Written By Onyero Kihodu
When Onyero isn’t working as a Staff Writer at Novel Entertainment, he is navigating the realms of time and space…
Spider-Man was everywhere. It was the costume you would wear on Halloween, the image on your lunchbox, the comics you read, the bedsheets you slept in, the cartoon you watched and the catchy theme song you sang. But the ultimate way I experienced Spider-Man was the movies. The movies were great, I loved them, what child hadn’t pretended to be Peter Parker and tried climbing their bedroom wall?
I watched the original Spider-Man movie on VHS (yes on videotape) again and again and again and again and again. The movie was so good; it never got old. So, when word got out that a sequel to the greatest movie of all time (at least that’s what I thought back then) was coming out – we were all extremely hyped.
It was all the playground talked about. Well, that and Beyblades. Never before had a movie captivated the playground so much. We were all going to see it, but now the question was… which one of us kids was going to be the first to see it!?!?! Look, back in those days, seeing a movie first meant you had bragging rights. I was determined to be the first.
It was all the playground talked about. Well, that and Beyblades. Never before had a movie captivated the playground so much. We were all going to see it, but now the question was… which one of us kids was going to be the first to see it!?!?! Look, back in those days, seeing a movie first meant you had bragging rights. I was determined to be the first.
Unfortunately, my neighbour beat me to it. Rats! I’ve lost my precious bragging rights that I never really had in the first place! My neighbour made Spider-Man 2 seem like the greatest movie ever made. Even better than the first one! He was buzzing when he was telling me why it was so good. Apparently, in one scene, there’s a lady who sang an acoustic version of the 60s catchy Spider-Man theme song. “WHATTT?!?!?!”, I said, “A LADY SINGS THE SPIDER-MAN THEME SONG?!?!?!?”, now I HAD to see it.
I begged my Mum to take my younger brother and me to see Spider-Man 2 at the cinema. My Mum was always hesitant to take me to the cinema. I think she thought I watched too much TV as it is and would rather, I focused on school and homework. Ew, no. Also, going to the cinema would cost money. My mother would say to me “Have you got cinema money?” and my answer was always no. I didn’t have cinema money; I didn’t have any money. But I made my Mum understand this was a do or die situation. I had a reputation to uphold on the playground! I couldn’t miss out on the conversation.
Finally, my Mum relented and took us to see it at the cinema.
The cinema was always this cool, big, dark and mysterious place. I loved it. And the screen was massive too. I also loved eating popcorn and drinking a Sprite – absolute essentials for any blockbuster cinema experience. Anyway, I saw the movie and it was everything I could ever hope it would be.
My neighbour was right – greatest movie ever made.
I was able to join the conversation now, I was the cool kid on the playground and the lady who sang the theme song did an amazing job too. To this day, I still watch Spider-Man 2. In my eyes, it’s still the best thing ever. The action, the comedy and that score. Absolutely brilliant. And to this day, I still pretend to climb up my bedroom wall thinking that I am Spider-Man.