Movies you watch alone

There are many movies I watch alone. Some because they're of limited interest; they might grab my interest but they bore others. Or some because they're hard to watch without flinching (The Passion of the Christ would be such a one - but I'll write about that movie another time).

And some I watch alone because they reduce me to tears. It'll probably surprise you that one such movie is Spiderman. Uh huh. I've just watched Spiderman 2 for the first time and it too reduced me to tears.

Like most of us (I imagine) I saw the first movie on it's first theatrical release back in 2002 and I loved it. Not because it was an action movie - those I can enjoy but I can also live without. But what I really liked about the movie was the spirit of fun. Remember the scenes where Peter Parker discovers his powers? How he jumps from building to building discovering what he can do and just plain enjoying it? Those scenes really resonated with me; they were the kind of thing I could imagine myself doing if I suddenly discovered I had those powers (and if I could overcome my fear of heights). But there was something more in the movie; a bittersweet feeling of sacrifice. Those scenes where Peter Parker realises he can be one thing or another but he can't be both.

So along comes the second movie. I was out of the country at it's debut so I missed it. And then one flight to Singapore (or maybe it was on the way back, I don't remember) it was on the in flight movies on demand. I got maybe 25 minutes in and realised I couldn't watch the rest quite so publicly. My alternative choice wasn't much better; Eroica, a movie about the debut of Beethovens 3rd Symphony that snuck up on me and also brought the tears to my eyes...

So tonight I watched Spiderman 2 for the first time. And I realised why I enjoyed both movies so much. They're not action movies at all (though some of the photography and CGI is heart stopping). They're movies about love.

I don't want to see a third Spiderman movie - the first two, together, are perfect!