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Spider-Man 2 (2004) Analysis: Part 1!

toshea217

Updated: Jun 11, 2020

I don’t hesitate to say that Spider-Man 2 (2004) is the greatest superhero flick that has ever come to the big screen. What!? But what about the Dark knight!? It’s common knowledge that the Dark Knight is one of the best movies of all time, and I certainly agree with this. In fact, I strongly believe that as an overall film it surpasses Spider-Man 2 (though I still personally enjoy the latter more). But that’s not what I’m discussing here. What I want to talk about is the hero’s interior journey, and how that can translate to each of our own lives; especially when looking at it through a Catholic lens (this will come more into focus towards the second half of this Part 1). Whilst the Dark Knight certainly has a focus on its main character and the complexity of his motivations and relationships, it is also heavily focused on the philosophy of good and evil. It’s broader so to speak. Spiderman-man 2 is solely a character study. As for the Dark Knight, there's lots to say about it, so I’ll probably save it for another time! For now, let's get stuck into this masterpiece.


After that wonderful opening credits collage of the previous film’s pivotal moments (love it!), the film establishes the core conflict (more on that in a moment) within the first shot; a billboard featuring Mary-Jane (M.J.) the model! Following this, we here Peter’s narration as the camera pans out to see the man himself on his scooter, stopped in the middle of the footpath, gazing at the image of the woman he loves. I just wanted to take a brief moment here and pause. I believe there was a slight missed opportunity here for pure visual storytelling. Whilst the opening narration worked well enough in the first film, here it can’t help but feel somewhat forced (not to mention hecka cheesy!). A word on the cheesy, though. For the most part, cheesiness is something that these films pull off better than most. I mean, they’re done on purpose to capture that comic booky essence. But in my opinion, if they’re too forced or in this case forego doing something a little more creative, then I think it detracts a little from the film. Just a minor nit-pick. Let me tell you though; there are some fuuuuun dialogue scenes in this film that just drip with cheesy goodness (I’m looking at you Peter and M.J.! get keen to dissect those!).


Anyways, wasn’t I saying something about conflict? Oh yes! No story can really be called a story without conflict; tension, either between characters or within oneself…or both! This movie was smart enough to have an element of this in every scene. What is the conflict established by Peter’s gaze towards the billboard of M.J.? Well, if you’ve seen the previous film, you’ll know that in the end Peter chose to sacrifice his chance with a relationship with M.J. on account of what he thought of as his obligation to protect her. In other words, he viewed his role of Spiderman as too great a responsibility (inspired by Uncle Ben) to let go of, and too risky if M.J. were to become involved in any way shape or form. And when we catch up with Peter here, he has been living by that decision for two years. But I guess that time doesn’t heal all wounds. He is still madly in love with M.J. and sees her face everywhere she looks. This is the conflict; between responsibility and a desire for a normal life. It is this conflict that informs every struggle that Peter has in the movie, whether relational or personal.


The film brilliantly articulates almost all of these in the first 15 minutes of the film. There is no way around it; Peter’s life straight-up sucks. Like, there is nothing in his ordinary life that is not going wrong. Nothing. What follows the opening shot? He rides his scooter into the fiery Mr Aziz, berating him for his lateness (We learn that Peter has a side gig as a pizza delivery man. “PIZZA TIME!”). He suggests that Peter is “not dependable” and has but only 7 and a half minutes to deliver the order, lest he be fired! As he sets out on his scooter, he knows he won’t make it there on time…at this rate. He pulls a Spidey and uses his powers to meet the cut-off time. But of course, why have powers if you don’t use them to “help the little guy” as Tom Holland’s Spider-man would suggest. And that’s exactly what Peter does. On his way to the delivery point, he saves two children about to be hit by a truck, but as a result arrives late and doesn’t receive payment for the pizza’s (due to “Joe’s 29-minute guarantee!”). What happens? No more Pizza time for Peter! Fired! This is the first concrete example (in that we see Spider-man in action) of the consequences and tension between trying to live two lives.


