I Laughed. I Cried. I Had To Pee.
Mood:  on fire
Now Playing: City Of Heroes
Topic: The Movies
Spider-Man 2 was released today. I was present for the midnight screening. If you weren't, nyah nyah nyah.

In the car on the way there, Tim the Pirate exclaimed out of no-where "I'm not gay, but I seem to turn other people around me gay." This has nothing to do with the film, but we all laughed our collective ass off, and so I thought I'd share. Back to the film.

We arrived an hour early, having pre-purchased our tickets and wanting to get a good seat. It was midnight... we were pretty sure that every Spider-Man devotee' (pronounced "geek") in the area would be there; or at least, sure that everyone there would be a Spider-man devotee'. I hit the men's room and got my snacks. We got great seats and sat down 45 minutes before the film, popcorn and drinks in hand. I had a medium drink, but it could have filled a bathtub. The large could have filled a wading pool, and refills on that size were free... just in case the wading pool leaked, I guess.

We sat through The 20wenty. At seven minutes past midnight, the previews started, so the audience was ready to do a little wall crawling ourselves. Right about then, my soda began knocking on my bladder's door. I had to pee. It was one of those desperate moments when you're trying to figure out if you have enough time to hit the men's room again before the end of the previews. I never had the nerve to try. The opening credits began and it was too late. But that's okay. I forgot all about the bathroom until the closing credits rolled.

The film itself was written in such a way that, like the first film, aficionados of His Webliness would find it both fresh and familiar. The story line followed comic history closely enough, but with enough twists to keep the fans surprised and on the edge of their seats.
The story was the classic crush-up of personal problems, public problems, angst and romance so common to the Spider-man comics. It's an action/comedy/chick-flick/monster movie. No, really.

There were several cameos from the first film, including one from Bruce Campbell, who also played the ringmaster in the first film. You'll know him when you see him. There's also a very brief cameo from Stan Lee... watch for it.

The science was a bit off... okay, way off. (If you know what tritium is, try not to be too upset when you see the film.) But considering he got his powers from a genetically altered spider biting him, science was sent to go hang from Issue #1 (and Spider-man has lots of issues). Suspend your disbelief and move on.

Special effects were on par with the first film's, with some improvements. Dock Ock's arms were amazingly well animated. In the comics, I always found myself wondering "If his arms are so short in this panel, how'd they get so long in these panels?" That happens in the film too... but instead, I found myself thinking "Yeah... yeah, I can see how they'd be able to do that."

Also like the first film, music was composed by the grimly great Mr. Danny Elfman, as is appropriate to the point of being nearly obligatory for films of the super-heroic genre. That was definitely a plus.

There was plenty of setup for not only a third film, but you'll also see a certain Dr. Connors, raising the possibility of a fourth film as well. Connors' field of expertise is not herpetology, but then, Spider-man is a photographer, Doc Ock is a physicist, and Norman Osborn, although he was weird, was not a goblin.

Overall, I'm more than pleased with the results. I enjoyed it very much, and would pay to see it again in the theater, and I may very well do so. I was glued to the screen all the way to the very end of the film, and the closing credits began to roll.

Then, I ran to the bathroom, suddenly remembering that I still had to pee. If the movie had lasted another hour, I'd have still waited until the end.