Spoilers ho!
Executive summary: about what I should have expected given the original, but a disappointment because I bought into the hype of people I really expect to know better.
First thoughts as the lights dimmed: if the Broccoli's could be bothered to come up with mumble different titles for their films, why can't the comic book franchises come up with something more original than Caped Mumbler 2? It's not like their using the creativity on plot. Admittedly, Cubby had a baseline of titles to start from, it isn't entirely fair. But if they had named this movie Doctor Octopus, wouldn't everybody know?
Some plus points: forewarned, I was sitting on the "Tiger" line, and concede its a beaut.
The kiss totally cracked me up.
The brilliant physicist is married to Donna Murphy. I sure as hell would have studied harder for that. I'm not sure she can act; her performance felt a lot like Juliette Simone.
Alfred Molina can act, and turns in a good performance as Octavius. Unfortunately, the part, as written, sucks. Basically, the motivations of the villain are completely lacking - if stuck with that basic outline, I would have rewritten the script to try to draw out the death of the wife more as a motive for recreating the experiment.
JK Simmons is perfect for JJ Jameson.
Gillies gets a pass; no screen time to speak of, and a nothing part in his portrayal of Buzz Lightlyear.
Franco did nothing with less than that to work with. Each individual scene is kind of passable, but they don't make a coherent whole. It wouldn't be difficult, given the assembled parts, to make Harry an interesting, motivated character. But you do have to care.
Maguire and Dunst - enh. I think the whole Peter - Mary Jane relationship falls apart because the state of her career isn't well established. She's all over the walls, and on stage, but not a celebrity? What the hell. It probably doesn't help that Dunst was more convincing as Cecily than as Mary Jane.
Note to all authors of superhero screenplays - if you are going to have the characters talk about physics, have Elmo or Dave van Damolen vet the dialogue.
Now I have a low opinion of superhero sequels - at least most of those that come readily to mind. But it rates far below Batman Returns (which I think highly of) on my list.
July 3, 2004 12:41 AM
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