Spider-Man 2 — How To Build The Perfect Protagonist | Film Perfection

Pizza time in movies about good versus evil the character that tends to stay in the audience's mind afterwards is pretty much always the latter servants of the Lambs is a film of Hannibal Lecter The Dark Knight is a film of the Joker infinity war is a film of Thanos Heroes might be very well made characters but at the end of the day villains are always the more interesting ones that elevate the movie to a whole other level of quality and in cases where that isn't so it's probably because the villain just isn't that great honestly almost never are films about good versus evil remember for being fantastic because of their protagonists except of course for the rare view anomalies spider-man 2 is one of the all-time greatest comic book movies ever made and the weird thing is it really shouldn't be a lot of the stuff in this film simply put isn't that special the CGI it doesn't hold up today the dialogue is cheesy and often full of exposition the main plot is a very shallow and mediocre at best not to mention that it doesn't even start until like 40 minutes into the movie yet despite all that and more the film is a highly emotional and captivating and overall simply amazing cinematic ride from beginning to end and this is the case because of one thing the protagonist Peter Parker in spider-man 2 is not only one of the greatest film protagonists ever put on screen he is to many the greatest comic book villain protagonists ever put on screen Tony Stark and Iron Man is up there too but the greatness of that character could be seen to be mostly due to the acting performance of Robert Downey jr. whereas in spider-man 2 the grayness of Peter Parker comes from the character not from the actor behind the character Tobey Maguire is okay and he does do the job but it's not like he's breaking any new acting grounds here mostly he's just there obviously when it comes to great characters there are always multiple different bigger and smaller factors at play that makes them who they are but most often there are only a few key character that everything else is built on and that's why we are here today let's take a closer look at the character of Peter Parker in spider-man 2 and try to find out what those core character qualities are that made him become one of the greatest protagonists ever to the point where he almost single-handedly made this movie become one of the greatest comic book movies ever we've already discussed in an earlier video how to create the perfect antagonist now let's see how to give that antagonist the perfect protagonist the very first thing every movie needs to do in order to make their protagonist great is make the audience care about them and the best way to accomplish this is quite straightforward you take your protagonist and you beat the living [ __ ] out of them I briefly mentioned this point in my earlier Tomb Raider video but I'm going to elaborate on it here it is basic human nature to feel for those who have to face tough times the underdogs the bullied the ones life has so crudely mistreated and lucky for filmmakers the same exact thing works just as effectively in fiction as it does in real life the more difficulties and injustice as a protagonist has to face and overcome the more the audience likes them cares about them and roots for them and the reason spider-man 2 works so well is because it takes this concept and drives it to the absolute max Peter Parker in this movie is the human equivalent of a punching bag from the opening shot onwards the whole world seems to be against him everything he has in his life is going wrong his job he studies his relationships everything I've seen many films with their protagonists badly but never on the level of spider-man - I mean this poor guy cannot catch a single break I'm not paying for those oh you're fired my class is over all I got is this 22 the rest of the week I'm sorry sir no one will be seated after the doors are closed hot brother miss Mary Jane Watson just agreed to marry me wake up took the picture but the real genius ah spider-man - and the reason why the protagonist in this film is one of the all-time greats comes from the fact that Peters problems are directly intertwined with spider-man all the bad things happening to Peter in this movie they are happening only because he is spider-man in other words Peter Parker is being punished for doing good and honestly there is no greater injustice than that Peter gets fired from his job because he has to help others as spider-man he's failing his studies because he has to be spider-man he can't be together with Mary Jane because spider-man's enemies could target her his friendship with Harry is crumbling because spider-man killed Harry's dead he has to watch and may suffer from loneliness because the reason Uncle Ben is dead is spider-man with all of that stuff alone there's enough protagonist punishment to fill an entire two-hour movie but in spider-man 2 it's just the first 10 minutes even when Peter is being spider-man he still cannot catch a break he's losing his powers he's falling from the sky he's being falsely accused of robbing banks and when you're watching all of this injustice and unfairness take place you just can't help but feel for this guy you want him to catch a break you want him to succeed and when he finally does get a tiny moment of goodness when he finally overcomes his troubles it feels so satisfying because at this point you are completely invested in him if you want the audience to really care for your protagonist be as unfair and cruel to them as you possibly can give them aspirations that they can't have take away everything they care of make them face obstacles that seem impossible for them to overcome do that and the audience is right there with them [Music] risks own life to save a helpless child reward some poor soul that travelin fourth-floor never made it out spends last of his strength to save a trainload of people reward let's take a short moment to talk about actor paul dano if you don't know much about paul dano here's what you need to know he's a very skilled actor he's done some very great performances and I cannot stand him I dislike Paul tano I genuinely despise paul dano every time i see paul dano on screen i get annoyed you know why that is because paul dano has played a whiny baby so many times that my brain has subconsciously started to view him as one he's a whining baby in Little Miss Sunshine he's a whining baby in there will be blood Cowboys and Aliens to all years of slave looper prisoners well maybe that last one is a bit inappropriate to say all things considered but you get it he's an annoying whiny baby the reason I'm telling you this is to illustrate the point that nobody likes a whiny little baby especially when it's not actually a little baby but a grown man even though you have to be hard on your protagonist you can't make them wine or mope around because of their problems because the second thing every protagonist needs in order to be great is the audience's respect despite being a human equivalent of a punching bag Peter Parker never gives up he never starts moping