Sadly, it just goes downhill from here and gets worse; you can’t help but feel sorry for the poor kid. His casual freelance job at the Daily Bugle is now his only source of income…but what do they require him to do? Take pictures of Spider-man only so J. Jonah Jameson can continue to drag our beloved hero’s name further into the mud. As Peter says, “you’ve turned the whole city against him!” I would have liked to see a little more of this idea play out, whereby people have actually turned on Spider-man somewhat…but there is no indication of this in the film apart from this throwaway line. The public clearly loves him to bits. But in any case, he can only earn his living from allowing his reputation to be destroyed. It is as poetic as it is paradoxical. We’re not even halfway done with his problems! We next see him rushing towards class with his mentor Dr Curt Connors, only to bump into him in the campus courtyard. The factor of lateness comes again into play, and Peter has not only missed his class, but is reminded that his grades are “steadily declining” and that he “always appears exhausted”. His academic life, something that he truly prizes as a scientific genius, is not exempt from collateral damage.


And man, it just doesn’t stop. By what pen and cruel hand was this psychological torture chamber of a story constructed! Nah I kid, it makes for compelling drama; we need more of this! So, Peter goes home for a surprise birthday party organised by Aunt May, who has invited Harry, his best friend, and M.J…yikes. From this conversation we learn that Aunt May certainly isn’t Spider-man’s biggest fan, and that Harry has become increasingly bitter due to a mistaken belief that Spider-man murdered his father. What’s worse, is that we seem him slowly begin to take this out on Peter, who to Harry seems to be defending Spider-Man; thinking that Peter is doing so because he’s his “bread and butter”. Following this, Peter finds that Aunt May is struggling to make ends meet. Despite this, Aunt May in her goodness gives Peter a small amount of money as a birthday present, claiming that he “needs it more than [she does]”. Wow. Peter must be in quite the troublesome spot when his own elderly Aunt is coming across as being more well off than he is. This is shown later when Peter is revealed to be late on rent “again!”, all for a decrepit and tiny apartment.


But before this, we get one of those deliciously cheesy Peter and M.J. scenes that I just can’t help but talk about :D. After the “party”, Peter goes to take out the trash, and encounters M.J. sitting on her back porch next door. It’s clear from this (as well as a few comments from Harry earlier) that two years gone by, M.J. is still in love with Peter, as he is with her. And man, this dialogue is hilarious! After she tells Peter that she “liked seeing” him that night, he’s all like “oh boy yeah”, and in such a love-struck way too. I can’t help but want to laugh every time I see it. She begins toying with him, and then lets him know that she is currently “seeing somebody”, to which Peter is taken aback. We see here hints of her own conflict, which play out more later. Most important to note in this scene however (it becomes important later), is that Peter makes a sincere promise to M.J. that he will come and say her play the next night. She is thrilled to hear this but gives him a stern warning… “don’t disappoint me”, which Peter reassures her won’t happen…uh huh.


Fast-forward back to that decrepit apartment scene. We see Peter arrive and sit on his bed; his emotionless facial expression as he stares into the distance capturing everything that has been discussed so far. After a brief comedic moment taking place the next morning, the film brings us to the end of the introduction; a perfect encapsulation of Murphy’s Law: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Tough break, Peter. Life stinks.


