The second of the three Nicholas Hammond Spider-Man 'Movies' was originally a two part story named 'The Deadly Dust'.
The story gets off to an interesting good start with Spider-Man rescuing a woman who was going to commit suicide by jumping off a ledge. It's not the most pacy of action sequences, but it keeps your attention. This gets the attention of the editor of the Weekly Examiner newspaper, based in Miami. This editor assigns the journalist Gale Hoffman to investigate Spider-Man.
Back in New York, one of Peter's Professor announces that he is bringing plutonium to the college for a demonstration. Peter and the other students are understandably worried about this decision. Three students decide that the best way the dangers of the plutonium is to steal the plutonium. Spider-Man interferes and naturally gets the blame. The students decide to one up their stupidity by building an actual bomb. These numpties entirely deserve what comes to them.
Meanwhile, in Switzerland, the mysterious Mr White, who gets a hilarious introduction being bathed by beautiful ladies before showing off his karate skills. He reads about the plutonium theft and travels to New York to obtain it.
One of the students, inevitably fall ill and the device is stolen by Mr White's henchmen. Peter Parker attempts to track down the plutonium. Gale Hoffman acts as a chain around his neck. The story often resembles a farce, with Peter having to change in and out of costume without being noticed and come up with excuses for using the Spider-Tracer or being absent from situations where Spider-Man is present.
Mr. White getting away and vows revenge on Spider-Man, though this doesn't lead anywhere since the character apparently never returned in the TV series.
Overall, this is a decent enough piece and I would argue the best of the three films. There is little to no web swinging, and the scenes of Miami and Switzerland are obviously stock footage, but as with other shows like the original run of Doctor Who, at least there is some sense of ambition behind this. Although scenes are long, most of them at least lead somewhere without relying on padding. The director also has a sense of humour, making the cut between the students boiling the plutonium and Peter boiling a kettle of water. We also get the scene of J Jonah Jameson riding around on a tricycle.
The cast are decent enough. Nicholas Hammond continues to be a decent Peter and Spider-Man.
Robbie Robertson has been replaced by Rita, played by Chip Fields. Although it's a shame to lose a Marvel character, Rita is likable enough to be a worthwhile replacement.Mr White is a fairly two dimensional villain, but the fact that he can do karate at least means he is a more physical villain than the one in the previous film.
Of the three Spider-Man films I would say this is my favourite. There is no origin story to slow the pace down.
7/10
No comments:
Post a Comment