The Everydork

Alyssa and I went to see SpiderMan 2 last night. Now I was always a comic book junkie, but my poison was the X-Men. I only picked up the occasional SpiderMan, but I could tell his storyline was very different than SuperMan or BatMan or the X-Men. He was a man of the people. An everyman. Beneath his acquisition of superpowers, a science geek, a loyal friend and nephew, and a romantic fool. Which, let's face it, is a tough character to pull off. We like our heroes bigger than life, especially on the movie screen.

Even if you never read comic books, or if you were loyal to other superheroes like me, see this movie. The first movie was amazing, but the sequel is very different. More real, if that's possible in a science-fiction comic book genre. More moving. You deeply feel for the character of Peter Parker. If any one of the four of us had been bitten by a radioactive spider (sounds like something that might happen in Perry's lab) we might very well turn into this kind of hero. He can't juggle it all: love, day jobs to pay the rent (he doesn't have BatMan's family fortune to sustain his hero habit), school work, and saving the citizens of New York night after night after night. His grades are slipping, he's getting fired, and he's a bumbling, exhausted, emotionally distraught mess. And you think juggling work life and home life is a challenge.

But there's one scene worth the entire movie to me. It's one of the most deeply moving scenes I've ever seen on film, which was a complete surprise to me. I went to SpiderMan 2 for web-slinging, not for an object lesson about self-sacrifice and grace. I don't want to give the scene away so that you can appreciate it for yourself, but watch for the moment in the movie where SpiderMan saves a large group of people from certain doom. Not only is the difficulty with which he accomplishes this task refreshing, but I was left in tears at the reaction of those he had saved.

Maybe it's the timing of the movie. I couldn't help but be taken back to 9-11, when buildings were being torn apart before our very eyes... a horrible image we previously could have only imagined in the movies. The sacrifice of so many to save as many lives as possible, summoning up super-human courage and strength, and the way the citizens of New York (and America) were transformed from tough and streetwise to childlike and full of thankfulness for their lives. I thought about the men and women sacrificing their lives for our country in the Middle East. And of course I thought about our Savior. How human he was, and how full of inner turmoil, but how clear he was on his mission. And how he defeated evil and death, but not without great personal sacrifice and the shedding of his own blood.

I run a great risk recommending a superhero summer flick to 3 highly educated grown men, deeply rooted in the great theater and literature. But it's a risk I'm willing to take. I was touched by this film, and I'm deeply cynical of movies, especially comic book movies. I know you will take something away from this movie, and that you'll be glad for it. If it helps, look for the first scary action scene of Dr. Octopus in the movie. It is one of the greatest modern day tributes to Alfred Hitchcock I've seen. Which reminds me, leave the kids at home. :)