It is here that we arrive at our first turning point. Peter is introduced by Harry to one of his idols, Dr Otto Octavius. Harry, as the son of Norman Osborn, is funding Octavius experimentation with renewable energy (in the form of a miniature sun). This is our first introduction to the movie’s villain, who like many of the adversaries in this trilogy, are tragic characters. They are people who begin as well-meaning and even good, but as a result of a ‘freak accident’, their worst qualities are amplified to 100 (more on this later). But for now, so far as we can see, Octavius is a seemingly upright gentleman, whose only motivation is to serve his fellow man. Innocent enough. He even has a brilliant line which he delivers to Peter in an attempt to call out the latter’s apparent laziness (Octavius knows about Peter through Connor’s, who is a friend of his). He states that “being brilliant is not enough…intelligence is not a privilege; it is a gift. And you use it for the good of mankind”. YES! I’ll just take a quickie and say that this encapsulates so much about the Christian life. Each of us has received gifts from God. But these aren’t something that just ‘sit there’. We need to do our part and develop them through cooperation with God. Most importantly, our gifts actually aren’t for ourselves. They’re for other people, and for the building up of the Kingdom of God. This is true whether it be using our gift of intelligence to improve other’s quality of life through medical research or cultivating a God-given artistic talent to help others contemplate the beauty of God through the world He has created.


So far, I ‘ve looked at this movie scene by scene, but if I did that for the rest of the movie, we would be here all day! What I’ve done so far is just bring to the forefront the principal themes that we’re dealing with. I’ll still touch on pivotal scenes, however. After having dinner with Octavius and his wife, Peter begins to prepare himself to see M.J.’s performance. He opens his closet and gazes at his Spidey suit; next to it a regular suit, the both of them symbolising the two-way fractured life that he is attempting to live side by side. He puts on the ordinary suit (with his Spidey suit underneath), buys some flowers, and is almost there…until duty calls. Two webbed up thieves and an awesome action sequence later, Peter arrives at the doors only to be told by the “obnoxious usher” that “nobody will be seated after the doors are closed”. He’s lost his chance, and has disappointed M.J. Waiting outside, he sees M.J. exit the building but before he can approach her, she herself is approached by another man…the new guy. She and the new guy walk off as lovers into the night, with Peter in the background, his one hope of a normal life slowly extinguishing.


Emotionally frustrated, Peter runs down the alleyway, puts on the Spidey suit, and goes for a temper tantrum swing…only for his webs to suddenly fail, causing him to hurtle towards the ground. Taking off his mask, he discovers his webs aren’t working (in these films he doesn’t have web-shooters, but rather his body generates it; a sort of ‘bio-web’). After being forced to take the elevator, Peter is seen back in his normal clothes, dragging his broken scooter (from the earlier action scene) along the ground; a metaphor for his broken life. To add to the pain, M.J.’s face is covering the wall of the lane he walks down (literally hundreds of posters), as if life is now just simply mocking him.


Following this (though I won’t go into much detail) is Octavius’ demonstration to create a successful fusion reaction. To do he creates artificial intelligence in the form of four robotic arms, all of which are under his control due to an added inhibitor chip. Wouldn’t you know it? the experiment goes wrong. His wife is killed, property ruined, and his inhibitor chip destroyed. Luckily Spider-man is there to pull the plug before anything worse happens! Octavius is taken to hospital, but in an incredible “horror” scene, his four mechanical arms begin to fight back against the doctors (to the extent of murder). Octavius awakens and isolates himself in a harbor side shack. The loss of the chip allows him to be greatly influenced by the artificially intelligent arms, leaving him susceptible and obsessed with rebuilding what he created, making it bigger than before. Moreover, he justifies any means to do it, even if that means stealing. We see this play out in an epic action sequence at a bank. At this point, Peter’s webbing seems to be inconsistent; sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. In any case, the bank is where he engages the now ‘Doc Ock’ for the first time and manages to save Aunt May from the latter’s clutches (Aunt May at this point changes her opinion regarding Spider-man). Despite this, Doc Ock escapes with the cash and spends a large chunk of the movie slowly rebuilding what he lost.


