Spiderman 2..

  • is really New York 2 feat. Spiderman (also feat. the return of New York public spirit)
  • suggests that Spidersman 1-3 will all feature villains with voices in their heads. Which may make it easier to attract the stars, in fairness.
  • twice sets us up to make Doc Ock more dependent on his arms, bottles it both times (by outright ignoring it on one occasion). Probably related to the previous comment – more Otto Octavius = more chance for Molina to Act (but not really – see Ian McKellan going over and under the top in the XMen films)
  • is more enjoyable because Peter Parker is such a nebbish (or F*#k-up as fellow New Yorker Eamon might say) (or nebbish, as millions of fellow New Yorkers might say). He isn’t anymore, but he used to be, what Marvel was about: an ordinary stiff, with the same problems as the rest of us (and in this case, unequal to them) despite the powers.

  • plays up one of the things that’s nagging him – the superheroes constant trouble (and easiest source of angst), his real identity. Spiderman’s got enemies, he says, despite the fact that he doesn’t. It’s sort of annoying to imagine what enemies he might already have had between 1&2, much as it’s annoying to imagine what exactly is in the box of comics that Aunt May throws out at some point. They can’t be Marvel, they can’t be not-Marvel (it might have been nice for them to be The Escapist, but that’s now a (not particularly good) non-Marvel comic). The comics world not just rubbing but grating against the constraints of the real world.
  • doesn’t improve on its Bruce Campbell cameo. In other news, bear still shitting popes – “We really wish he’d stop” say anxious cardinals.
  • raises suspicion that the swooping through the air stuff looks too much like the upcoming video game, but in general this reverses the original’s record: the action scenes look fantastic, the Doc Ock arms look so alive, and sinister from the get-go.
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