Spider-Man 2

This is a movie that surpasses the original one on many different levels! It has a better villain, a better story and, most of all, a better message. The movie is about Peter Parker who loses faith in what he does, so he loses his powers. Tobey Maguire is magnificent in this movie and he plays so well off of all the other actors in the movie. Alfred Molina is great as the villain and, as always, J.K. Simmons steal every single scene in which he is present. This is really one of the best superhero movies that has ever been made.

I was a kid when I watched this in cinema back in 2004 I just want to say after all these years after a few version of Spider-Mans and all the MCU movie. This one is hands down the best Superhero movie. It has everything done within 2 hours. Perfectly caught up what it left of from the previous Spider-Man and Toby Maguire will always be my Spider-Man.

Being Spider-Man is wrecking poor Peter Parker's life. He's had to give up his chance at love with Mary Jane, he can't hold a job because he's always late, his grades are suffering at college, his Aunt May is struggling with the loss of beloved Uncle Ben, and his best friend Harry blames Spider-Man for the death of his father. All of this leads to Peter deciding to give up being a superhero. But a new threat rises in the form of mad physicist Otto Octavius, dubbed Dr. Octopus by the press, that may force Peter out of retirement.

Sam Raimi's direction is much improved from the first film. This one he seems completely at home with the big budget blockbuster and creates many memorable scenes and images, as he often does in his lower budget work. Comic fans should appreciate the homages to the works of Lee, Ditko, and Romita, The CGI improves from the first film. There's still a little bit of the rubbery animated look of the CGI humans but not as distracting as before. The action is also more impressive. The fight scenes between Spider-Man and Dr. Octopus are well-done. The scene where Spidey saves an elevated train is arguably the movie's highlight. Danny Elfman's music is good but, as with the first film, not in the same league as his iconic Batman work.

The cast knocks it out of the park. Tobey Maguire perfectly captures the essence of Peter Parker, even more so than the first movie. His inherent nerdiness, awkwardness, and struggle to do what's right even at the cost of his own happiness. Kirsten Dunst and James Franco build upon their performances from the last movie. Dunst rises above the damsel-in-distress role she's saddled with quite nicely and by the end finally feels like the iconic Mary Jane ("Go get 'em, Tiger."). Rosemary Harris gets far more to do as Aunt May this time around and she's amazing. She steals every scene she's in. The supporting cast (J.K. Simmons and the rest) are all great. Alfred Molina brings Dr. Octopus to life and treats the character seriously, which is miles above the hammy performance given by Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin in the first film.

When this came out, it was the best superhero movie since Superman '78. I walked out of the theater beaming from ear to ear and feeling like a kid again. It was one of the rare summer blockbusters I went to see more than once. It still holds up and is a high water-mark for Marvel movies, in my opinion. It's followed by a terrible third film and then a reboot series that, while good, misses a lot of what makes this film work so well. This is the definitive Spider-Man movie. Lots of humor, heart, romance, and action all told in a bright, colorful fashion. Everything a Spider-Man film should be.

Spider-Man was almost the perfect comic book movie and perhaps released at the best time. When audiences get bored with what genres normally cook up (mostly horror) we the viewers always look for the next best thing. For a while, horror movies were all the fad, but these movies can become boring extremely fast and Hollywood must find something completely opposite from horror to try and keep our attention. So, what might be completely opposite from horror? Well first, lets make a list of what is opposite from horror. Happy is one, action is another; good guys always winning might be another. So, what might be a good opposite for horror is a comic book movie. Now, a lot of money comes from what Hollywood had to offer for comic book movies. Some are failures (Electra) and others are hits. For the most part, most of them are hits. Spider-Man 2 is one of them. We begin with Peter Parker continuing his job as Spider-Man, but all is not well. Peter's friend, Harry Osborn, hates Spider-Man and wants him dead. Because of Peter's relation with taking photographs of Spider-Man, Harry has problems with Peter that only continue to grow worse as the movie goes on. The main villain of this movie is Dr. Otto Octavius who later becomes Dr. Ock. In a freak accident, he is connected to his invention of arms that are suppose to help him with an even bigger invention. His wife is killed in the process and the arms attached to him seem to have complete control of what he does. Deeply grieved, Dr. Ock runs away and hides, but not for long. He comes to terms with what he has become and starts his life as super villain. As usual, it is up to Spider-Man to save the day, but something is not right. Spider-Man seems to be losing his powers and has no control of what is happening to him. It is true that this film is better than the first entry, but only by a little bit. It seems though, that scene were Peter saves the people a train was little over it when everyone on the train discovers he is Spider-Man. Overall: A-

-Ben Russell

The first and third 'Spider-Man' movies were simply fantastic.But it gets even better with 'Spider-Man 2'. It's full of action, has plenty of adventure, and is full of award winning special effects.Like any other super hero sequel, there's always a new villain.The villains name in 'Spider-Man 2' is Dr. Octopus.AKA Doc Ock.He has 4 mechanical tentacles that can flip cars and throw people at great distances.Does he remind you of anything? Of course he does.What does he remind you of? An Octopus... Duh.It may sound kind of stupid, but Doc Ock's character actually helps the movie become a 2 hour roller-coaster ride of a movie.Just remember that Spider-Man can do whatever a spider can.