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SPIDER-MAN 2
- For the videogame based on the movie of the same name, see Spider-Man 2 (video game)
Spider-Man 2 is the Academy Award-winning sequel to the popular 2002 film Spider-Man and was released in the United States on June 30th, 2004. Its soundtrack was a major hit in the U.S. and elsewhere.
Credits
The film, directed by Sam Raimi, the screenplay is credited to Alvin Sargent, with screen story credit given to Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, and Michael Chabon. Stan Lee and Steve Ditko receive additional screen credit for "comic book and characters."
Plot
It has been two years since the end of the last film, and Peter Parker is finding a double life very difficult. He loses a job, faces financial difficulties, is having trouble with his estranged friend, Harry Osborn, who still blames his father's death on Spider-Man (Harry doesn't know that Norman was actually the villanous Green Goblin of the first film or that Peter is Spider-Man, but is angered that Parker's trust is not to his best friend, but to Spider-Man, his "bread and butter"), struggles with his studies and school work, as Professor Curt Connors reprimands him, and finds that he is losing his powers. Moreover, he has learned that Aunt May is being threatened with foreclosure on her house and his potential girlfriend, Mary Jane, has acquired a new boyfriend, John Jameson, the son of Peter's employer, J. Jonah Jameson. M.J. turns increasingly hostile to Peter after he fails to keep a promise to see a play in which she is the female lead. Further, he questions if he could ever have what he "needs," a life as Peter Parker, which climaxes in a vision involving Uncle Ben.
Peter's idol, a brilliant, gentle scientist named Otto Octavius, has developed a set of powerful mechanical arms which he wears while performing a fusion experiment. When the experiment goes haywire, Octavius's wife is killed, his career is ruined, and the mechnical arms take control of his mind and force him to focus on continuing the experiment at all costs. Soon after, Doctor Octopus (or "Doc Ock"), as he is now called (due to the metal tentacles wired to his spine), begins to embark on a life of crime to finance the rebuilding. Octavius attempts to rob a bank where Peter Parker and his Aunt May happen to be present. As Spider-Man, Peter foils the robbery, but Octavius takes Aunt May as a hostage. When Spider-Man rescues her, she revises her former opinion of the wall-crawler and realizes that he is a hero. Nevertheless, Peter finds that his responsibilities as Spider-Man increasingly put his loved ones in danger and rob him of the ability to lead a fulfilling personal life. His morale hits a nadir when Harry lashes at him in a drunken rage, M.J. and John Jameson announce their engagement, and he loses his powers due to a form of burn-out syndrome. Peter resolves to give up Spider-Man, shirking his responsibilities.
As Peter has much more spare time now, not only does he excel at his physics courses, but at least one of his relationships improves. Peter and Mary Jane connect once again, but as Mary Jane is engaged, it seems too late. Aunt May is distressed by Peter's confession that he was somewhat responsible for his Uncle Ben's death. Soon after. though, she sees his bravery in admitting the truth and inadvertently inspires him to become Spider-Man once more, as she speaks of how Spider-Man gives hope to others and that one must do things for the greater good in spite of their dreams. In the meanwhile, Doctor Octopus and Harry Osborn, now head of Oscorp's research division, make a deal: Harry supplies him with tritium for his experiment, and Octavius agrees to capture Spider-Man for him.
Mary Jane remembers the upside-down kiss she had with her savior Spider-Man in the first film, and that Peter's kiss suspiciously felt the same. She arranges a meeting with Peter, and although she is very fond of him, Peter's secretive behavior estranges and intrigues her. She asks if Peter still loves her, but Peter—who has decided to become Spider-Man once again, and is unwilling to risk exposing her to the danger of a superhero's life—regretfully tells her that he does not. Before things can go on, the two are attacked by Doctor Octopus. Because he knows that Peter and Spider-Man are close (although he does not know that they are the same person), Octavius abducts Mary Jane in a ploy to lure Spider-Man into a trap.