We then come to a midpoint culmination of the film. Peter has been asked by J.J. Jameson to attend a party (as photographer) in celebration of John Jameson, J.J.’s son (an esteemed astronaut). This section of the film is brilliant; much in visual storytelling too! On multiple occasions as Peter is wondering about, he attempts to grab something off a platter, only for someone else to snatch it away at the last second. As I said, this happens persistently, and just goes to reiterate that for all Spider-man has done in protecting the city, there is nothing left for Peter Parker. Adding to this is the reveal of John Jameson as the man who is courting M.J. Peter watches as the two are introduced publicly, the spotlight on them as they walk down the stairs. The love of his life, in the arms of another. He attempts to reconcile with M.J. outside, who responds indignantly. What is more, his best friend Harry has reached his breaking point having lost a fortune on Otto’s failed experiment. Combined with his hatred for Spider-man, Harry unleashes fury upon Peter (who he still condemns for “defending” Spider-man). Slapping him in the face twice, Harry bitterly tells Peter to stop “acting like [he’s his] friend”. So, there you have it, friendship with Harry in the rocks, M.J. unforgiving, it couldn’t be worse right? Immediately after the double slap, John takes to the microphone, and declares that M.J. has just accepted his marriage proposal…ouchies! To cap it all off, J.J. demands Peter to immediately take a picture of the “happy” moment, which he does. Here he is, the closest that he can ever get to a normal life; taking a shot of someone else fulfilling all his hopes and dreams.


Arguably at the lowest point of his life, Peter goes out for a night swing. I applaud this scene for being able to show us the pain in Peter’s face even though his mask is on, through a combination of music and camera angles. Everything is miserable and then…his webs fail again. Only this time, it’s not just his webs, but all of his powers. His wall crawling begins to fade, and his senses are dialled back, to the extent that he needs glasses in order to see clearly (as he did before he was ever bitten). In the next few scenes, Peter arrives at a critical realisation: he has a choice. He is a free agent. He doesn’t have to be Spider-man. In a conversation with Uncle Ben (which takes place in his mind), Uncle Ben tells Peter about “honesty” and “justice”, and how he counted on Peter to “take those dreams out into the real world”. For his part, Peter responds by saying that he can’t “live [Uncle Ben’s] dreams anymore”. He is in love with Mary-Jane and desires “a life of his own”. After declining Ben’s offer to take his hand, Peter utters the famous line: “I’m Spider-man-no more”. He proceeds to place his costume gently into the outdoor trash can, and walks away in the night, the camera focusing on the mask, as everything fades to black.


And that’s the first half of the film! So, what can we draw from everything that we have discussed so far? And again, this is just how I like to view the film, you might think I’m way off and that’s fine! Let’s look at Peter, an ordinary man given super-abilities for the purpose of protecting and saving others. What could this be an analogy of? I like to think of it as grace, a share in the Divine Life of God. And what does grace do? It builds on nature, to the extent that you could do things that never could have done without it. Fr Mike Schmitz (Ascension Presents) talks about this in his video on Captain America. You should check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrkaDeUEh1o

Grace does many things for, such as but not limited to the perfection of human virtues as well as the gift of infused virtues. Most importantly, it enables us to be in relationship and live with God (Sanctifying Grace), and with God nothing is impossible.


So like Peter, we’re all individuals, who, through something that occurs outside of ourselves, are able to do things that we couldn’t before. And it’s certainly not because of anything we have achieved ourselves through hard work, though it does take our cooperation. Indeed, Peter with his newfound abilities must “choose” to be the hero Spider-man, just as we must “choose” to cooperate with grace. However, as touched on earlier, what we can accomplish with God’s Grace isn’t just meant for us, but for the building up of the Church. Peter Parker isn’t given his powers to show-off or get what he wants. Rather, it’s for the safety and protection of the city. We all have unique God given gifts that are intended to give Glory to Him in one-way shape or form, but it’s up to us develop it. The parable of the talents comes to mind.


