Review of Spider-Man 2 (2004) by Diego T — 11 Jan 2014

Spider-Man 2 is the best Spider-Man film to date, and pretty much everybody agrees upon it. I didn't care much for #1, as it had campy effects and a not very involving villain. However, this installment introduces Doc Ock, one of the greatest comic book villains of all time, played to the hilt by Alfred Molina.

The film benefits greatly from Molina, and the best scenes are when he is saying quotable quotes. "The power of the sun... in the palm of my hand..." The franchise really needed somebody like him to give it life, because it certainly can't rely on Dunst and Maguire's hard-to-swallow chemistry. But Maguire actually exceeds expectations here (even if the expectations were astoundingly low), and gives one of his best performances to date.

Just nine years later, the special effects are beginning to look a little cartoony, but that's part of the film's charm. That tentacle-whipping never gets old. Although the ending might feel more than a little hammy, the rest of the film is quite entertaining. If only it had come during Marvel's rebooting; as much shit as Tobey Maguire gets, he might have been good in The Avengers.