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Spider-Man 2 is the GOAT Comic Book Movie

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A-V-B

Member
The original has better CGI somehow, better sustained shots of him swinging, and a more contained story. Raimi-Man2 has plot that happens because its supposed to. Doc needs to find spider man? Throw a car at your only source and hope he lives long enough or has spider senses so he can dodge, then ask questions. Not even gonna touch the reversion of Mary Jane.

I do think the train sequence was the best part of the entire trilogy, though. Spidey 2 has some good moments in isolation.

Spider-Man 1 doesn't grab for a deep message, but I enjoyed it more as two hours of my time.
 
I'd put them side by side with the Dark Knight. There is nothing like the Joker in Spiderman 2, though.

On the other hand, I would like to ask GAF a question: has there any set piece rivaled the train fight in Spiderman 2? Raimi's kinetic action has been second to none, after all those years, even the CGI holds up which is fucking unreal for a movie of its age.
 
It has a montage set to "raindrops keep fallin on my head" that ends in a freeze-frame of Peter's goofy ass smile. Of course it's the best comic book movie.
cTJyrYu.jpg
 
Edgar Wright's Ant Man could have been this.

It for sure could have and I'm sure he left because he had to conform to Marvel's style. It's a shame, because you can see some remnants of that in the final product, which was a fairly fun movie.

It has a montage set to "raindrops keep fallin on my head" that ends in a freeze-frame of Peter's goofy ass smile. Of course it's the best comic book movie.
cTJyrYu.jpg

Honestly one of the best scenes in comic book film history. It's literally perfect.
 

cchum

Member
I'd put them side by side with the Dark Knight. There is nothing like the Joker in Spiderman 2 thought.

On the other hand, I would like to ask GAF a question: has there any set piece rivaled the train fight in Spiderman 2? Raimi's kinetic action has been second to none, after all those years, even the CGI holds up which is fucking unreal for a movie of its age.

Matrix reloaded highway scene, but point taken
 

Grisby

Member
Yep. No modern super hero move action scene has topped that train fight.

When Spidey is concrete surfing and dodging cars before he rebounds off that building (perfectly timed to the music) and back to the train. Yo, it's good.
 

Bishop89

Member
I think spidey 2 might be the better movie, but a superhero movie is only as good as it's villain, and i fucking love Dafoes gobby
 

Zee-Row

Banned
Spider-Man 2 has not aged well and is ruined by horrid acting. Here are better comic book movies.

The Nolan Trilogy
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Iron Man
Deadpool
Civil War
Guardians of the Galaxy.
 
Spider-Man 2 is excellent, there's not many comic book movies that explore a SuperHero who is actually happier when he loses his powers like they did in SM 2. I think Raimi did a good job of showing how much pressure a superhero would have on their shoulders and how much it would screw up their personal life although Batman hits on that too. Also it has JK Simmons in it, guy was born to play jj Jameson.

Its not my favorite comic book movie I probably rank them:

1.Dark Knight (gets edge because of Joker)
2.Batman Begins
3.Captain America: Winter Soldier
4.Spider-Man 2
5.Flashpoint (a recent one to jump to the top for me)
 
we're off the rails now

Lol I know it's not a popular opinion, but give me Spider-Man 3 and all its cheese any day over the Avengers films, the Thor films, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2 and 3, and the first Captain America movie. The Peter dance scene alone is better than anything in any of those movies.
 

atr0cious

Member
I'd put them side by side with the Dark Knight. There is nothing like the Joker in Spiderman 2 thought.

On the other hand, I would like to ask GAF a question: has there any set piece rivaled the train fight in Spiderman 2? Raimi's kinetic action has been second to none, after all those years, even the CGI holds up which is fucking unreal for a movie of its age.

The reason I can't stand the train fight is that Peter learns absolutely nothing from it. In the comic books, he would probably make a different webbing and research tech that would allow him to short the arms, but since he's just a dummy in those movies, they resort to him having the powers of Mati, and guilt trip one of the most remorseless villains in marvel comics.

In isolation the scene is kind of cool, but as a part of a larger film, its a failure. Imagine if in Civil War, Zemo got upset at Tony and Steve arguing and got them to work it out. The forums would've melted down when the review thread hit.
 
When Peter confesses his ties to Ben's murder and reaches out to aunt May and she pulls her hand away in disbelief then walks away.... right in the gut. Top tier scene that escalates it beyond all in its genre.
 

phanphare

Banned
Lol I know it's not a popular opinion, but give me Spider-Man 3 and all its cheese any day over the Avengers films, the Thor films, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2 and 3, and the first Captain America movie. The Peter dance scene alone is better than anything in any of those movies.

I have no words except the words to tell you that I have no words
 
Id like to think black panther but nah that will be a solid movie at best. At the end of the day these movies have to conform to the marvel brand that they've established with audiences

Ppl will say James Gunn and shane black and all that but they still felt like Marvel movies by the time the credits rolled. The Dark Knight is that ceiling of quality I just don't think the industry will allow anybody to touch at this point.

Exactly. MCU films are good for the most part but I don't think they'll ever be great. Everyone (myself included sometimes) likes to talk trash about Sony / Fox / WB but these studios have given us far better films than Marvel. Their batting average might be pretty poor but once in a long while they hit a home run (Spidey 2, X2, Dark Knight) and these films are far superior than whatever the MCU could ever produce.
 

a916

Member
We can talk about favourites, but best movie featuring a comic book character? The Dark Knight. The movie that created the a rule at the Oscars the following year. It's not even close, the Dark Knight is in a league of it's own.