This shock brings back Peter's powers. He dons his costume and has a great fight with Octavius, culminating with the insane scientist forcing Spider-Man to rescue a runaway subway train. With the utmost effort, Peter narrowly prevents the train from falling from an unfinished bridge and then loses consciousness. The grateful, awed passengers of the train carry his limp and vulnerable body inside and set him down gently. Peter awakens and is startled by the absence of his mask which is then returned by two young boys. The children and the other assembled passengers vow not to tell anyone of seeing his face. Unfortunately, he is weak from stopping the train and is captured easily by Doctor Octopus, then brought before Harry Osborn. Harry unmasks Spider-Man and is stunned to discover that his sworn enemy is also his best friend. Peter easily breaks free of his bonds and convinces Harry that they need to set aside their conflict for the time being as larger problems are at hand. He then persuades Harry to reveal where Octavius went so he save Mary Jane from being killed.
Spider-Man finds Doctor Octopus in an abandoned waterfront warehouse on a pier, where he holds Mary Jane hostage and has just re-ignited his doomed fusion experiment, which is clearly going astray just as did the one in the beginning of the film. They fight a second time, and in the end, Octavius regains his sanity. Peter reveals his true identity and reiterates some advice given him by Octavius prior to his tragic fall from grace. This triggers an epiphany in Octavius where he realizes the monstrosity of his recent actions. Determined to end his doomsday experiment before it causes anyone harm, Octavius uses his mechanical arms to collapse the floor of the building, plunging himself and the fusion device into the water below, snuffing it out permanently. Dr. Octavius is apparently killed in the process but ends up dying a hero (his last words are, "I will not die a monster!"). Mary Jane sees Peter without his mask and realizes that he is Spider-Man, and is in awe and full of joy at the same time. But Peter tells her they can never be together, as he will always have deadly enemies, and says she should spare herself the grief of coming too close to him.
As he hears of the warehouse disaster in his penthouse, a distraught Harry Osborn meets face to face with his father, the late Norman Osborn in a hanging mirror. The hallucination of Norman demands that his son kill Peter Parker to avenge his death. This, for the first time, marks Harry's possible departure into mental decline. Horrified at the thought of harming his best friend, Harry hurls a dagger at the mirror, shattering it and revealing a hidden passageway which leads to a secret room in the attic. Confused, disoriented, and surrounded by a cache of advanced weaponry and equipment, Harry focuses on a Goblin Glider in the center of the room and realizes that his father was the infamous Green Goblin. He also discovers glass cylinders containing the performance-enhancing chemical compound which gave Norman Osborn his superhuman abilities as well as triggering his insanity. This is a clear lead-up to Harry donning the mantle of the second Green Goblin in the third film as he does in the comics.
In the end, Mary Jane Watson runs away from her marriage with John Jameson. She gatecrashes Peter's apartment, telling him that she has decided to live with him - despite the risks - because a full dangerous life is better than a half, carefree life. She - almost forcefully - persuades Peter to finally be her boyfriend while accepting the need of his vows by letting him respond to a sudden call for help. As Peter joyfully swings to the rescue, Mary Jane remains, still somewhat apprehensive of the bizarre and potentially dangerous relationship they have committed themselves to.
Spoilers end here.
Box office success
In its first six days, Spider-Man 2 generated $180 million at the North American box office, a record as of 2005. It took in $88 million in its first weekend, and an opening day record $40,442,604. However, it was beaten a year later by Revenge of the Sith, which grossed about $10 million more. Altogether, Spider-Man 2 made $373,585,825 in North America, making it 2004's second highest-grossing movie (behind Shrek 2) and the 9th highest-grossing movie in the U.S. all time. Worldwide, Spider-Man 2 made $783,964,497, making it the 3rd highest grossing movie of 2004 worldwide (behind Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Shrek 2), as well as the 18th highest grossing movie worldwide of all time.
