The Best Actor in the Vase of Meiyu

Chapter 985 Unlimited Potential
Many years later, when people returned to the unique genre of superhero movies, everyone knew that the emergence of "Spider-Man" changed history. It was the first work in film history to exceed $100 million in box office on its opening weekend, setting a monument with its unparalleled performance.

However, in the midst of all this heated discussion, if you are not careful, you may easily overlook the existence of "Spider-Man 2".

If "Spider-Man" made major Hollywood film studios realize the value of superhero comic copyrights, then "Spider-Man 2" made producers and directors realize that superhero movies can actually be shot in this way.

On the one hand, Sam Raimi's exploration of the character of Peter Parker is refreshing and fully demonstrates the director's love for the original comics.

On the other hand, as a popcorn movie, Sam Raimi cleverly incorporated his bad taste as a horror movie director into the picture, setting a precedent in the battle scenes. The two scenes of Doctor Octopus awakening in the hospital and Spider-Man saving the subway have become classics that people talk about.

Especially the latter, even many years later when genre films have exploded, shooting techniques have become more mature, and many fantastic ideas have emerged, it is still a well-deserved classic.

These factors are also important reasons why the movie becomes a classic.

However, as the soul of the film series, Peter Parker undoubtedly bears key responsibilities in this movie.

For actors, "Spider-Man 2" can be said to be a rare opportunity to showcase their acting skills.

Even in Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins series, Christian Bale didn't get to perform with so much inner drama.

In the previous life, in the version of "Spider-Man 2" that Anson was familiar with, Sam Raimi got a lot of initiative from Sony Columbia Pictures thanks to the box office blowout of the previous film, and was able to shoot according to his own ideas.

Not only did he incorporate his own horror movie techniques into the shot, he also stayed calm and patient, spending a lot of plots and shots focusing on Peter Parker's inner struggle and torment.

It is no exaggeration to say that, apart from Ang Lee's version of "The Hulk," no other superhero movie is willing to spend so much time focusing on the protagonist's psychological arc.

Neither did Zach Schneider's "Watchmen."

The reason is simple and intuitive.

"The Hulk" pounced.

To be precise, the filming of "The Incredible Hulk" took place before "Spider-Man" exploded at the box office. The film went into production in Arizona in April 2002.

Ang Lee, who reached the peak of his career with "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", took on this job after the film project passed through four directors. Universal Pictures gave Ang Lee full creative freedom, especially after "Spider-Man", and they were full of expectations for this work.

However, Ang Lee was unable to find a balance in commercial blockbusters. This film, with an investment of 140 million US dollars, was released in June this year after Universal Pictures spent more than 30 million US dollars on publicity and promotion. It eventually grossed 130 million US dollars in North America and 245 million US dollars worldwide.

Disappointed.

Not only was it a flop, but after distributing the box office profits, Universal Pictures lost more than 2003 million U.S. dollars, making it the worst flop of .

In addition, the box office performance of "Spider-Man 2" was also lower than the first film in the series. Of course, the movie still made money, but it was still disappointing compared to expectations.

So, after that, Hollywood film studios had an impression: don't discuss the inner struggles of superheroes in depth. No one wants to see a superhero experiencing a midlife crisis.

Later, "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" and the TV version of "Daredevil" overturned this impression, but that's another story. Now let's turn our attention back to "Spider-Man 2".

Sam Raimi gives sufficient plot, shots, and time to focus on Peter Parker's psychological state and growth arc, which is more complete and clearer than the previous work. This patience is really rare in genre movies.

This is not only common in superhero movies, but also in other types of movies.

As you can imagine, this gives the actors enough space to build their characters——

The character's state, the different struggles at each point in time, and the timing and method of finally completing the transformation.

Movies allow actors to build a flesh-and-blood character!
However, in a parallel world in his previous life, Tobey Maguire messed up.

In the first film in the series, Peter Parker is a boy next door who faces the troubles of adolescence. Such a performance fits the style of campus movies and soap operas, which is Tobey Maguire's strength, and he did a great job.

In the second film in the series, Peter Parker has to face not only the troubles of growing up, but also life and reality. The situation is obviously much more complicated. Justice and evil, ego and self, responsibility and selfishness, money and love, etc. These questions may not be answered in a lifetime. Countless people are trapped in the cage of reality. Naturally, it is not that simple.

Faced with such a complex and profound dilemma, it is far from enough for Tobey Maguire to interpret it in the style of a youth campus romantic love movie.

To be precise, it was a disaster.

In the movie, Peter Parker faces dilemmas and struggles many times. Sometimes he can't think of an answer, sometimes he is on the verge of collapse, and sometimes he is helpless and at a loss. The different emotions are intricate, showing the plight of this young man who has just entered society in all aspects.

However, Tobey Maguire always has an expression with wide eyes and tears in his eyes. Even if it is not as exaggerated as facial paralysis, it is not far off.

The complex and profound emotions, under his handling, evolved into a single line of grievance and confusion, and then... nothing happened.

In fact, feeling aggrieved and confused are correct emotions; but if you feel aggrieved and confused from beginning to end, that would be terrible.

There are no character edges, no performance context, no character arc, and no growth or change shown until the end. The characters always look aggrieved and enduring humiliation, which causes them to remain stagnant. For the movie, this is a complete disaster.

In fact, in the early stage of his career, people were not aware of Tobey Maguire's problem, but after "Spider-Man 2", his shortcomings were fully exposed, and it became a threshold that he was never able to break through in his later career.

In a sense, Toby is also a vase, a baby-faced vase.

So, can we say that Tobey's performance ruined "Spider-Man 2" and caused the movie to perform worse than its predecessor at the box office?

Anson would not say so. After all, Toby's neighborly temperament does give Peter Parker an irreplaceable quality, but there is no doubt that Toby's performance limits "Spider-Man 2" and fails to fully tap the potential of Sam Raimi's carefully written script and characters.

If the potential is fully tapped, can "Spider-Man 2" rewrite history?
Anson is not sure, because there are so many factors that influence the box office of a movie. In this time and space, "Spider-Man" has reached a new height that is difficult to surpass.

But Anson wanted to give it a try.

(End of this chapter)