posted by michael at 1:57 PM .

Web slinger strikes again!!!

Sam Raimi did it again. And this time he made it with three "B's" in mind. He made it "Bigger, Bolder and Better."

If you're going to the watch Spiderman 2 and expect it to be a sequel of Spiderman, well do I have a big surprise for you, it wasn't!! With big respect to Sam Raimi's first installment, Spiderman 2 was so much better!! But what made the Sam's second try a better one than his first?? Well three long years of anticipation, big expectations and millions of dollars and Spiderman followers aside, Spiderman 2 was better than its predecessor, because unlike most sequels of a blockbuster hit, it was not meant to be a sequel.



Let's examine.

The first Spiderman movie had a very simple plot: get an average college student, make him a superhero, create a super villain, add in a little love story, and finally put some major ass special effects, and poof!! An instant blockbuster hit!! $caching$

Now its sequel, Spiderman 2, followed a long line of movies who did stick to its original plot hoping not to lose any of its potency. But Spiderman 2 was different. It was not an ordinary sequel. It attracted a lot of attention. Here are some of my thoughts on how Sam Raimi and Stan Lee made that happen.

1.) Make the main character, Peter Parker (Spiderman's alter ego) a struggling photographer, as impoverished as possible. *everybody loves the underdog*
2.) Make it melodramatic. Get more sympathy from the audience by making Peter Parker an outcast with no love and social life whatsoever.
3.) Make another equally good if not better super villain. (Dr. Octopus)
4.) Make it mushy by adding in a "Telenovela-like" love story.
5.) Make the half of the movie swim with special effects. And lastly,
6.) EXAGGERATE!! *it never fails*

Unlike most sequels, Spiderman 2 did not try to outdo or continue its predecessor. It just made it a lot more interesting. the movie itself could be watched by a person who hasn't watched the first movie and actually understand it. Why? Because this time, the audience was given a deeper insight on each character in the movie. Making the movie a lot easier to understand.

And the execution was amazing. Special effects aside, the movie really justified the comics Stan Lee created almost half a decade ago.

But the true essence of the movie is seen not in the actual execution of the movie, but it is seen in the character and story, being an adaptation from Stan Lee's comics. Stan Lee made Spiderman as humanistic as possible. Unlike other superheroes who conceal their secret identity (Superman, Batman etc...) Spiderman, is depicted as the most human of all. Superman never loses and is a babe magnet and Batman is a billionaire, and how about Spiderman. Well he's a struggling photographer who can't seem to juggle his career, his love life, his studies and being well----Spiderman!! He is seen as an average person with problems like the rest of us. He feels pain and is often hurt!!

And who could forget the "Matrix scene," where Peter tried to jump from one building to another. And how about the "Runaway Bride scene," where Mary Jane backed out from getting married at the day of her marriage.

With all these things compressed into one gigantic movie, it is safe to say that the first movie was just the start to a much more interesting, much more appreciated, and overall a much more captivating movie that is Spiderman 2!!!

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

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