Spider-Man (2004) Movie Info
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Movie Name | Spider-Man 2 (2004) |
| Director | Sam Raimi |
| Screenplay Writer | Alvin Sargent (Story: Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, Michael Chabon) |
| Based on Novel by | Marvel Comics character created by Stan Lee & Steve Ditko |
| Lead Actors | Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Alfred Molina |
| Cast | Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Alfred Molina, James Franco, Rosemary Harris, J.K. Simmons, Donna Murphy, Daniel Gillies |
| Genre | Action, Adventure, Superhero |
| Release Date | June 30, 2004 (United States) |
| Duration | 2h 7m (127 minutes) |
| Budget | ~$200 million |
| Language | English |
| Country | United States |
| Box Office (Worldwide) | ~$789 million |
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Summary
A fairly faithful comic book origin that manages to have a ludicrous story attached to it on film.
Review
Spider-Man’s comic stories have always been more about his personal trials and tragedies than dazzling superheroic adventures and it was with this in mind that Sam Raimi took on the task of imagining Marvel’s most popular hero on the big screen. Unfortunately, this suffers the same syndrome as the first Superman movie the origin and character stuff is much more interesting than the Green Goblin storyline, even if the world shown on screen is portrayed dizzingly.
It’s the casting that drives this movie Tobey Maguire does a splendid job of portraying high-school student Peter Parker, who gets bitten by a genetically modified spider and soon finds himself endowed with its proportionate strength and abilities, tragically discovering that his Uncle Ben’s lesson of “with great power comes great reponsibility” is not just hollow words when he fails to stop a robber. Kirsten Dunst plays a Mary Jane that’s completely unlike the comics version but still manages to be a character that you care about.
Willem Defoe seems to swing wildly between actually wanting to be in the movie and being so hammy that he’s about to be sent to the Armour plant to get processed and canned and it’s pretty jarring to the viewer. The real prize, though, goes to Law And Order alumnus J.K. Simmons, who perfectly portrays Peter’s constantly abusive, hilarious boss, J. Jonah Jameson.
As I said, the plot is completely secondary to the spectacularly realized world presented by Raimi and his cast, even if they never explain how he went from sweats with a badly drawn spider to having space age polymer costume. It’s in the second movie where everything seems to fall into place perfectly, but this is still well worth watching.
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