From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

Years later, when people revisit the unique genre of superhero movies, everyone knows that "Spider-Man's" sudden emergence changed history. It was the first film in cinematic history to break $100 million at the box office during its opening weekend, establishing an unparalleled monument with its performance.

However, amidst all the bustling discussions, it's easy to overlook the existence of "Spider-Man 2."

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

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

On the other hand, as a popcorn movie, Sam Raimi cleverly incorporated his own morbid sense of humor as a horror film director into the visuals, pioneering battle scenes. Doctor Octopus's awakening in the hospital and Spider-Man saving the subway have become classic scenes that people enjoy talking about.

Especially the latter, even many years later, after the genre films have exploded in popularity, filming techniques have become more sophisticated, and all kinds of imaginative ideas have emerged, it is still a well-deserved classic.

These factors are also important reasons why the film became a classic.

However, Peter Parker, as the soul of the series, undoubtedly carries a crucial responsibility in this film.

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

Even in Christopher Nolan's "Dark Knight" series, Christian Bale did not get such a large number of opportunities to show inner emotions.

In his previous life, in Anson's familiar version of "Spider-Man 2," Sam Raimi gained a lot of autonomy from Sony Columbia Pictures thanks to the box office success of the previous film, allowing him to shoot according to his own ideas.

He not only incorporated his good horror film techniques into the shots, but also calmed down patiently, spending a lot of plot and shots focusing on Peter Parker's inner struggles and torment.

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

Not even Zack Snyder's "Watchmen."

The reason is simple and straightforward.

"Hulk" flopped.

To be precise, the filming of "Hulk" was before "Spider-Man" exploded at the box office. In April 2002, the film began shooting in Arizona.

Ang Lee, who reached the peak of his career with "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," took over the job after the film project had been passed between four directors. Universal Pictures gave Ang Lee full creative freedom, especially after "Spider-Man," they were even more looking forward to this work.

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

A great disappointment.

Not only did it flop, but after the box office split, Universal Pictures lost more than 70 million US dollars, becoming one of the most tragic flops of 2003.

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

So, after that, Hollywood film companies had an impression: don't delve into the inner struggles of superheroes, no one wants to see superheroes encounter mid-life crises.

Later, "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" and the drama version of "Daredevil" subverted this impression again, but that's another story.

Let's turn our attention back to "Spider-Man 2."

It is conceivable that this gives the actor enough space to build the character—

The character's state, the different struggles at each point in time, and the timing and manner in which the transformation is finally completed.

The film allows the actor to create a three-dimensional character!

However, in the parallel world of the previous life, Tobey Maguire screwed it up.

In the first film of the series, Peter Parker was a boy next door, facing adolescent troubles. This kind of performance was in line with the colors of campus movies and soap operas, which was Tobey Maguire's strength. He completed the task excellently.

In the second film of the series, Peter Parker needs to face not only the troubles of growing up, but also life and reality. The situation is obviously much more complicated. Justice and evil, the individual and the greater good, 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, so it is naturally not that simple.

Facing such a complex and profound dilemma, it is far from enough for Tobey Maguire to still perform in the style of a youthful campus romance movie.

To be precise, it was actually a disaster.

In the film, Peter Parker faced difficult choices and internal conflicts many times. Sometimes he couldn't figure out the answer, sometimes he was on the verge of collapse, and sometimes he was helpless and at a loss. Different emotions were intertwined, fully showing the plight of this young man who had just entered society.

However, Tobey Maguire always had an expression of wide eyes filled with tears. Even if it wasn't as exaggerated as a poker face, it wasn't far off.

Complex and profound emotions, under his handling, evolved into a single-line grievance and confusion, and then... then there was no then.

Originally, grievance and confusion were also correct emotions; but if it was grievance and confusion from beginning to end, then it was terrible.

There were no character edges, no performance clues, no character arc. There was no growth or change shown until the end. He always looked aggrieved and humiliated, which caused the character to stay in place. For the film, this was a complete disaster.

In fact, in the early stage of his career, people had not yet realized Tobey Maguire's problem, but after "Spider-Man 2," the shortcomings were fully exposed and became a threshold that he could not break through in his later career.

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

So, can it be said that Tobey's performance ruined "Spider-Man 2" and caused the film's box office to be inferior to the previous one?

Anson would not say that, after all, Tobey's boy-next-door temperament does give Peter Parker an irreplaceable quality, but there is no doubt that Tobey's performance limited "Spider-Man 2," failing to fully realize the potential of Sam Raimi's carefully written script and characters.

If the potential was fully tapped, could "Spider-Man 2" rewrite history?

Anson is not sure, because there are too many influencing factors behind the film's box office. In this time and space, "Spider-Man" has reached a new height, a height that is difficult to surpass.

But Anson wants to try.