rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 2004
Directed by Sam Raimi; produced by Avi Arad, Laura Ziskin; screenplay by Alvin Sargent
Starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Alfred Molina, James Franco, Rosemary Harris, J.K. Simmons, Willem Dafoe, Cliff Robertson
Below you will find a temporary review for this film. The real (better, more complete) review will be online very soon.
'Spider-Man 2' shows us how a comic book film should be. Since the original
'Superman' only the original 'Batman' and maybe 'X2' have come close to
achieve that, although I must admit films like 'Blade', 'X-Men',
'Spider-Man' and 'Blade II' were very entertaining. 'Spider-Man 2' doesn't
only look terrific but it gives us a human story behind the hero, Peter
Parker (Tobey Maguire). Although that story was already there in the first
film, here it becomes really an issue.
The human story is about Peter who does not want to be Spider-Man anymore
since he loses his friends and, most of all, the love of his life Mary Jane
Watson (Kirsten Dunst). This story gives the extra dimension to the film,
but it is the comic book action most people want to see. It is hard to do it
better than here. The villain is Dr. Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina) who
becomes Doc Ock after one of his experiments fail. He has tentacles detached
to his body who seem to have a life of their own from time to time. They
look spectacular.
I could talk about the plot, better than most other comic book film plots,
but here the action is enough to like the film. One fantastic scene falls
into another and on the way we have some time to learn more about Peter
Parker, Mary Jane and his best friend Harry Osborn (James Franco) who hates
Spider-Man. I could tell you about specific sequences but I would not know
where to start. A great hero, a fantastic villain, an entertaining story and
marvelous visual effects make 'Spider-Man 2' an intelligent visual feast for
the eye.