The Greatest Comic Book Film Ever

When I first saw The Dark Knight, like many others I was blown away. Everything about it was amazing and I was quick to join the crowd that thought it was the best Comic Book movie every made. I bought The Dark Knight the day it came out, and after multiple viewings I still think that it is a great movie and definitely one of the best movies of last year. However, I think I was jumping the gun a little too quickly by dethroning Spider-man 2 as the best of that genre.




I saw Spider-man 2 again about a month ago, and although The Dark Knight is so good that it doesn’t get old after multiple viewings, Spider-man 2 is the kind of movie that gets better every time you see it and one of the only comic book movies that you don't have to be into comic books to enjoy.

Where most comic book films have characters that are about as believable and likable as a piece of plastic (Fantastic 4 anyone?), the Peter Parker that Sam Raimi and Toby Maguire have created is a character you can't help but get emotionally attached to. When Peter tells his uncle that he can "be Spider-man no more", you genuinely feel for what the character is going through. You've been there through his troubles, and you want the character to succeed not because it'll make the movie better, but because you have come to care for the individual.

Did I mention that the action is also awesome? Spider-man 2 was made in 2004 yet has some of the best action in film ever. The final fight with Spidey and Doc Oc is the best fight scene in cinema period.

I have hope that Spider-man 4 will be as awesome. Spider-man 3 was a huge disaster for many reasons, but ultimately I think it's because Sam Raimi didn't want Venom to be thrown into the movie. Raimi grew up around the classic Spider-man villains like Doc Oc and Sandman and he wanted to keep the films that way. Since his comic book memories originate from that era, he knew how to accurately portray the villains from that era.

Pressure from the studios had him use Venom, and the end result was terrible. I hope the studio executives learned their lesson given the fact that Spider-man 3 was the worst rated of the bunch. (63% on rotten tomatoes compared to 92% for Spider-man 2.)

Anyway, Spider-man 2 rocks! One of the best films ever made.