The Amazing PlagiaristMan

To state my biases: Of all the superheroes, I’ve always been partial Spider-Man. Flash was a close second. I have nothing against Peter Parker or his alter ego. I wish them the best.

I haven’t seen the latest Spidey flick, but Isaac Chotiner’s analysis at the New Republic discourages me from trying.

Contrary to what many claim, Hollywood is not out of ideas, Chotiner says. It’s a hedgehog with one big idea, which aims to make bucketloads of money.

Spider-Man 2 is the latest instantiation of the idea: It “is not a new approach to the same old formula: no, it is basically a remake of other recent and derivative films. The dialogue is carpentered from previous movies. The action scenes are almost shot-for-shot retreads. The characters go through precisely the same motions, or trace the same ‘arcs.’ This is plagiarism, not filmmaking.”

Chotiner tells his readers not to bother to see the film. We’ve seen it already anyway, lots of times: “There have been four Spider-Man films in the past 15 years and they are already on video. You might as well just watch them.”