What can be hard for many of us as Christians is that when we do cooperate with God’s Grace and carry out His will…sometimes we don’t see the good fruit that it bears. Or sometimes we let our problems blind us from what should be clearly visible. The city sleeps soundly nearly every night because they know that they have a watchful protector. Those two kids earlier in the film get to go home that day because they were prevented from being killed by a truck. But Peter isn’t at all focused on this. Rather, he’s focused on his failing relationships and financial concerns: the things of everyday life that are common to many. Like Peter in the Gospels, he is sinking in the water at the sight of the storm. Only this is complicated by Peter’s double life. It’s because that he chooses to keep his identity a secret that is at the core of his problems. Now I’m not saying this means he should go swinging about without a mask. He certainly should keep that private! What I’m getting at is that much of his pain is caused by his decision to keep this responsibility a secret from those who mean the most to him, particularly M.J. We saw how this played out in everything that’s been discussed. By separating his life in two, he becomes utterly fractured. As Peter Parker, he can’t tell M.J. the reasons why he can’t be there for her. As Peter Parker, he can’t explain to Harry the circumstances of his father’s death. And to a degree they’re more than disappointed in him, and you can’t blame them for it. He comes across as a terrible friend.


Firstly though, I will say this: Peter truly loves M.J. You might think “really Tim? I didn’t pick that up already!” But when I say love, I mean that in conjunction with how he feels romantically, he “wills the good of another” (CCC 1766). This is so no matter the cost to the person who loves. Peter, treasuring M.J.’s and her safety, decides against entering into a relationship with her in the first film. Because from his perspective, to do so would be to put her in mortal danger. He puts her first. Here he is struggling with that decision, but still standing by it to a degree. He reaches his breaking point when he sees his desire to be with her as unattainable; no longer just because of a personal choice that he’s made to protect her out of love, but also now because someone else has ‘appeared’ to ‘steal her heart’. Perhaps from his point of view, this is no longer a sacrifice that he’s made, but something forever lost. Following this, Peter loses his powers completely.


The film doesn't explicitly tell the audience what exactly it is that causes this, but through the first half of the film we know that it’s based on the incongruency of his desires and wants. . In other words, it’s all down to him and his psyche. Whilst many of his problems lay the groundwork, I personally believe it's his desire to be with M.J. that's the direct cause of his 'powerlessness'. Or at least, it's the 'final straw' so to speak. It's the cause, but in itself it stems from Peter's fractured life. This idea will be more explored in part 2. Following this, he makes the firm decision to let go of Spider-Man, going so far as to throw the suit in the trash. Rather than somehow reach a unity between these two personas; he abandons one in favour of the other. He is Spider-Man, no more.


And here I find another analogy, that being the Christian who after enduring much suffering, is tempted to walk away from the faith. As Spider-Man fell from the New York City night sky, Peter Parker fell from grace. He decides “what has this life ever brought me? Nothing but suffering and misery!” He is certainly right to be honest about his pain and what it’s doing to him. But in doing so he misses the bigger picture. He fails to see why Spider-Man is important; the people that depend on him. Perhaps many times (not in every instance) we’re tempted to feel the same way. When our faith has seemingly brought us nothing but suffering, we fail to see just how much our lives have had an affect on others and God’s Kingdom. We’re tempted to turn inward to find answers, before finally throwing in the towel and giving up altogether. Looking at it from another angle, maybe some of the time as Christians we are, like Peter, fractured: we’re living a double life. Perhaps we rock up to Mass on Sundays, but then don’t give God a second thought for the rest of the week. We have two persona’s that we present to the world. Peter Parker chose to present his one person in these two different ways to M.J. who knows both of his personas (Parker and Spider-Man) but doesn’t know that they’re one and the same. But it shouldn’t be this way, at least for M.J. (That’s why it isn’t a perfect analogy, because he does need to keep his identity private in the public eye). Just as it shouldn’t be that way for Peter, neither should it be that way for us. We’re not made to be fractured.


And that concludes my part one analysis for Spider-man 2! Things look pretty bleak for now for Peter, will he resolve the question of who he is? Let’s hope so. Thanks’ so much for reading! I really enjoyed writing this and hope to make many more in the future (with part 2 on the way!) Always looking for tips to improve, and open to suggestions about movies you want to me tackle!






Caveat's:

. Brief profanity

. Action violence/some scenes may frighten children








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