Year:
2004
Studio:
Columbia Pictures
Feature:
5/5
Spider-Man 2 is a
much better movie than the first one. The biggest problem I had with
the first movie was that the special effects made Spider-Man look a bit
too cartooney in action sequences. A couple of years later and the CGI
is almost good enough that Spidey doesn't look too unnatural (perhaps
he's supposed to since he is uncannily fast and agile, but it bothers
me when a human body does things like what Spidey does).
The story is very good. Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire, who keeps his
freaky too-wide smiles to a minimum, another reason why the sequel is a
better movie) is going through a psychological crisis. The Spider-Man
persona is just sucking up more and more of his time and keeping
secrets from his best friends and Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) is making
his personal life hellish. In order to save his sanity, his
subconscious causes his powers to start failing. This give Peter an
excuse to give up being Spider-Man and try to live a normal life.
But is the new Peter Parker good enough for Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten
Dunst)? Tired of waiting for Peter to finally make his move, Mary Jane
has moved on and is already engaged to be married to astronaut John
Jameson (Daniel Gillies), son of newspaper publisher J Jonah Jameson
(JK Simmons who steals every scene he's in). Peter is definitely out of
time but he's going to try to win Mary Jane back.
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But that's
just a subplot (it's a great subplot and better than the main plot in
my book, but I love romances). The real plot is Dr Otto Octavius
(Alfred Molina). He is going to demonstrate the first sustained fusion
reaction. Of course, fusion being so hot and dangerous, the good doctor
has developed this set of robotic arms (with artificial intelligence)
which are mentally liked to him and that attack to his spinal chord.
Naturally the experiment goes horribly wrong. Octavius' wife is killed
in the accident and his arms are fused to him. And of course the little
control chip that keeps the AI from invading his higher consciousness
is destroyed. The upshot of this is that Doc Ock goes a bit insane. He
is determined to build a bigger fusion reactor and prove to the world
that his theories are correct, or he'll blow up New York City in his
attempts. And Spider-Man has to return to active duty to save New York
and Mary Jane.
What I liked: the Peter/Mary Jane relationship.
What I didn't like: the whole "Raindrops keep falling on my head"
montage is really silly.
In conclusion, Spider-Man 2
is a wonderful movie. Action-oriented, true to the Spider-Man genre,
with a good plot, funny moments, and a great romantic subplot.
Definitely a movie everyone should see.
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