The Writer's Poke

Although only 2 years passed between the original and the sequel, the beginning of this film is a 5-minute recap of the original, using the original footage of the first film. A little odd. Then, it picks up right where the original film ended. Daniel (Ralph Macchio) and Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) are leaving the tournament, as are the members of Cobra Kai and their teacher, Kreese (Martin Kove). He starts beating up all of his students, and eventually Mr. Miyagi has to step in to make him look like a fool.  What's strange about this scene is that Ali (Elizabeth Shue) and Daniel's mom are nowhere to be seen. Could they not even be bothered to put in a cameo appearance? Of course, this entire sequence could have easily been cut, because THEN we jump ahead six months. Anyway, my real impression here is that the writers didn't know where to start this film. To me, it's simple. Start it with Daniel and Mr. Miyagi getting off the plane in Okinawa. It would have been easier to e...

The first 20 or 30 minutes feel so campy, but by the time Daniel (Ralph Macchio) and Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) become the primary focus, the quality of the story improves. It's still a big ask to think that Daniel can learn enough to even come close to winning a tournament against black belts. He did all that in 2 months? We see his training, but was he still going to school at all? And what happened to his mom for the middle 90 minutes of the film? She simply disappears, and Mr. Miyagi seems to have quit his maintenance job, too.  In terms of the Cobra Kai school, the trainer is an over-the-top villain, and for the majority of the film, none of the kids training with him like Daniel or act like they would feel any empathy for him. Well, Bobby (Ron Thomas) doesn't want to take things too far, but Johnny (William Zabka) and the others do...  And there's the class issue -- the Hill vs. Reseda. Class is the real thing, and I wondered where Daniel was getting the money even to ta...

What I immediately noticed in part 2 was the additional of humor. The first movie didn't really have any humor, but this one tried to include it everywhere. Usually, I like humor. Here, at first at least, I thought it felt forced, like the test group from the first movie said it lacked humor and so the writers made sure to add it everywhere in this one.  But then I thought: Most of the humor comes from Spider-Man. Maybe the use of humor is to show that he has grown in confidence. If he had to make a choice between being Spider-Man and Peter, he's made the choice: He's Spider-Man. Of course that won't stick. Like the first franchise, this franchise is set-up like a Romance movie, and so Peter (Andrew Garfield) and Gwen (Emma Stone) will need to continue to wonder "will we or won't we"?  Gwen seems to have made his firm choice. She's going to Oxford for 6 months, without Peter. But, of course, Peter makes the decision to stop her. Gwen doesn't put up...

What is interesting to me is how little time passed between franchises. The Amazing Spider-Man came out in 2012, just five years after Spider-Man 3. (Even less time would pass between The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man Homecoming -- 3 years). My impression is that it would make sense to allow more time to pass between franchises, or as a viewer, I'm naturally going to compare one franchise with the other. Now, since I'm watching them on DVD, I'm basically watching all the Spider-Man franchises back-to-back-to-back, but still...  This franchise does a few things differently. We have the backstory of Petere's parents, which is nice. Peter himself still comes off as pretty nerdy, but Andrew Garfield isn't quite as geeky as Tobey Maguire. You can at least imagine that he has a chance with Gwen (Emma Stone).  Since it's the first movie in the series, we go through the origin story (again). We watch him make his first suit (again) and learn how to shoot his webs ...

A busy movie. We have three villains this time, as well as Peter (Tobey Maguire) dabbling with the Venom himself.  Peter as Venom. What can I say? They make him look emo. He's basically the Spider-Man version of Chris Gaines. Is there any way to make Tobey Maguire look cool? Doubtful. The weird thing is, most of New York realizes he's a douche when he looks emo, but for some reason when he goes to the club with Gwen (Bryce Dallas Howard), the people there seem to like him.  What kills this franchise for me? Well, no, I don't like the casting. Maguire is 30 years old in this film. They are still painting him to be dweeby. Even in college, the guy behind him is hitting him with spit wads. And Kirsten Dunst. Not a fan of her as Mary Jane, but I also don't like this Mary Jane. It's tough to like a movie when you find the main characters -- and/or the actors portraying them -- to be annoying.  The whole relationship between Peter and Mary Jane is beyond annoying. Have th...

Sometimes you re-watch a movie and think, "That one holds up." It's a weird idea: That something can be "good" at the time but maybe less good later. Can a movie really depreciate over time, like a car? Is it normal for movie depreciation to happen, and what causes it to happen? In the case of Spider-Man 2, for example, it's the second movie in the first Spider-Man franchise. A 2026-viewer will naturally compare the movies from the first franchise against the movies from the second and third Spider-Man franchises. Any viewer will also compare a sequel or the continuation of the story against the movie that came before it.  When I was re-watching Spider-Man 2, I found myself more interested in assessing it against Spider-Man (2002), a movie that I had some questions about -- one being: Why are Harry (James Franco) and Peter (Tobey Maguire) friends? Unfortunately, Spider-Man 2 simply assumes they are. It does nothing to strengthen the case. Peter is still work...

Maybe the oddest relationship to think about in this movie is the friendship between Peter (Tobey Maguire) and Harry Osburn (James Franco). What exactly makes them friends?  I guess I'm wondering this because they come from two different social classes, and they haven't exactly known each other for that long. Peter isn't the most popular kid in school, and yet here he is hanging around a rich kid who probably would have his pick of friends -- both because of his background, but also because of his looks.  Peter and Harry end up being roommates, which is convenient for the movie's plot, but how much does an apartment in New York run, and is Peter actually paying half the rent?  In terms of "friend values," why does Harry think it's okay to date Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst)? He must know it's not okay, as he keeps dating Mary Jane a secret from Peter. Only when he knows Peter knows does he offer the cop out: "Well, you weren't making a move." ...