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Spider-Man 2 is the GOAT Comic Book Movie

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atr0cious

Member
That was the case for the first two Raimi movies as well with the bridge and train scenes. And if you want to know more about how those scenes were impactful, you need to look no further than MovieBob's Really That Good episode of the first two Spiderman movies. This bit in particular. It takes a while to get to the scenes described, but I feel the full context is important.

The bridge scene in ASM is a direct answer to the train scene in Raimi2, where the symbolism of the mask is used for very distinct purposes. Raimi uses it as a way to humanize Spidey for the passengers and have pity on him for being just a "kid." Webb uses it in ASM to humanize Spidey to the kid and then to empower him to be Spider-Man himself (nolan creeping in with the symbolism) to escape the burning vehicle.

Not to mention the train scene has no pay off.
 

wachie

Member
Yes, OP. I got your back.

The people who in the recent SS thread that were mocking SM2 can go and sit in a corner.
 

iPaul93

Member
That was the case for the first two Raimi movies as well with the bridge and train scenes. And if you want to know more about how those scenes were impactful, you need to look no further than MovieBob's Really That Good episode of the first two Spiderman movies. This bit in particular. It takes a while to get to the scenes described, but I feel the full context is important.



f6e6ec68-920e-472a-88f7-54897a0b1e9a-jpeg-23217.jpg

Shit man,I'm tired :/ .
 

scitek

Member
I love Spider-Man 2, I think X2is still really good, too.

The Nolan Batman films may be my favorites, though. I think they're all really strong except the Talia twist.
 

Toa TAK

Banned
Yes, OP. I got your back.

The people who in the recent SS thread that were mocking SM2 can go and sit in a corner.
What now? Lol

OP, you're damn right. Spider-Man 2 is one of the quintessential comic book films and its among one of the greats. Still my favorite after all these years.
 
People aren't harsh on ASM2 enough. Its easily worse than any comic book movie this year, and Im including TMNT2 in this.

Spider-Man 2 tho, :wow: Great stuff.

I liked suicide squad even less tbh. Even though i liked deadshot more than anything in that movie.

And midnightcowboy and fancy clown are basically gospel in this thread of mcu heathens
 

Glass Rebel

Member
yeah, honestly I find first class to be the most enjoyable xmen movie even though it's not really anything special. never liked singer's stuff with xmen.

if you like the x-men, most of the stuff singer puts in his films is absolute poison. he absolutely nailed xavier and magneto twice (!!) and made two of the best setpieces in the genre but that's it.
 

Nerdkiller

Membeur
The bridge scene in ASM is a direct answer to the train scene in Raimi2, where the symbolism of the mask is used for very distinct purposes. Raimi uses it as a way to humanize Spidey for the passengers and have pity on him for being just a "kid." Webb uses it in ASM to humanize Spidey to the kid and then to empower him to be Spider-Man himself (nolan creeping in with the symbolism) to escape the burning vehicle.

Not to mention the train scene has no pay off.
In a way, I can see where you're going in regards to the whole humanising of Spidey. Seeing Spidey as just a kid from Queens helped the regular folks to stand up against Ock if they want to get to him. And like I said, as an individual scene, that ASM mask bit is a good scene. It's just that despite you stating the train scene having no pay off, it wasn't undercut by something worse later on.

None of the X-Men movies are good upon rewatch, shit's sad
Despite my disagreements with what you said regarding Man of Steel, I agree. The only good one in the entire series is First Class. They're just mediocre movies that only have a few good bits keeping it from actually turning bad.
 
With a thread like this it's on you to convince me why Spider-Man 2 is better than The Dark Knight.

And if I'm being honest even though Spidey is my favorite superhero TWS and Civil War are probably better too.
 

Nerdkiller

Membeur
It was. Doc Ock being controlled by the arms is the dumbest character decision Marvel has ever allowed, outside of F4ntastic.
Regardless of the arms, they weren't something that harmed the train scene. They're wholly independent of that moment.

And I liked the whole arms thing, so screw it. If liking the arms taking over Ock's mind is wrong, hey, I don't wanna be right.
 

atr0cious

Member
Regardless of the arms, they weren't something that harmed the train scene. They're wholly independent of that moment.

And I liked the whole arms thing, so screw it. If liking the arms taking over Ock's mind is wrong, hey, I don't wanna be right.

I'm specifically talking about the tone the movie set. We just had this elaborate sprawling fight that spidey loses. But he licks his wounds and is gonna learn from the battle and take on Ock. No, he does the exact same thing as the train battle and then relies on Doc Ock not using the periphery he just exhibited to stop Mary Jane. Then Doc kills himself. I saw the movie on day one and my jaw dropped when that happened.
 

