OT - Spiderman: movie Version or comic book Version?

[Caduceus]

I am a comic book fan, mostly on the Marvel side of things. I read Fantastic Four, Avengers, X-Men, etc when I was younger, just before Image became a split-off with the more violent Spawn and Savage Dragon.

I have read a fair amount of Spider-Man comics, and I must say that the first movie nailed the origin very well with a modern updating. The trivial things like the webs coming out of Parker himself make more sense considering he's had his genome spliced with a radioactive spider.

Mary Jane was Parker's first crush. Now, I haven't read all the stuff from the sixties, but he wanted to go out with her. It didn't work out so he ended up with Gwen Stacy who was killed as a result of Parker's scuffle with Green Goblin.

CGI swinging thru the New York skyline aside (some of it was good, some bad), Sam Raimi, the director, did another great job of keeping the heart of Spider Man in this movie.

One of the greatest moments in comic book history is Parker walking away from the garbage can with the suit hanginging out with the words "Spider-Man no more!"

There was also a great nod to Maguire's real-life back injury which almost kept him out of SM2.

Maguire's character's interaction with Aunt May continues to be great, especially their discussions regarding guilt over the death of Uncle Ben in the first movie and how they both feel completely responsible for the events that transpired.

As you can probably tell, I really enjoyed the second movie. It boils down to a great summer movie based on a classic comic book. If you don't like popcorn movies with a pretty good character-driven story, obviously this isn't for you. But, if you've been waiting for Hollywood to get a comic book right, this is your ticket.

Wildcard

EDIT: For a good time, when you're browsing in a bookstore, pick up Secret Wars trade paper back and flip to issue #3 where Spider-Man takes on the X-Men and wins! Incidentally, Secret Wars #8 is the origin of the black costume which proceeded to cause a lot of headaches later on...

[ July 07, 2004, 02:00: Message edited by: wildcard06 ]

[bearclaw]

As far as sequels go Spiderman 2 ranks as one of the best. The storyline stays true enough to the comic story that the small details (such as the webs and Gwen/MJ) are small enough to ignore IMO.

I loved the movie. Couldn't get it out my head for days.

[Randallw]

Originally posted by gregebowman:
There are too many examples of how it's been done wrong (Highlander 2 is the most obvious in my memory).

Highlander 2?. Sorry doesn't exist. There was the original Highlander then the sequel Highlander 3. Sorry, there is no such movie as Highlander 2. no such thing. none, I say!.

[dogscoff]

...webs coming out of Parker himself...

i wonder if they 'borrowed' this idea from the late, great Spiderman 2099 series.

/me used to love the 2099 titles...

One of the greatest moments in comic book history is Parker walking away from the garbage can with the suit hanginging out with the words "Spider-Man no more!"

IIRC the time Parker gave up on being Spidey in the comics was when they introduced the Sinsister Six. Let me see, there was the Vulture, Sandman, Electro, Kraven the Hunter (Who looked like at least three of the village ppl), Mysterio and Doc Oc. They captured Aunt May and forced Parker to fight each of them in turn. Dumbasses should have ganged up on him, but hey- that's supervillains for ya.

Maguire's character's interaction with Aunt May continues to be great, especially their discussions regarding guilt over the death of Uncle Ben in the first movie and how they both feel completely responsible for the events that transpired.

One of the great things about their relationship in the comics that didn't show up in the first film is that Aunt May *hates* spiderman- she thinks he's creepy and nasty. When she met Doc Oc, however, she thought he was a perfect gentlemant, and told Peter off for picking on his 'disability'. I hope some of that gets put into the second (or third) film. Of course, there's a reason she always disliked Spidey, revealed on her death bed, which is that sh***THIS SENTENCE EDITTED BY SPOILER POLICE***bout him.

What's next? How about a huge Hollywood Spidey/X/Daredevil/Hulk crossover? But really, they should be making 2099 into a huge, 16-part series of films...

--
"Why, it's the offensively out-of-proportion Mrs Tammy Ladhands."
Lethargic Lad taking the piss out of Spiderman in issue 1- or was that in issue 2? Ummm...

[bearclaw]

For those who saw the movie, and those who know Spiderman comics, the next villian is obvious. I won't say anymore on that for spoiler issuse.

I'm hoping to see Veneom in a future Spiderman movie, but I'm not sure how they'd pull that genisis off... Venom has to be my favorite Comic Villan.

Can always hope.

[gregebowman]

As far as crossovers go, I'd love to see Spiderman, Daredevil and the Punisher team up. There were a couple of comics like that, and it would be neat to see on film. Thomas Payne has already stated he would love to be in a Spiderman movie, but we all know that Ben Affleck has given up his tights. I'm sure they can find somebody else to fill the role, like they did with Batman. For those that don't know it, the Punisher origin happened in Spiderman (#127, i think). I don't see it happening, but it would be nice.

[PvK]

Originally posted by gregebowman:
PvK, I think the reason why some of those movies stink is that the direct/producer/executive productor relied too much on special effects. ...

I agree that's one of the essential shortcomings of films like the recent SW flicks. Two others are the lack of convincing terror during combat (reducing the events to unemotional CGI contests), and the bad physics I mentioned before (making the motions look unconvincing and stupid, to people who have seen real objects move, or the pacing of real fighting and panic situations).

Episode IV showed rebels who were afraid of the stormtroopers bLasting them, and with good reason. Episodes I-II had kids who were too young to act, doing impossible physics-defying and common-sense-insulting stunts and risking their lives without a second thought or even seeming concerned at all, and laying waste to bunches of unemotional opponents as a sort of "oh yeah, they died" side-effect.

Reaction times (in Episode IV) were also NOT fake-o instant reactions where the only pause between gymnastic combat is for unbelievable blase one-liners ("I'm so cool, I am not at all concerned by your CGI powers. Watch my CGI be scripted to (yawn) defeat you. Now, watch my CGI not need to take any time to catch its breath, get its bearings, tell friend from foe, catch its balance, or anything that weak non-CGI beings need to do."). Episode IV showed sweating terrified rebels getting bLasted, and used actual WW2 dogfight films to choreograph the maneuvers of fighters in combat. Episodes I-II had nonsense like jumping thousands of feet onto speeding moving vehicles, and catching light sabres from similar distances, without breaking any bones or failing to grab hold of things, and plenty of generally way-too-fast and way-too-maneuverable and way-too-easy maneuvers by the way-too-unconcerned pilots.

Ok, pardon the side-topic rant. Ahem.

PvK

[ July 07, 2004, 19:02: Message edited by: PvK ]