A disappointing follow-up. [CONTAINS SPOILERS!]

Rating: 5/10 (23 July 2004)

Did anybody else find as many holes in this movie as I did? I was skeptical to say the least about the first Spider-Man film, but eventually I saw it anyway and was very surprised. The film had a strong plot, well-rounded and human characters, and unlike many comic book adapted films, it took itself with a grain of salt. I cannot say the same about the sequel, the highly applauded "Spider-Man 2."
The movie starts out with promise picking up where the first one left off. Peter Parker is a very busy college student trying to juggle his school work, commitments to family and friends, and his duties as Spider-Man. The film tries very hard to convey his internal struggles, in fact, it tries way too hard. The first 45 minutes deals with nothing but that. So many things happen that eventually it becomes repetitive and pushes itself to the point of insulting the audience. Then, finally, we get to the introduction of the villain, Doctor Octavius who eventually becomes Doctor Octopus (Ock.) Of course, just like the first one, he becomes Doctor Ock by way of mechanical mishap from an invention of his. And after that, we only see Ock periodically. He isn't really much of a villain. His whole plan involves getting money to repair and improve his invention. He wouldn't be a villain if people didn't get in his way. He doesn't want to hurt anyone which makes him rather dull. Then he and Spider-Man have a couple of typical encounters involving millions of dollars of damage to the city. During a latter encounter, Spider-Man loses his mask on an elevated train car so that everyone in the car can see his face. Then a kid hands him his mask back and says "Don't worry, we won't tell anyone." Now come on. Are you telling me that in New York City, ten million people, there is not one person in that train car without a camera taking his picture and/or finding some way to make a buck off of what they had just seen? That is very, very thin and bothers me beyond words. Then, at the end of the film, Mary Jane finds out who he is and they decide to stay together. So what does that mean for the third one? They're going to be Ozzy and Harriet? Ward and June Cleaver? That really bothers me, too. Now, Harry Osbourne, Peter Parker's former best friend, finds out Spider-Man's real identity and stumbles upon all of his dad's Green Goblin stuff in a secret room which implies that he will become Green Goblin in the third one. I like how Harry discovers Parker's secret identity, but I really think that he should become a different Spider-Man villain. Carnage or Venom perhaps? I just think that it's kind of lame to have the Green Goblin come back. Just like in "Return of the Jedi" when George Lucas began to run out of ideas and brought back the Death Star.
I think most of these holes with the film could have just been edited out. The movies was just over two hours but seemed like a whole lot more. I would have been perfectly happy with a solid hour and a half Spider-Man sequel, but that wasn't the case. A better screenwriter would have helped, too. They should have gotten David Keopp (writer of the first one) to write this one. The story was good, but a better writer was much need. So please, stop kidding yourself and just admit that the movies wasn't that great. Pretty please?