Frank Rich gets real about Fahrenheit 911 and writes a swell review of Spider-Man 2 as well.
The extraordinary popularity of this hero on the Fourth of July weekend might give partisans on both sides of this year’s political race pause. As a man locked in a war against terror, Peter Parker could not be further removed from the hubristic bravura of Mr. Bush and his own cinematic model, the Tom Cruise of “Top Gun.” There’s nothing triumphalist about Spider-Man; he would never declare “Mission Accomplished” after a passing victory, and his very creed is antithetical to the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive war. But neither is he a stand-in for John Kerry. Whatever inner equivocation he suffers over his role as a superhero, he stops playing Hamlet when he has a decision to make. Nor does he follow Mr. Kerry’s vainglorious example of turning his own past battles into slick promotional hagiography.
Spider-Man 2 took in $152 million its first five days, a record. It added 18 of NewMexiKen’s dollars Friday night. It’s good. For its genre it’s very, very good.