Not a huge disappointment from the first, but a gigantic disappointment from the hype!

Rating: Null/10 (14 December 2004)

I had low expectations when this movie came out, as I was very disappointed by the first film. I don't enjoy Tobey Maguire as a rule, and he overplayed the nerd without any hint of the cocky brashness that defines Spidey in the comics (when in costume). Spidey's swinging through Manhattan looked awful, the Green Goblin looked like a Power Ranger, and Dafoe chewed scenery with gleeful abandon. Just not a good movie.
So I didn't bother with part 2 in the theater, even though the reviews were uniformly excellent. I figured I would wait for the DVD, and did so. Part 2 is almost an exact rehash of part 1 for me. Peter's got powers, but is horribly put upon to use them for good. Peter loves Mary Jane, but can't tell her, and she runs into the arms of another. Peter befriends a rich scientist who experiments on himself, his invention goes wrong, giving him special powers and driving him insane. In a tough situation, the people of New York stand up for their hero. It's the same $%#&^ story!!
I thought the attempts at humor were contrived (although I did enjoy Raimi regular Bruce Campbell's turn as the usher, and the landlord was pretty funny as well), and the broom closet scene lasted about three times as long as it needed to. The love story is ridiculous. First of all, in what I thought was an impossible feat, the cinematographer made Kirsten Dunst positively unattractive. For that matter, Maguire looked awful too. I know he's supposed to be a geeky teenager, but would a little pancake makeup have been too much to ask? Dunst has never been much of an actress, and nothing changed here. She and Maguire both have their eyes half-lidded the entire movie, making me want to fall asleep along with them.
The villain was once again overacted to high heaven. The exposition as he realizes the arms are controlling him made me laugh out loud. Let's not even deal with the absurdity of controlling a fusion reaction in the open air, or why he suddenly felt the need to use the robotic arms for EVERYTHING, including taking off his glasses. I was actually relieved to see Dafoe pop back up - that's how bad Molina was.
Now for the special effects. This is what saved it from being a complete disaster. The Spidey-swings were MUCH better, and there were some nice sequences where they transitioned from CGI to live pretty seamlessly. And Doc Ock's arms were very well done. They did seem to have a mind of their own. I'd give it an 8 for effects (well below the LOTR trilogy, about on a par with the X-Men movies), but a 3 for everything else. Let's call it a 5 overall.