Two years on, still absolutely amazing

[Kevin Roegele]

I still can't get over how astonishing the action scenes are in Spidey 2. Especially conpared with those of Spidey 1 (which were decent but nothing amazing). Sony admirably gave Raimi the huge amounts of money he needed to create something special on Spidey 2, and he and his team raised the bar.

Spidey 2 is truly the first time that a full-scale, city-wide, ultra-destructive comicbook battle without limits has been mastered onscreen. Whilst Superman II contains a superb climax, Spidey 2 shows things Donner & co could only dream of. When you read a comicbook, you feel anything can happen, and you genuinely get that feel from Spidey 2. Money is not an obstacle, impossible stunts are not an obstacle thanks to CGI....it's wonderful.

 

[The Joker]

Agreed, Kevin.

I remember how floored everyone was when we saw the trailer clips. Ock raised the bar when it came to special fx. And it was great to see both hero and villain have their powers utilized fully in the fight sequences.

The Academy Award was well deserved.

 

[arachnid-guy]

That excellent train seqence is just...well, amazing. Straight outta the comic book panels. Love it.

Brilliant movie, if a little stilted on some parts.

 

[matthooper]

I watch the train sequence way too much. In my opinion, it's the finest action sequence ever put on film.

 

[Spoarz™]

I absolutely love Spider-man 2, and the action sequences are some of the most spectacular I've ever seen in a film. The clock tower/train fight is the best comic book action sequence to date in my opinion. I remember first seeing it on the bigscreen on the opening day and I was just totally blown away.

 

[spider-neil]

I have to agree, I love the batmobile sequence and kong vine sequence but the train sequence just blows those two away, I've literally just now just the train sequence twice and it's as exciting now as it was in the cinema two years ago.

if spidey 3 is as exciting then sam will have something special on his hands

 

[Vile]

Octopus was underused, in both character and action scenes.

A shame, really.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

Octopus was underused, in both character and action scenes.

A shame, really.

Whilst there were certainly plenty more cool things Doc Ock could have done in the action scenes, I wouldn't say he was underused in action. The film makers raised the bar for superhero action. As for character, that's a different thread.

 

[Spoarz™]

Personally, I don't think Doc Ock was underused, though I would love to have seen more of him, just because Alfred Molina's performance was so excellent.

 

[joeythedavis]

whats with the kid, henry jackson? they go out of their way to say his name. is he a character fromt he comics that i don't know?

 

[Donald Thomas]

whats with the kid, henry jackson? they go out of their way to say his name. is he a character fromt he comics that i don't know?

Aloha,
No he does not appear in any Spidey comics. It may be Raimi's way of having a "Kid who Collects Spider-Man" type of character.
Spidey rules

 

[Kevin Roegele]

Aloha,
It may be Raimi's way of having a "Kid who Collects Spider-Man" type of character.

It's just a kid. That's all.

 

[The Joker]

Octopus was underused, in both character and action scenes.

A shame, really.

I agree he could have done with more screen time, but how was he underused in the action scenes??

He did it all. Climbed walls, manoeuvred around the train with them, blocked Spidey's webbing with his tentacles, walked on them, grabbed Spidey with them, slammed him into all kinds of things with them, tried to crush his head with them etc.

What was underused??

 

[DACrowe]

I wish Ock had more screentime, I don't think his character was underused so much as Raimi chose to keep the focus ENTIRELY on Peter Parker like in teh first movie and most likely the third, but by doing so Ock's screentime was shortchanged (as I think people will be surprised at how relatively less Sandman and Venom will have in 3).

Anyway, I'm watching this movie again for the first time in a long time on Fox....and WOW. Even with all the lame cuts, this movie still packs a punch. The SFX are great and it just genuinely has a great deal of depth and paces perfectly (IMO) while keeping the characters real (even if the diologue was a little too intentionally stilted for humor for my tastes) and emotionally involving and interesting.

This may not be as much of a break neck speed paced film (which is NOT a bad thing imo) like BB, but this is still IMO by far the best superhero movie ever made. And it gives me a lot of hope for the third as I was kind of doubting how so much can be fit into a 2 1/2 hour film or less. This makes it look better.

 

[Vile]

I agree he could have done with more screen time, but how was he underused in the action scenes??

He did it all. Climbed walls, manoeuvred around the train with them, blocked Spidey's webbing with his tentacles, walked on them, grabbed Spidey with them, slammed him into all kinds of things with them, tried to crush his head with them etc.

What was underused??

What I mean by underused in the action scenes was that we never really got to see him cut loose like in the comics - part of this, I believe, was due to the style tentacles they went with in the movie.

While definitly cool, they limited what exactly he could do - sure he could climbs wall, walk with them and block webbing...but most of time we ended up just watching Spider-Man punch Octopus in the face about a dozen and half times. Infact, most of the time he really only used two out of the four tentacles! I think if they had gone for a more stream-lined version of the tentacles, and went the whole 'Spidey can't get in close enough' kinda deal with him, we could have had something really amazing.

