God, I still love Spider-man 2

I should really be working on my essay - tentatively subtitled "Mary Barton and the triumph of character over Marxist class determinism." - however, Anton did me the favour of picking up Spider-man 2 on DVD for me while I was at work this evening. Of course, arriving home and finding it, just for me, I proceeded to watch half the movie and some of the special features instead of working on the 3000 word essay which needs to be done for Thursday morning.

Many of the early posts of this very blog were focused around the anticipation, and later, the praise of the film. I think it's safe to say that it easily out did any expectations I had for the film, delivering not only a solid superhero film, but a film full of engaging characters, humour, love and thought. Spider-man 2 is probably my favourite film I've seen all year.

It's hard to explain to others how important Spider-man is to me. I've always loved comic books, my favourite ones being Batman, Spidey and the X-men titles. But Spiderman is special because of way in which I can connect and identify with the character. Peter Parker is in many ways me. He suffers the same indignities I do. He pines over beautiful girls the same way I do. His heart is broken. His family is supportive. He labours at menial tasks, while knowing that he is destined for greatness. Heck, in most comic book renderings (especially Marvel's recent Ultimate Spider-man), he even looks a lot like me.


I wish I could do this. I really do.

Peter, unlike any other hero is the everyman. But more specifically, he is the "every-nerd." He's the character that I would be if I was given superpowers. So to me, Spider-man 2 is a special movie. Not because the Spider-man stuff is so cool, which it is, but because it really is a film about Peter Parker; his love for Mary Jane; his challenge to follow his dreams, while live up to his responsibilities. And for that, to me, it is one of the best movies of the year.