Web Spinning

"Spider-Man 2" is almost entirely an improvement upon the 2002 original. There are several fine threads, and although not all of its limbs are followed through, there is some consistency, from the level of the characters' double lives up to the meta-narrative constructions.

Most of the nested stories involve some web of lies being unmasked. There's the truth behind the story of Uncle Ben's death between Peter and Aunt May. For Harry, there's the secret of Spiderman's identity and the mask of the Green Goblin. Doc Ock is lied to by his mechanical limbs. There's the love story between Peter and Mary Jane, which remains unrequited because of the secret identity. Like Clark Kent, Peter also works for a newspaper that gives a meta-narrative about the superhero to the outer story of the superhero that is the movie; except, here, it's a tabloid that lies about Spiderman's heroism. And Mary Jane is a stage actress who performs in, of all plays, Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest." Get it? It's quite the balancing act that the filmmakers managed to put this all together so well--even though some parts don't quite fit, such as the suggested attraction the landlord's daughter has for Peter.

Another part of the cinematic template here seems to have been "Superman II" (1980), which also involved a superhero sacrificing his powers to pursue his love interest before, in the Donner Cut at least, a father figure from beyond the grave guided him back to being a savior (although Aunt May's speech here is even more decisive, which, I suppose is more akin to the theatrical cut of "Superman II"). The train sequence even includes Spiderman in the Christ crucifixion pose twice over--during the heroism and, again, when he's lifted by the passengers--which is more obvious than the corresponding bus scene in "Superman II," if not the Trinitarian talk about "the son becomes the father and the father becomes the son," but not so blatant as the Christ allegories in, say, "Superman Returns" (2006) or "Man of Steel" (2013).

Moreover, there's more of the "Spydercam" or swooping camerawork than in the first movie; plus, the rest of the picture is better composed, too. There's no more of "The Matrix"-style bullet-time photography and Neo-like moves for Spidey like last time. There's no more of the steady static shots here on a static-masked villain like the Green Goblin, either. Indeed, the villain here is a total improvement (which credits the argument that the success of a superhero movie largely depends on its supervillain), and while there's still more Goblin stuff being set up, it's mercifully subjected here to subplot, as opposed to what happened in the disastrous third movie. Even when Spidey isn't swinging between buildings, there's a sense this time that the film is still moving at a lively pace--whether innovative editing, the odd freeze-frame or slow-motion shot, the Spidey-sense shots or cutting and shooting based on Doc Ock's thundering approach. I love the use of "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" in the score. It also helps that the action set pieces are excellent. I even like the cartoonish look of the bank robbery, what with the bags full of coins and an elderly woman being thrown around like a rag doll. The CGI of the first movie, on the other hand, bothered me some for its cartoon appearance. Not so here. Doc Ock's limbs look fine, including in a horror-film-inspired scene; Spidey actually looks rather human performing much of his acrobatics and even more human when he fails to perform them; and the train sequence is fantastic.