Modern Marvel movies are great summer popcorn flicks, but everyone is so busy running around looking beautiful and throwing zingers left and right, they forget to look human. How often do we see MCs weep, ugly-strain, or look just plain pathetic? McGuire's Peter Parker felt like an actual person with super powers, and not a fashion model who's always got the perfect smart ass comment in their back pocket for the perfect moment.

Raimi not afraid of directing Toby to show the ugly sides of emotion:

tumblr_lrjd8xpx1W1qaiuu5o1_500.gif


392f26dc73d55f77295027a6980230cf.jpg
 

Nerdkiller

Membeur
I'm specifically talking about the tone the movie set. We just had this elaborate sprawling fight that spidey loses. But he licks his wounds and is gonna learn from the battle and take on Ock. No, he does the exact same thing as the train battle and then relies on Doc Ock not using the periphery he just exhibited to stop Mary Jane. Then Doc kills himself. I saw the movie on day one and my jaw dropped when that happened.
I don't really consider what you said to be a particular dealbreaker. Such a thing never really crossed my mind in the many times I viewed the movie. It seems to be a minor nitpick, so could you further elaborate?
 

atr0cious

Member
I don't really consider what you said to be a particular dealbreaker. Such a thing never really crossed my mind in the many times I viewed the movie. It seems to be a minor nitpick, so could you further elaborate?

The train scene is climax of the film. There are many different setpieces with in that scene, I remember salivating over the making ofs. Usually in a hero film, book, what have you, the hero learns from a loss. They recover and plan, its even one of Batman's superpowers. The train scene sets up all these different scenarios that could've been inverted and used against Doc. For a simple example, think of the final Ra'as and Batman fight when Batman breaks the sword. Spider-man 2 has none of this. Its a truncated battle, where he leaps around just like before and eventually loses, just like before. Then, after Doc shows the ability to sense Mary Jane from behind him, he is tricked by Spider-Man simply pulling the cord under him up. Where in the train scene is that from? Then to give the ending finality and gravity, Doc kills himself as penance. In any other super hero movie, the hero would figure out a plan that didn't involve the villain literally giving up his life. #notmyspiderman

This isn't to say that because its not like other movies that its bad, its this specific movie going out of its way to be as bland as possible. But again, this all happens because Raimi fundamentally got the character wrong and didn't make Peter a genius. Making him a genius completely changes the end, and Peter would've done more than just pull some chords like a neanderthal without thinking about the consequences.
 
Surprising enough, this is the only superhero film to win the best visual effects academy award. How crazy is that? specially with all the superhero movies released these last 12 years.
 

Ahasverus

Member
It can't touch The Dark Knight (Or Begins) but it's right after. I miss those simpler times for CBMs where they didn't look like toy commercials, or were made as such.

Raimi should direct Superman 2.
 

atr0cious

Member
It can't touch The Dark Knight (Or Begins) but it's right after. I miss those simpler times for CBMs where they didn't look like toy commercials, or were made as such.

Raimi should direct Superman 2.
It's too big for him. Give him a Constantine or Swamp Thing solo film.
 
It's a great movie that makes its character feel like real people. I still love that scene when Peter tells Aunt May what he really did before Uncle Ben's murder. No matter how many people shit on Tobey's Spiderman that scene hit really close to home and felt genuine. Since it also focused on the people who weren't the super heroes and their struggles.

The entire movie is like that and really hammers home on how hard it would be to have a functioning normal life outside of the costume.

That's what always stood out to me in comparison to the more recent comic book movies and why I feel it's still one of the all-time greats.
 

Nerdkiller

Membeur
The train scene is climax of the film. There are many different setpieces with in that scene, I remember salivating over the making ofs. Usually in a hero film, book, what have you, the hero learns from a loss. They recover and plan, its even one of Batman's superpowers. The train scene sets up all these different scenarios that could've been inverted and used against Doc. For a simple example, think of the final Ra'as and Batman fight when Batman breaks the sword. Spider-man 2 has none of this. Its a truncated battle, where he leaps around just like before and eventually loses, just like before. Then, after Doc shows the ability to sense Mary Jane from behind him, he is tricked by Spider-Man simply pulling the cord under him up. Where in the train scene is that from? Then to give the ending finality and gravity, Doc kills himself as penance. In any other super hero movie, the hero would figure out a plan that didn't involve the villain literally giving up his life. #notmyspiderman

This isn't to say that because its not like other movies that its bad, its this specific movie going out of its way to be as bland as possible. But again, this all happens because Raimi fundamentally got the character wrong and didn't make Peter a genius. Making him a genius completely changes the end, and Peter would've done more than just pull some chords like a neanderthal without thinking about the consequences.
I don't know. I liked the fact that he managed to talk Ock out of being a bad guy and proceed to redeem himself. I think that spoke more of Parker's intellect than simply assembling a pair of webshooters would if he would be able to negotiate him into realising that the reactor just isn't worth it. Hell, you could argue that him taking off the mask in front of Ock was similar to the train passengers being more empathetical towards Pete as a result of his face being shown, but I don't think that moment calls back to it to really justify that.
 