Other records the film holds are highest-grossing box office for a film opening on a Wednesday. It currently has the second best opening weekend for a film opening in July (beat by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest in 2006). It has the best five-day gross for a film opening on a Wednesday. It is tied with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith as the fastest films to reach $200 million which is 8 days. [1]
Budget
- Story rights: $20 million
- Screenplay: $10 million
- Producers: $15 million
- Director: (Sam Raimi): $10 million
- Cast: $30 million
- The shoot: $45 million
- Special effects: $65 million
- Music: $5 million
- Total: $200 million
Source: [2]
Critical reaction
The general critical reaction to the film was very enthusiastic, with many critics saying the film had a dramatic power and emotional content that many summer blockbusters lack. Metacritic gave the film a collective rating of 83 out of 100 based on an average of 41 reviews. [3] Rotten Tomatoes gave it a rating of 93%, based on 222 reviews .[4]
Roger Ebert, who was lukewarm on the first film [5], praised the second movie and gave it four stars. He went on to call it the "greatest super-hero movie since Superman: The Movie [6]. A number of other newspapers also gave it good marks, and the movie was listed in AFI's Top Ten Films of 2004
However, The New Yorker rated it as average, while Salon.com and Village Voice rated it as poor.[citation needed]
In the 77th Academy Awards, the movie won the Academy Award for Visual Effects. It was also nominated for the Academy Award for Sound and the Academy Award for Sound Editing. There were many rumors that the film was in contention for the Academy Award for Adapted Screenplay, as many fans and critics alike regarded Alvin Sargent's screenplay as superb in terms of emotional depth and character development. There have also been a few critics and web sites arguing that it even deserved a Best Picture nomination.
Particular praise was lavished upon Alfred Molina for his sympathetic performance as Doc Ock, as well as Tobey Maguire's continued portrayal of the troubled and tormented superhero.[citation needed]
Cast
Trivia
- Spider-Man 2 was originally going to be titled The Amazing Spider-Man. [citation needed]
- There are a few references to Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series of films.
- Promotion, marketing and anticipation for this film had grown so much in late 2003 that Sony considered putting webbing along with the Spider-Man 2 logo on the bases for a weekend during the 2004 Major League Baseball season. This was cancelled due to the negative reaction from baseball fans. [7]
- Maguire's back problems were also referenced in the film itself. When Peter Parker tries to leap off of a building, he falls to the ground in an alleyway. When he stands he winces crying "My back! My back!". As clarified by both Raimi and Maguire, the line was not intially poking fun at Maguire's problems - it was simply a line gag (ex. "I'm back! I'm back! My back! My back!). But once Raimi heard about Maguire's back problems he was considering taking the line out of the movie, but Maguire wanted to do it so Raimi left it in. [citation needed]
- The name of Peter's landlord, "Ditkovitch", was an obvious hat-tip to Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko.
- Spider-Man creator Stan Lee makes yet another cameo appearance (as he did in Spider-Man) during Spidey's first battle with Doc Ock. This time, he again saves a person from harm.
- Phil LaMarr appears as an extra in the movie. He can be seen in the train.
- Tobey Maguire is a vegetarian. In the scene where Parker watches police cars go by, he is actually eating a tofu hot dog.
- Spider-Man 2 is the first movie to be released in UMD format for the PSP. The first one million copies of the U.S. PSP included the movie free.
- As in the first movie, there is a Richard Donner's Superman: The Movie homage as Peter Parker runs into an alley (the same one that he runs into in the first movie) and changes into Spider-Man.
- The scene in which J. K. Simmons (as J. Jonah Jameson) shouts "Spider-Man was... A THIEF!" caused much hilarity around the set. Simmons was wearing false teeth for Jameson's trademark scrooge smile, and whenever he tried to form the "TH" he spat out his false teeth. These scenes can be seen on the blooper reel of the DVD.
- There is a cameo of Queer as Folk star Hal Sparks. The character of Michael Novotny is a comic fan in the television series.
- It was the first film with over 4,000 theaters for an opening day and second for overall counts.
