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Why Spider-Man 2, after 16 years, is still the best Spider-Man film: a thread.
The most common thing for a superhero film to be about is: can a normal person become as great as a superhero? This applies to Batman '89, Spider-Man 1, Man of Steel, Iron Man, and so on.
Why Spider-Man 2, after 16 years, is still the best Spider-Man film: a thread.
The most common thing for a superhero film to be about is: can a normal person become as great as a superhero? This applies to Batman '89, Spider-Man 1, Man of Steel, Iron Man, and so on.
Spider-Man 2 is about something else; it provides pure humanization that no other adaptation has: can a SUPERHERO become as great as a normal person?
Unlike other iterations, Raimi's brings the hero UP to the level of Peter, rather than the reverse. That's what makes it special.
Unlike other iterations, Raimi's brings the hero UP to the level of Peter, rather than the reverse. That's what makes it special.
No matter how cathartic others are, the conclusion is more about becoming "super": a normal person *finally* being as cool as Spider-Man, by believing in their ability to have cool powers, or getting to the point in the script where they can use them. It doesn't seem as real.
Real life isn't that easy. Spider-Man 2 isn't about that.
Spider-Man loses his powers because he no longer believes that Peter can have needs. The necessity of them makes Peter experiment w/ being normal - he realizes that Spider-Man has needs too that he can't live w/o.
Spider-Man loses his powers because he no longer believes that Peter can have needs. The necessity of them makes Peter experiment w/ being normal - he realizes that Spider-Man has needs too that he can't live w/o.
Spider-Man is not his trump card; it's his conscience. Being him is a burden he doesn't know how to reconcile.
He's only liberated through love. MJ is the person capable of recognizing PETER as the one she loves, not Spider-Man: she sees HIM in the hero, not the reverse.
He's only liberated through love. MJ is the person capable of recognizing PETER as the one she loves, not Spider-Man: she sees HIM in the hero, not the reverse.
She's able to make his needs real again in his own life - through her, he's able to see what she sees. That's why all he says to her is, "thank you."
I'm not a Raimi shill: I don't like Spider-Man 3 all that much. But this moment is still the pinnacle of superhero films for me.
I'm not a Raimi shill: I don't like Spider-Man 3 all that much. But this moment is still the pinnacle of superhero films for me.
It reconciles what none of the others can: it doesn't turn a guy into a hero, but a hero back into a guy. It makes Peter the subject of his own life.
Peter is what makes the Raimi film so optimistic, where other adaptations are obsessed only w/ the possibility of *Spider-Man.*
Peter is what makes the Raimi film so optimistic, where other adaptations are obsessed only w/ the possibility of *Spider-Man.*
That includes the audience's desire to "be" Spider-Man, or for him to be elevated as an end-all in life.
But WE are the subjects of our lives. Spider-Man 2 knows that. It saves Peter Parker, more than anyone has ever been saved by a superhero. That's why it's still the best.
But WE are the subjects of our lives. Spider-Man 2 knows that. It saves Peter Parker, more than anyone has ever been saved by a superhero. That's why it's still the best.
