Spider-Man 2 (2004)

 marvel action film
Spiderman is always spinning his webs all over the place to keep up with the bad guys. He battles doctor octavious and saves not only the girl but saves the day as well. April 21, 2008

 Excellent comic-book action film - the best of the Spiderman series
"Spiderman 2" is the best film in the Spiderman series. Good special effects, an interesting villian, and a decent story come together in a film that will satisfy most actions fans.

After a great title sequence, the film has a bit of a shaky start with some forced humor related to a janitor's closet but improves from there on in. Your enjoyment of this film will no doubt depend on your tolerance of Tobey Maguire's klutzy character and the continuing tease around his romance with Kirsten Dunst.

Followed by a disastrous sequel. February 16, 2008

 Slightly better than the first
While definitely improved, its really not that much more enjoyable than the first. The only difference is, I actually liked Peter Parker in this, though his whininess was constantly grating. Kirsten Dunst was annoying, just like in the first one. The effects are better. The plot is barely improved over the first movie. It was decent, but still not good enough. February 6, 2008

 Pretty Darn Good!
This almost was a 5 star movie. I gave it 4 because of the Doc Oc character. His many mechanical arms seem to think on thier own in this movie. That is just plain silly & doesn't follow the true comic story line. He & only he controls the arms. Also on the train when we see an unmasked Spidey. I wont go into detail incase you have yet to see, but I don't recall any such event happening & I don't think it would have been written. Aside from that, WOW! A great movie! Ramie does a fantastic job compared to many others who make comic books into movies & change nearly everything so it's like a totally differnt story. His love for Spiderman really shines! February 3, 2008

 Spidey faces a crisis
This is the winter (or perhaps the autumn) of Peter Parker's discontent. Two years after receiving his spider-powers, his life seems to be falling into chaos. He's devoting so much time to fighting crime as Spiderman that his part-time job (from which he's fired in the first 15 minutes of the movie) and his college career are floundering. For reasons unclear, he's no longer rooming with his buddy Harry Osborn, who has assumed the chieftainship at Oscorp; instead he's living in a poky one-room apartment in a shabby old brick building--and he's in arrears. His beloved Mary Jane Watson, who's made it as a model and on Broadway, is mad at him because he hasn't come to see her in "The Importance of Being Earnest." And he's discovered that his Aunt May's house, where he grew up, is being foreclosed on. Then he finds that his webbing isn't always shooting when he calls on it, and he can't always stick to the walls he tries to crawl. A doctor pronounces him healthy--physically. What's a floundering Spiderman to do?

To makes matter worse, a new villain has arisen in New York--Dr. Otto Octavius, a physicist who, in trying to originate a working fusion process for Oscorp, is transformed into the terrifying Dr. Octopus. Peter's first battle with him is nearly fatal, though he does contrive to rescue his endangered aunt. Shaken, he begins to doubt his calling. In the end, his solution is to "hang it up"--or rather, to dump his costume in the garbage (it ends up mounted on Jonah Jameson's office wall). But there's no rest for a hero. Gradually, with Aunt May's unwitting help, he realizes that his Uncle Ben was right: great powers require great responsibility, and he'll "always be Spiderman."

Besides the continuing angst that is a Marvel trademark, this film is distinguished (of course) by eye-popping SFX--perhaps not *quite* so good as those in the first installment (when Doc Ock climbs up a wall, you can tell it's a computer animation), but still very impressive. Especially noteworthy: Spidey's battles with Octopus and a thrilling sequence in which he barely manages to stop a runaway el-train (the fact that Manhattan doesn't have any of these any more is beside the point) with his webbing and nearly tears himself apart in the process. (The following scene, in which the rescued passengers gently and carefully draw him into the car and to safety, is all the more affecting on account of the contrast.) And Doc and his sentient robot arms, when seen at "eye-level," are definitely among the better film villains on DVD. Both Spidey and Ock are human-scale despite their powers, capable of doubt and, in the latter's case, reformation. And there's a great surprise at the end of the film that makes all of Spidey's trials worthwhile. In the final scene we see him (urged by Mary Jane to "Go get 'em, tiger") once again swinging through the skyscrapers toward another crisis, whooping joyously, with two NYPD choppers close behind him--a sort of symbolic suggestion of the possibility that he and the forces of law and order may finally be coming to an accommodation despite Jameson's ongoing (and, at one point, rather hypocritical) efforts to demonize him. Though probably not for the youngest and most sensitive members of the family, this is a great wild adventure ride for everyone else, and may well serve as a launching point for some good conversations about ethics, perseverance, and the definition of heroism. February 3, 2008

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