Spiderman 2 Spoiler Thread

[Henry]

I'm pretty sure Dock Ock threw the car, but he missed Harry's remark about "don't hurt him," remember?

Seriously, Ock was not in complete control, and was not stable even if he were in control of those metal puppies.

 

[Nuclear Platypus]

1) The doctor scene.
2) The car-through-the-cafe-window scene.
3) Fusion experiment.

It's pretty much been covered but here's my contributions.

1) Just like with Aunt May later on, I was under the impression that the doc knew (or at least strongly suspected) Peter was Spider Man. That 'I, er, a friend of mine...' speech is a rather old (and lame) explanation. The 'patient confidentiality' also helps, not that anyone would believe the doc if he said he treated Spider Man. It's kinda obvious he's well liked by N'Yawkas: they helped him out against both Gobby ("You mess with one of us and you mess with all of us!") and Ock (the subway car scene) or the way Robbie clutched Spidey's mask.

2) Maybe the car hit the curb while speeding and got launched through the window. It's not much different than Scientist Squid, er, Doc Ock shrugging off punches from Spidey. Besides, the arms have minds of their own.

3) Octavius was confident in his equations and his ability while Harry showed support by having it in the middle of the city. The previous Manhatten Project didn't destroy the city so why should the second one?

 

[Alzrius]

The thing that tickled me most was the special guest appearance by Willem Dafoe. I remember at the beginning of that scene thinking "man its too bad we can't see more flashbacks with Harry remembering his dad" near the end scene with Harry...and then we hear the laughter...and then, in the mirror...

I totally flipped out over that. Honestly, when is the last time you saw a major Hollywood actor appear in a movie for less than five minutes, with three lines? It was incredible! It shows a level of commitment to the story, rather than trying to save a few bucks by not having to pay an actor a lot for just a small scene. Long live Sam Raimi!

Paradoxically, I'm not too hyped over how obvious it is that Harry is going to be the villain in the next movie as the new Green Goblin. I mean, I love the emotional drama in the Spider-Man movies, I do, but I also like the action, and I don't want to have the third movie have the Goblin redux as the bad guy. While it's great for telling a story, I want to see a new villain on the screen.

Sadly, this probably won't happen. Sam Raimi said in some interview I read somewhere that he considered using multiple villains in this movie, and decided not to (rightly so), so that'll probably hold true with Spider-Man 3 also.

Likewise, I want there to be six movies, I do, but that's probably not going to happen. Kirsten Dunst has, IIRC, said publically that after number three, she's out of there. Likewise, according to a recent Newsweek, Toby Maguire came very, very close to not being in Spider-Man 2, due to the fact that he had to personally perform a lot of stunts in it, and he was suffering from some rather severe back problems. It seems likely that if they try to do six movies, the last three might see some hefty cast changes, and that automatically lessens a film when its in regards to the same characters.

I'm hopeful for the future of the Spidey movie franchise, I am. Sam Raimi has given us nothing but top-notch work so far, but with the third movie seeming to be Spidey vs. a Goblin that's a close friend...again, and movies 4-6 in doubt...well...I'm worried.

 

[Green Knight]

Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing more of the Green Goblin, this time with Harry. For one, Spider-Man will be doing something that no other super-hero film franchise has done before, IE using the same villain from a previous movie. Well, with the exception of the X-Men movies with Magneto. Although Magneto's pretty important to the whole equation, being the Ying to Professor X's Yang, and all. Besides, it won't be the same. It'll probably be the same costume and same name, but it'll be Harry, not Norman. Two different characters. I'm looking forward to seeing Harry's version of the Green Goblin.

And yeah, I agree that it's likely that we won't see any more movies beyond the third, at least not with Raimi, Tobey, Dunst, et al. I'd LOVE it if they did, but no way is it going to happen. The Star Trek cast is the only instance which I can think of in which the entire cast came back for six movies, and really, did they do it because they thought there were more stories to be told, or did they do it because it beats looking for food in the trash bins behind KFC? So with that likelihood, I want to see the franchise, at least under Raimi with the current cast of characters, end with Harry Osborn and his hatred for Spider-Man, which has been festering in him since the end of the first movie. It can't end any other way.

 

[WizarDru]

Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing more of the Green Goblin, this time with Harry. For one, Spider-Man will be doing something that no other super-hero film franchise has done before, IE using the same villain from a previous movie.

I'm personally hoping he colors the costume orange and calls himself the Hobgoblin...but either way, I always assumed this was how the third movie would play out. Before, Osbourne's madness and the trickiness of it centered on Peter trying to protect Harry, to some degree. With a battle between Harry and Peter, the tension comes from the contested ground between them.

The difference is that both are known quantities to each other, now. As soon as the new goblin shows up, Spidey will know who's responsible...but what to do about it? And now, more than ever, MJ is caught in the middle.

Two days later, and I'm still in love with this film. It just hit every note pitch-perfect, for me. I don't care about making every piece fit, logically....while I was watching, it all held together. The emotional moments were powerful (the scene where May walks out was harrowing to me...but the follow-up speech was even more powerful), and the characters were all true to the comic's spirit.

And it was the little things that really pushed it over the edge...so many nice little touches, like having MJ involved with John Jameson, or watching Peter try to get a snack at the party. It just was so obvious that Raimi was making a film with care about characters he understood and loved. What with this, X2 and Azkaban, I'm getting spoiled by sequels that are better than the original. I'd better be careful.

 

[Joshua Randall]

I don't have much to add. Great flick. I too was getting teary-eyed in a few places (notably the scene where Peter confesses to Aunt May about his responsibility for Uncle Ben's death).

Man, between Spider-Man 2 and Return of the King, I've been bawling like a baby at the movies lately!

One thing I thought was kind of lame was the way the mini-sun fusion reaction could just be snuffed out by a bunch of water. Umm, right. It seemed like the scene was being all set up for someone (Spidey or Doc Ock) to have to manipulate the whatyoumacallit in close proximity to the mini-sun, thereby stopping it but also absorbing a lethal dose of radiation. But maybe that would've been too much like Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan when Spock sacrifices himself to save the Enterprise.

 

[Arnwyn]

The thing that tickled me most was the special guest appearance by Willem Dafoe. I remember at the beginning of that scene thinking "man its too bad we can't see more flashbacks with Harry remembering his dad" near the end scene with Harry...and then we hear the laughter...and then, in the mirror...

I totally flipped out over that. Honestly, when is the last time you saw a major Hollywood actor appear in a movie for less than five minutes, with three lines? It was incredible!

Exactly. Exactly. I nearly stood up and cheered when I saw that.

The cameos in this movie were nothing short of incredible.

 

[WanderingMonster]

I'd like to explore some thematic motifs that are repeated in SM and SM2, but I'll focus on just one that I hope is a "keeper."

Hose down Kirsten Dunst with cold water at least once per film.

Nothing says "distress" like a wet damsel.

 

[Piratecat]

Hey, whoever goes and sees it next -- I could swear I saw Christopher Walken in the subway scene for just a second, right before Doc Ock used his arms to clear the aisle. Can someone confirm? He isn't credited, but I found out after the fact that he was considered for the role of Doctor Octupus, so it wouldn't be surprising.

Thanks!

Man, I had wacky superhero dreams last night after seeing it....

 

[WizarDru]

Apparently, Phil Lamarr was a passenger on the train. I thought I saw someone familiar at the party, but I couldn't place him, so it could be my imagination. Sam Raimi was supposed to do a cameo as a thug, but I never noticed him.

Oh, and dig this: it's the splash page from Spiderman #50. Look familiar?