties as Spider-Man. His relationship with Mary Jane deteriorates
from her longing glances at him in the beginning of the film, to her referring
to him as “a great big jerk” towards the end.
Why? Because he was stopping
crime as Spider-Man, which caused him to be late to MJ’s play. Peter’s life is falling apart, because of
Spider-Man.
Compelling
Super-villain
“Spider-Man 2”
has an intriguing, menacing villain.
Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus is a formidable foe. But when we first meet him, he is Otto
Octavius. He just wants to benefit
mankind by realizing his dream of creating renewable, sustainable, energy. Otto quickly befriends Peter. Both he, his wife Rosie, and Peter chat at
length the night before Otto’s big demonstration. Ultimately, his experiment fails; four
mechanical arms are welded to his body.
Quickly it becomes apparent that Doctor Octopus, or Doc Ock, is a
physical threat. Director Sam Raimi does
a great job of capturing this when the camera literally shakes as Doc Ock is
off-screen, but approaching.
Complex
Situation
Another fascinating aspect of “Spider-Man 2” is the storyline when Peter begins to lose his spider
powers. When I was younger, I didn’t
understand why this was happening, but I get it now. This was a case of “mind over matter.” There are buried emotions at work here,
manifesting in the loss of his powers.
Primarily he is heartsick over a sad development regarding Mary Jane;
and it’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back. But let me back up.
There’s a vitally important scene where Peter is devastated
to learn that Mary Jane had accepted John Jameson’s marriage proposal. In the next scene, Spidey goes from web
slinging, to losing his powers yet again.
Further, in that previous scene, where Peter are Otto are chatting the
night before the experiment, Otto had stated that love should never be kept a
secret. “If you keep something as
complicated as love inside,” he continued, “It’ll make you sick.” Also when Peter goes to a doctor to see
what’s wrong with him, the doctor flat-out tells him he is fine; it is all in
his mind. He asks if Peter had gone
through heartbreak or bad dreams. Peter
focuses on the bad dreams example, but it’s heartbreak.
Cinematic
Shock
Peter states that he is Spider-Man “in his dreams”, but he
keeps losing his powers and falling off a wall.
The well-meaning doctor suggests that maybe he doesn’t need to be
Spider-Man. “You always have a choice,
Peter,” the doctor says. Those words
lead to Peter having a chat with Uncle Ben in a daydream of sorts. He tells Ben that he wants a life of his
own. And he resolutely declares, “I’m
Spider-Man no more.” He throws his Spidey
suit into a trash can. I’ve called this cinematic shock because very rarely do
you see this decision made by the protagonist in a superhero film.
In conclusion, someone is wondering: what’s the relevance
of digging into “Spiderman 2” in 2022? Quite a lot.
First, while I dislike the
phrase “no good deed goes unpunished”, it seems to fit Peter in this movie. Whatever good he does just results in him
getting kicked in the teeth. Can’t we
all relate to this on some level? I know
I can. Secondly, I’m leaving this on a bit of a cliffhanger, but obviously
there’s more to come. And I submit that Peter’s
example in this film inspires me, even to this very day. He teaches us that the cost for doing the
right thing is high – perhaps higher than ever before – but it’s still so worth
it.
To be continued!
Kevin
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