When Octopus was first announced I had this image in my head of Molina hovering a couple of feet off the ground, tentacles whipping every which way, Spidey bouncing around attempting to dodge them, cars being demolished, stuff like that...

Instead we got a Rock'em Sock'em Octopus. Sure, Pete can lift up a warehouse wall over MJ but he can't knock out an overweight middle aged scientist (not to expand into THAT debate again).

I always wondered why the tentacles looked like something a construction company would use when they were created to manipulate fusion - there were some great concept art of tentacles in the Spidey II Making Of book that would have been excellent.

Honestly, after the bankheist went sour who WOULDNT have wanted to see Octopus go all 'Count Down' on the cops asses instead of kidnapping an old lady and running? Cops opening fire, tentacles deflecting bullets, smashing the cop cars, taking out the cops, THEN making a run for it only for Spidey to follow and continue the fight on the building side.

Hell, in Spidey 3 it looks like ol' Sandy is going to do some major property damage...why not Octopus?

I dont know...personally, I just find it hard to watch the movie again, especially the action scenes and not shake my head and think, "God! What a missed opportunity! Let the man cut loose! He's Doctor freakin' Octopus!"

 

[Kevin Roegele]

When Octopus was first announced I had this image in my head of Molina hovering a couple of feet off the ground, tentacles whipping every which way, Spidey bouncing around attempting to dodge them, cars being demolished, stuff like that...

Me too, and now that you mention it, I see your point.

I dont know...personally, I just find it hard to watch the movie again, especially the action scenes and not shake my head and think, "God! What a missed opportunity! Let the man cut loose! He's Doctor freakin' Octopus!"

Perhaps Ock didn't go all out into destructive mayhem, but the fact that the character was created convincingly and suspended disbelief far outweighs that, surely?

 

[Chris Wallace]

I still can't get over how astonishing the action scenes are in Spidey 2. Especially conpared with those of Spidey 1 (which were decent but nothing amazing). Sony admirably gave Raimi the huge amounts of money he needed to create something special on Spidey 2, and he and his team raised the bar.

Spidey 2 is truly the first time that a full-scale, city-wide, ultra-destructive comicbook battle without limits has been mastered onscreen. Whilst Superman II contains a superb climax, Spidey 2 shows things Donner & co could only dream of. When you read a comicbook, you feel anything can happen, and you genuinely get that feel from Spidey 2. Money is not an obstacle, impossible stunts are not an obstacle thanks to CGI....it's wonderful.

A post by KR that I fully agree with!

 

[Chris Wallace]

Agreed, Kevin.

I remember how floored everyone was when we saw the trailer clips. Ock raised the bar when it came to special fx. And it was great to see both hero and villain have their powers utilized fully in the fight sequences.

The Academy Award was well deserved.

Quite true. But I expect the Sandman bouts will blow it away. That bit in the armored car-straight off the ASM cover in which they first met!

 

[DACrowe]

Em, in terms of action I was much more disappointed with GG's fights than Ock's. I think it is mostly budget but GG wasn't given his ariel due, something SM3 will partially make up for it seems.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

A post by KR that I fully agree with!

It only took five years!

 

[Kevin Roegele]

Em, in terms of action I was much more disappointed with GG's fights than Ock's. I think it is mostly budget but GG wasn't given his ariel due, something SM3 will partially make up for it seems.

Agreed. Whilst the action is fun and the final slugfest is effectively brutal, it rarely realises the potential of the two characters' powers, and on occasional forgets them altogether.

 

[Stevens25]

I just watched Spidey 2 again today and I love it even more than I did before! The trailer alone still gives me goosebumps.t:

 

[Vile]

Perhaps Ock didn't go all out into destructive mayhem, but the fact that the character was created convincingly and suspended disbelief far outweighs that, surely?

...actually, no. =)

Is there a reason we couldnt have had both? I don't see why not.

Cool pic, though.

 

[TwilightPro101]

Still one of the best.

 

[November Rain]

I still can't get over how astonishing the action scenes are in Spidey 2. Especially conpared with those of Spidey 1 (which were decent but nothing amazing). Sony admirably gave Raimi the huge amounts of money he needed to create something special on Spidey 2, and he and his team raised the bar.

Spidey 2 is truly the first time that a full-scale, city-wide, ultra-destructive comicbook battle without limits has been mastered onscreen. Whilst Superman II contains a superb climax, Spidey 2 shows things Donner & co could only dream of. When you read a comicbook, you feel anything can happen, and you genuinely get that feel from Spidey 2. Money is not an obstacle, impossible stunts are not an obstacle thanks to CGI....it's wonderful.

I'd put Hulk's battles as the first full scale ones, which were done very well, especially from the hulk buster base all the way to san fran.

but yeah, the fights are alright to look at but i get let down by knowing that ock and spidey aren't supposed to interact in the way they did. If it was scorpion instead of ock, then i would be able to cope.