around aimlessly he never starts whining and complaining about his problems to others instead he takes all the unfair punches he receives and he sucks it up even though it's crystal clear that being spider-man has a direct negative effect on his life he still keeps being spider-man he still keeps pulling total strangers above himself and you just have to respect that after the midpoint of the film the weight of being spider-man does come too heavy to Peter to carry which leads to him tossing it aside but again he's never a whiny [ __ ] about it he makes the tough choice and he acts on it what he doesn't do is cry about being spider-man for 60 minutes and only then toss it aside and even when he's not being spider-man he still remains as someone the audience can respect he still keeps falling he still keeps picking himself back up even without his powers he still keeps putting his own life at risk to save the life of someone else to be clear Peter Parker does cry in spider-man 2 yes multiple times actually and that's fine showing strong emotions in movies is more than fine it's required but there's a difference between finally letting out long withheld emotions and being a little baby who does nothing but scream and whine and cry or do you think that's fair to say I'm just Peter Parker if you want to make your protagonist great you not only need to make the audience care about them you also need them to have the audience's respect no matter who they are hero or antihero a coined philanthropist or a lowlife scam artist they need to be established as someone the audience can respect and having them be a whiny baby isn't the way to go nobody likes a whiny baby nobody respects a whiny baby especially when that whiny baby isn't actually a physical baby the last and perhaps the most important quality every great protagonist needs to have is the ability of being someone that the audience can find entertaining and as spider-man to is Peter Parker proves one of the most effective ways to accomplish this is by making your protagonist active not passive active why is Felicity Jones in the first act of frog one so boring because she's a passive protagonist why's Ethan Hunt in Mission Impossible fall out so entertaining because he's an active protagonist and if you don't happen to know the difference between the two it's like this a passive protagonist is a main character who gets pushed by the story an active protagonist is a main character who pushes the story as in the actions of an active protagonist cause the story and the plot of the movie to happen if the active protagonist is nothing then the plot wouldn't exist for example in spider-man 2 the main plot is about Peter Parker trying to stop dr. Octavius from creating a new fusion reactor that most likely will end up destroying the entire city and if you've seen the movie then you already know that the only reason this plot exists is because of Peter Parker by destroying the old fusion reactor in this scene Peter unintentionally creates Doc Ock and sends him on a crime spree to rebuild the reactor aka he sets the main plot of the movie in motion but even though Peter Parker is very active in general I will admit that he's not as active as he possibly could be you could for example argue that in this actual scene itself he's being reactive instead of proactive that he has to destroy the machine or it would kill everyone there and that's a fair point and although the scene works it could maybe have been done in a bit more effective way by making it more about Peters own active choice whereas in a movie it's very clear that Octavius can't stabilize the reactor it should have been a bigger possibility that he maybe could stabilize it this way Peters decision to step in is more about his own active choice instead of him being forced to act instead of spider-man destroying the machine after Octavius is knocked unconscious Octavius should have still been awake when that happens that way there still exists a possibility that the reactor could be stabilized and the Peter doesn't have to destroy it but he makes the choice to do so regardless just to be sure and with a tiny change like that Peter in the scene feels that much more active also consequently maybe the reason the wife of Octavius dies is because of Peters choice to step in maybe Octavius first protects her from the debris but when spider-man shows up to destroy the Machine his attention snapped to him causing the wife to die and so even though Peter isn't the one who kills her his actions are what indirectly causes the death to happen this would not only give the scene more emotion it would also further develop both Peter and Octavius if you wonder why I'm always blabbing on about active characters it's because this is the kind of stuff you can accomplish with them regardless overall the movie does handle the quality of activeness very well Peter throughout the whole film is very active in the main plot as well as in the secondary subplots all the problems he has in his personal life with his job with his studies with his relationships they exist only because he chooses to be spider-man and that choice to be spider-man is the heart of this movie as is for example clearly highlighted at the end of act 2 even though Peter here fails to make the jump that doesn't matter the importance of the jump isn't whether or not he makes it the importance of the jump is the fact that he makes his own active choice to be spider-man once again then in the next scene where Octavius kidnaps Mary Jane the audience knows that Peter becomes spider-man not because he has to but because he chooses to and just like that the return of spider-man feels that much more powerful and entertaining and there you have it folks obviously there are a lot more variables to keep in mind when building a great protagonist but these three key qualities are what you do need as the basis for everything else as Peter Parker in spider-man 2 proves your hero has to be unfairly punished so that the audience cares about them they have to take that punishment without turning into a whiny baby so that the audience respects them and they have to always be active so that the audience finds them entertaining do all of that and maybe you can match your perfect antagonist with the perfect protagonist not so fast doc I need to see your ticket god dammit pulled on oh just tell him where his daughter is stop whining tell him where his daughter is just stop stop why I'm sorry there's no one allowed on this train it's out of service so are you [Music]

Channel: Filmento

Views: 961,478

Keywords: spider-man, spiderman 2, spider-man far from home, far from home, spiderman, video essays, film movie, screenwriting, tobey maguire, tom holland, doc ock, jk simmons, andrew garfield, avengers endgame, filmento, film perfection, tony stark, mj watson, spiderman suit, spiderman pizza, ytp, spiderman 2 train fight, spiderman ending, spiderman fight scene, green goblin, electro, mysterio, thanos, galactus, spider-man 2 pizza, peter parker, everything wrong with, mistakes, filmmaking

Id: jVicZB5jWfo

Length: 16min 5sec (965 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 08 2019