It can't touch The Dark Knight (Or Begins) but it's right after. I miss those simpler times for CBMs where they didn't look like toy commercials, or were made as such.

Raimi should direct Superman 2.

If it were made today it would have to setup 4 other movies. It would include a scene where Samuel L Jackson talks to Peter Parker about the Infinity Gems for 10 minutes and a post credit scene showing what Thor has been up to.
 

atr0cious

Member
I don't know. I liked the fact that he managed to talk Ock out of being a bad guy and proceed to redeem himself. I think that spoke more of Parker's intellect than simply assembling a pair of webshooters would if he would be able to negotiate him into realising that the reactor just isn't worth it. Hell, you could argue that him taking off the mask in front of Ock was similar to the train passengers being more empathetical towards Pete as a result of his face being shown, but I don't think that moment calls back to it to really justify that.
He doesn't talk him out of being a bad guy, he gave him shock therapy quite literally. But you're also pointing to the fact that Spider-Man talked Ock into killing himself! Imagine if batfleck did that to mr. Freeze.
 
I have to get it on bluray and revisit it sometime soon, but I pretty much agree.

Outside of Days of Future Past, there's not been anything in the genre that's been nearly as good as Spider-Man 2, Batman Begins, or (to a slightly lesser extent) TDK.
 

D.Lo

Member
I'm with you OP. Spider Man 2 is still easily the best modern super hero movie.

It picks up a lot of the good themes of Superman 1 and 2, responsibility, what it means to be a hero. Peter's two scenes with May (telling her the truth, and in the yard with May telling him how we all need Spiderman, revealing she knew his secret) are the two hardest hitting scenes in the genre.

Dark Knight had a good Joker, and well done underlying themes, but forces the symbolism and themes (and explains and explains and explains them... learn to make a film not a radio play please Nolan...) rather than lets it play naturally and with subtlety as a human story like Raimi did.
 

Nerdkiller

Membeur
He doesn't talk him out of being a bad guy, he gave him shock therapy quite literally. But you're also pointing to the fact that Spider-Man talked Ock into killing himself! Imagine if batfleck did that to mr. Freeze.
Ehhh, he was still hesitant to shut the whole thing down for a bit after that shock. Plus, he didn't talk him into killing himself to stop the thing, he chose to go on his own volition after very briefly telling Pete to drown the reactor. It's too much of a leap in logic if you're suggesting that Parker is the one to convinced Ock to kill himself to stop the damned thing, especially considering that the last thing he said to him was if there was a way to shut down the reactor.
 

atr0cious

Member
I implore everyone to put fresh eyes on Ang Lee's Hulk. It does Bruce and the Hulk both justice, not to mention Ang Lee did the mocap for the Hulk himself to make sure it was done right. It has bar none, one of the best action scenes in comic book films, and some great cinematography tied with a cheeky if a bit on the nose comic book flourishes, as if comic books are known for their subtly. Nick Nolte is gross in a realy great way. Jennifer Connolly.
especially considering that the last thing he said to him was if there was a way to shut down the reactor.
Because lunkhead didn't stop to think for one second. Could've easily said shocking doc short circuited the machine so they have a few seconds. Would've had time to think and go through things, nope, he does something usually reserved for a sidekick.
 

aliengmr

Member
I implore everyone to put fresh eyes on Ang Lee's Hulk. It does Bruce and the Hulk both justice, not to mention Ang Lee did the mocap for the Hulk himself to make sure it was done right. It has bar none, one of the best action scenes in comic book films, and some great cinematography tied with a cheeky if a bit on the nose comic book flourishes, as if comic books are known for their subtly. Nick Nolte is gross in a realy great way. Jennifer Connolly.

But...dear god it was boring. I won't really dispute your points, but I really wanted to fall asleep during that movie.
 

atr0cious

Member
But...dear god it was boring. I won't really dispute your points, but I really wanted to fall asleep during that movie.
Drink some coffee, and go in knowing the movie wants you to think about the relationship between Nick nolte and the Hulk/mutant dogs. The hulk stares at moss in this movie, it's not at all supposed to be a regular popcorn flick.
 
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