- Willem Dafoe enjoyed working on the first film so much that he offered to return for the sequel, so long as Raimi could write him in somewhere. Raimi obliged with his request, and Norman Osborn's cameo scene was the end result. [citation needed]
- Film Director John Landis has a cameo appearance in the scene in which Doctor Octopus is in the hospital after the accident.
- Sam Raimi was the second student to hit Peter with his back pack.
- Donnell Rawlings makes a cameo in the beginning when Peter Parker delivers the pizzas.
- According to the Cast & Crew, Sam Raimi enjoys "Beating-Up" the actors on set and "Punishing" them any chance he gets on-screen. [citation needed]
Other Spider-Man media references
- At one point, the working title of Spider-Man 2 was Amazing Spider-Man, which was the title of the first ongoing comic book series starring Spider-Man. [citation needed]
- Elements of the film's plot are taken from the Stan Lee written Spider-Man storylines "If this be My Destiny" (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #31-33), Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #50, and the first Spider-Man annual.
- One of the suggested names for Doctor Octopus is Doctor Strange (to which Jameson replies "but it's taken"), which is Steve Ditko's other major co-creation for Marvel Comics.
- There are plot points and scenes that originated from Spider-Man: The Animated Series
- Major plot points about Doctor Octopus were from the episode "Doctor Octopus: Armed and Dangerous", including Octavius being a good man and Peter's mentor before the accident, and the idea of Doc Ock creating a dangerous fusion machine.
- The scene in which Peter is late for M.J.'s theater performance was taken from the animated episode involving the Chameleon (with the Chameleon disguising himself as Peter).
- The scene with Aunt May receiving bills was from the animated episode in which Peter is asked to take a photograph of the Lizard.
- The scene with Peter losing his powers was taken from the animated episode where he had problems with his powers, prior to turning into a six-armed monster.
- The end of the film reflects the origin of the second Green Goblin. As in the animated series the first Green Goblin (again in a mirror) leads Harry Osborn to all the Goblin equipment
- The woman with the violin sings a song about Spider-Man. That song was actually the theme song of the original early cartoon series, although the tone and tempo was changed in the movie.
- Dr. Curtis Connors actually appears in the film as Peter's physics professor. In the comics, Connors becomes The Lizard due to a serum he makes from Lizard DNA to regrow his arm.
- The shot of Spider-man's suit left in the bin with Peter walking away is a homage to the cover of a Amazing Spider-Man comic where Peter gives up being Spider-Man.
Awards and nominations
2004 Academy Awards (Oscars)
2004 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (Saturn Awards)
2004 BAFTA Film Awards
- Nominated - Best Sound — Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, Jeffrey J. Haboush, Paul N.J. Ottosson
- Nominated - Outstanding Achievement in Special Visual Effects — John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara, John Frazier
2004 BMI Film & TV Awards
2004 Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards
- Won - Best Popular Picture]]
- Nominated - Best Family Film (Live Action)
2004 Cinema Audio Society
- Nominated - Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Motion Pictures — Joseph Geisinger, Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, Jeffrey J. Haboush
2004 Sony Ericsson Empire Awards
- Won - Best Director — Sam Raimi
- Nominated - Best Actor — Tobey Maguire
- Nominated - Best Actress — Kirsten Dunst
- Nominated - Best Film
- Nominated - Scene of the Year — Spider-Man battles Doc Ock on the train
2004 Hugo Awards
2004 Kids Choice Awards (Blimp Award)
- Nominated - Favorite Movie
- Nominated - Favorite Movie Actor — Tobey Maguire
2004 Motion Picture Sound Editors (Golden Reel Award)
- Nominated - Best Sound Editing in Domestic Features: Sound Effects/Foley — Paul N.J. Ottosson, Christopher Flick, Scott G.G. Haller, Ruben Simon, Jussi Tegelman, Lisa Hannan, Ai-Ling Lee, Martin Lopez, Bernard Weiser
References
External links
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