Review of Spider-Man 2 (2004) by Reece L — 14 Jul 2017

Before seeing Spider Man: Homecoming again, I also wanted to revisit Spider-Man 2. Now after watching Spider-Man a few days ago and seeing all the great reviews of its sequel, I was ready for one of the best superhero experiences of all time, and - it was one of the most good superhero experiences of all time. It wasn't nearly as much as I would have expected. I'll say it right off the bat, despite popular belief - the first one is better.

I'm not saying this one isn't good. One of my favorite things about this movie was the performances. Tobey Maguire gives a typical dedicated and very realistic shot at the Spider-Man character. And this movie has a lot more emotional depth to go off of. Kirsten Dunst also does great, again. J.K. Simmons performance is also hilarious as usual. The best performance, however, is Alfred Molina as Doc Oc. He really gives a great interpretation of the villain. His villian is better than the Green Goblin. This movie is also technically impressive as you would expect from the second film. However, I do have one complaint: while the action itself is impressive and unique for its time, some of it felt a little unimportant. Other than the final battle, it seems like most action starts with Doc Oc showing up, then Spider-Man starts beating them up until one of them leaves.

Director Sam Reimi once again does an amazing job capturing a unique and amazing feel for these movies. Another one of my favorite things about this movie was the script. I forgot to mention this in my review of Spider-Man, but these movies are essentially the Peter Parker show. It's about his life and struggles. And instead of it being about Spider-Man being Spider-Man, it's about how being Spider-Man affects Peter's life. This is something modern superhero movies sometimes neglect to capture, and this movie certainly does it well. However, while the first movie really felt like a whole movie experience, this one kind of flew by for me. Like I said before, some of the action felt like it just happened and stopped happening, and I wish the scriptwriter did a better job of making the experience more exciting. While the ending scene does the same, it actually makes since, it gives more narrative focus to Peter and Doc Oc, and is certainly a satisfying conclusion.

Overall, Spider-Man 2 has lots of narrative focus and heartfelt story, as well as web-swinging action and visual effects as impressive as you would expect, which are certainly enough to make up for the occasional come-and-go feel.