I’m one of the many people who are always saying “it wasn’t as good as the book” when seeing movie adaptation. Only very rarely am I satisfied with the job they do. I should probably cut them some slack since books are usually hundreds of pages and take hours to read, not an easy thing to fit in 2 hours of movie.
Comics basically have the same problem as books although you can also see it two different ways. Comic series often have a lot more content than a mere novel but then again they are also less of a “unit”. The characters evolve through the years, there isn’t necessarily one adventure to put in the movie so if you produce something that captures the heart of the comic, fans can be satisfied.
I saw Spider-Man 2 last week and I have to say that in terms of adaptation, it’s almost flawless. It’s an imperfect movie though, a great one but with some imperfections. The thing is, some of those come from the comics so although, for example, some parts are pretty corny, they are taken straight from the original. Peter Parker is corny when it comes to MJ so you might cringe at some of the stuff but if you know the character, you know it fits.
One of the things I loved the most about the first and is even better in the second is the way Spidey moves. Kind of weird to say considering it’s video based on “still shots” but it is still the case; he moves exactly like the drawn version. The jumps, the swinging, the way he crouches, sticks to the wall, swings in and around the train. Identical.
Raimi and his crew also got the atmosphere, humour and internal conflict right on. Doc Ock is a bit different visually than what I remember (it’s been years though so who knows) but much much closer than the Goblin from the last movie who was just not right. Excellent tentacles, great performance by Alfred Molina, I soooo hope Dr. Doom turns out as good when they do the FF movie.
Great movie, even better adaptation and walking out I was jealous of the kids who nowadays get to see comic books live on screen, with almost no hint that they’re not real. Of course I then remembered; we had Star Wars and they have The Phantom Menace. We’re still better off ;).