7/2/04 Part 2

So I am going to switch subjects, which is why I'm posting a new entry. I saw Spiderman 2 on opening night, and just wanted to put up a few thoughts. Don't worry - no spoilers. Though I might think that suspense (as in not knowing what's going to happen) is the "lowest" form of entertainment, I can appreciate the disappointment of knowing a movie's end before I've seen it. But just a clarification of what I meant in the previous statement. I like surprises and plot development as much as the next guy. But what I really like about movies or books or any story in general is not WHAT happens, but WHY it happens. So I really get a kick out of 2nd, 3rd and 4th viewings of a movie. Just to see the subtleties, the things you miss on the first viewing - it's great.

But I digress. I liked Spiderman 2. I actually didn't really like the first one when I originally saw it. I liked it better the second time, which was a week ago in preparation for Spiderman 2. One of the main undercurrents of the films that I generally liked about the movies is the Peter Parker/Spiderman struggle. Now, that's a pretty obvious one. But I like the way they do it. Heroes aren't interesting when they don't have a human side to them - and what I mean by human is essentially pain and brokenness. We want to know that our heroes bleed, literally and figuratively, that they struggle, love, are lonely, fruitlessly desire, all those kinds of things. They wouldn't be interesting if they didn't. So that's a great theme that runs through any kind of hero myth. And what makes them a hero in the end isn't that they don't feel those things, but that they're able to put them aside or behind them, and rise to the challenge of doing things an ordinary person could never dream of doing. The added kicker in all this is that the hero usually also struggles with an insane amount of pressure and expectation which can never be satiated. Anyway, I wasn't a big Tobey Maguire fan, but I think he's great in this role. My disclaimer is that I haven't read the comics, so there wasn't any standard that he had to meet up to for me. I just think he plays the Peter Parker role, as the films want to portray him, really well. He can express so much of PP's repression and struggle through his voice, it's really great. Even though he seems like his voice is the same all the time. Anyway, if you haven't seen the 2nd one yet, go out and watch, help it break all the records. Just kidding. But seriously, if you go, don't take it too seriously, but also think about the word "identity." I feel like that issue fleshes itself out in a lot of different ways during the movie. Good times.