This doesn't take away from the great films like Iron Man 1 and Winter Soldier, but that's a testament to just how much better The Dark Knight is.

(also, on a side note, Spider-Man trilogy doesn't hold up for me at all, but somehow Reeve's Superman 1 does.)
 

It's just significantly more interesting and has a more compelling identity to me than the films I listed earlier in the thread. It's not just by the books. Well, certain parts are, which is why it isn't a great film, but the parts where Raimi gets to do his thing are what elevate it above the sterile MCU fair.
 

icespide

Banned
I'll never understand the high praise for Iron Man 1. it's an alright movie but nowhere near in the top echelon of super hero movies
 
I'll never understand the high praise for Iron Man 1. it's an alright movie but nowhere near in the top echelon of super hero movies


Robert Downey Jr carries Iron Man 1. Outside of that it's pretty fuckin boring, like most of the early marvel movies before they graduated to "mostly fairly decent"
 
I cannot agree more.

I've always interpreted it as more of a coming of age story where Peter tries to balance his two conflicting lives amid all the trouble it causes him. The theme of self-sacrifice is also prevalent, even though it kinda ends with him winning the girl anyways. Sure it isn't super flashy or as action packed as more recent movies, but it has a certain heartfelt quality to it.
 

phanphare

Banned
He's not wrong though. It has lower lows, but it strives for so much more...like having an actual distinct identity

nah man. they had topher grace as eddie brock/venom. yeah that's distinct. no doubt about that. it's also fucking stupid. not to mention all the other trash from that movie like sandman's backstory. also pete catching a glimpse of his reflection and then stopping to push his bangs to one side was just awful. let's not even bring up mj and harry's fucking dance scene.

having a distinct identity means nothing when that identity is being one of the worst blunders in comic book movie history.
 

LionPride

Banned
It's just significantly more interesting and has a more compelling identity to me than the films I listed earlier in the thread. It's not just by the books. Well, certain parts are, which is why it isn't a great film, but the parts where Raimi gets to do his thing are what elevate it above the sterile MCU fair.

Here's the MCU:
Iron Man
First Avenger
Hulk
Thor
Iron Man 2
Avengers
Iron Man 3
Thor 2
Cap 2
GotG
AoU
Ant-Man
Civil War

Spider-Man 3 is less entertaining than all of em. I'll accept an argument for Thor 2, but that's it
 
Emo Peter is one of the funniest things in any superhero film. How people dislike it is completely beyond me. Like, can you just not interpret camp?
 
Here's the MCU:
Iron Man
First Avenger
Hulk
Thor
Iron Man 2
Avengers
Iron Man 3
Thor 2
Cap 2
GotG
AoU
Ant-Man
Civil War

Spider-Man 3 is less entertaining than all of em. I'll accept an argument for Thor 2, but that's it

We just fundamentally disagree then. Avengers 2 is one of the worst films I've seen in theaters. Definitely surpassed by Thor 2 tho...

You act like just because something's campy people have to like it

But people don't dislike it because it's campy, they dislike it because they think it's trying to be serious when it's not at all.
 

icespide

Banned
if Spider-man 3 managed to ruin the idea of Venom for any future movies then thank you Spider-man 3. I never want Venom in another movie
 
I'll never understand the high praise for Iron Man 1. it's an alright movie but nowhere near in the top echelon of super hero movies

Yeah, that movie is profoundly average. The acting is really solid, sure, but the third act and all the action scenes are abysmal. I'll never understand why some people mention it as one of the best superhero films, it's nowhere near the top 10.
 

Glass Rebel

Member
Emo Peter is one of the funniest things in any superhero film. How people dislike it is completely beyond me. Like, can you just not interpret camp?

Emo Peter is the hilarious result of Sony forcing Raimi to use a shitty character like Venom. I mean, I get all that "seeing the good side to everything" shit but it doesn't make me like it.
 
if Spider-man 3 managed to ruin the idea of Venom for any future movies then thank you Spider-man 3. I never want Venom in another movie
You're going to get the Venom film from Sony, it'll kick off their cinematic universe and you'll like it.

Nope. Couldn't type that with a straight face.
 
It's better than most, but I'd put Civil War, Dark Knight, Batman Begins, and probably Winter Soldier above it.

By far the best Spider-Man movie though. Molina made me fall in love with Doc Ock as a villain.
Emo Peter is one of the funniest things in any superhero film. How people dislike it is completely beyond me. Like, can you just not interpret camp?
I would say that Peter being influenced by the Venom symbiote is one of the very few places in a Spider-Man movie where camp feels really out of place. It just doesn't fit the tone of what Venom was supposed to do. I know it was intentional but that doesn't mean it can't be bad.

If they made Kraven's Last Hunt and found a way to make it campy it wouldn't suddenly be a good idea just because it was intentionally silly.
 

atr0cious

Member
Emo Peter is one of the funniest things in any superhero film. How people dislike it is completely beyond me. Like, can you just not interpret camp?
But people don't dislike it because it's campy, they dislike it because they think it's trying to be serious when it's not at all.


Peter Parker, in the comics, is a very confident young man after he gets bitten by a spider. He gets so many girls Johnny Storm is jealous of him. Yet Raimi, turns that all into a gag and makes it so his confidence can only be had while he's in the suit, which completely goes against the concept of the hyphen in Spider-Man.
 
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