Review of Spider-Man 2 (2004) by Mrmoviebuff — 27 Apr 2017

'Spider-Man' (2002) was a fantastic introduction to the iconic Marvel character... director Sam Raimi was able to craft a thrilling - albeit, very violent - superhero movie where everyone was able to see the famous web-crawler swing into action, and now, can he strike again with 'Spider-Man 2'? The answer is; not only can he strike again, but he does it so much better this time. Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is back, and while still in love with Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst), he seems to be struggling balancing his life both being Spider-Man, trying to save the people of New York, and being Peter Parker, a student trying to catch up on work, and keeping his job. We see that Peter loses his job as a pizza delivery boy due to an inconvenience which led him to take action as Spider-Man, and even J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons), the editor of the Daily Bugle, is getting tired of Peter's lack of exceptional work. Peter is also struggling to keep up with Dr. Conners' (Dylan Baker) classes, life is clearly just too overcrowded for our young hero. It seems that his best friend, Harry (James Franco) is not too keen on Peter taking pictures of Spider-Man for the Daily Bugle, as Harry is still not over the fact that Spider-Man (who is his best friend as well) may or may not have killed his father. Harry wants Spider-Man to pay for the pain that he has caused him over that time, which obviously puts Peter in a difficult position, because Harry could easily find out eventually. We meet an enthusiastic scientist named Dr. Octavious (Alfred Molina), who plans to create a fusion power project that has been sponsored by Harry, who is now head of the Oscorp division since his father's tragic passing. Peter befriends Octavious, who even gives him advice on how to woo a girl, since Peter is finding it difficult to impress Mary Jane. During the fusion presentation, Dr. Octavious introduces the crowd to four, mechanical and electrical arms that are used to protect him while handling hazardous equipment. The fear that the advanced A.I. technology could overwhelm both his intelligence and mentality come true, as when the presentation goes wrong, and many are either left hurt or injured, Octavious then becomes slaves to the metal arms and pursues a life of crime to get the project running again. It seems that Peter may not be the man up for this, he starts to feel as if he is losing his powers, and gives up becoming Spider-Man. While he does, it seems that he is able to focus on the more important things in life such as; keeping up with school work, and living peacefully. But, when the crime in New York rises, many start to wonder where is Spider-Man?

'Spider-Man 2' is a fun and riveting, and at times, dramatic adventure. Sam Raimi was able to take everything he did well from the first movie, and he doesn't double it, or make it bigger... instead, he adds to it. He adds more features to this movie which makes it outshine the first. Molina is fantastic as the vulnerable Dr. Octavious, who reluctantly becomes a villain to get what he wants, even though he clearly doesn't want to hurt anybody. The way this movie explores the vulnerability of the main villain adds to the tension and drama. 'Spider-Man 2' is, in short, amazing.