Spider-Man 2 is not just a big summer blockbuster. It has theright ingredients -- plot-driven action and moving characters -- toteach the movie industry how to do a comic book movie right.
Making up for the shortcomings of the first Spider-Man, wherethe villain was a little too ridiculous to be feared and the lovedevelopment almost too predictable not to be comic, Spider-Man 2remembers the fundamentals of a good film -- that plot should lordover special effects, that great casting means the non-actionscreen time doesn't drag but makes you laugh or cry, and that themoral doesn't have to be shoved down the audience's throat at theend if it has been built into the movie all along.
Tobey Maguire does a fabulous job exploring the hardships ofbeing Peter Parker, the hard-working boy from the wrong side oftown with a poor old aunt, two lousy jobs, college homework, anaching teenage heart and a falling-apart apartment -- all with theadded secret burden of moonlighting as Spider-Man.
He is bumbling in all areas of life, even as his Spider-Manuniform bleeds red and blue onto his other laundry, but most tragicis his inability to tell Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) that heloves her but cannot be with her because of his duty to hissuperpowers.
Just when Parker throws in the superhero towel for the life of anormal man, a particularly tragic and believable villain thrustshim back into his duties.
Good scientist Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina), attempting tosolve the world's energy problems by creating a fusion machine hasfour long metal arms fused to his back and controlled by his mind.The arms, originally for handling a dangerous raw element, arelimited in their power by a chip at the scientist's neck. However,when things go badly in the lab, the chip breaks and causes thescientist to be controlled by his demonic arms and stop at nothingto complete his miscalculated experiment.
When Octavius -- Doc Ock -- needs more raw material to completehis destruction, he promises Spider-Man's demise to Parker's misledand mourning friend Harry Osborne, who desires to kill Spider-Manfor his involvement with the death of his father, the GreenGoblin.
Even for the non-comic book fan, the film manages to escapebeing cheesy, and even those unaware of the back-story quickly fallinto believing in the city with clear-cut good and evil and anewspaper editor (Jonah Jameson) who interchanges the two based onwhatever makes the best story. Sweet old Aunt May (Rosemary Harris)is not false sugar-sweet but a really good person, and Dunst bringshome the human side of a superhero by being much more dynamic thanthe typical waiting-in-the-wings love.
Spider-Man 2 has a depth and fullness that will make it aclassic, and worth seeing on the big screen while you can.
