****! The Best Superhero Movie Ever!

Rating: 10/10 (1 July 2004)

I know I'm over exaggerating, but this is the film that superhero fans have been waiting for. Spider-Man 2 balances itself as an action film; a horror flick; a special effects movie and a romance movie all in one wild ride.
It's been two years since Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) became the hero Spider-Man; he's now in college at Empire State University studying physics, working at a pizzeria; and fighting crime at the same time. Yet, he can't balance everything, because with crime all over, he is fired from work, late for classes and gets fired back and forth by J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) at the Daily Bugle.
What makes the character Peter Parker likable to "Spiderman" fans is that he is more humanistic than Bruce Wayne or Clark Kent. In ways, Parker through the comics is shown growing up with problems of responsibility to being a superhero and a human being, even the scene where we see Parker's apartment reminds us that we're not alone. Even his relationships with his close ones aren't helping either; Parker's guardian Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) has doubts about her nephew and misses her husband after what had happened two years ago; his best friend Harry Osborne (James Franco) is head of special projects at OsCorp and is funding Peter's idol, Otto Octavius. Harry will always be there for Parker, but he hates Spider-Man after the death of his father (the son doesn't know), and the girl next door, Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) is a model and an actress on Broadway who likes Peter Parker, but doesn't want to wait for him anymore to tell her "I Love You" so she is going out with an astronaut who happens to be the son of J. Jonah Jameson. What is interesting about Spider-Man 2 is that unlike the first movie where the supporting characters had brief roles, everybody is involved.
The new villain this time is Parker's idol Dr. Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina) whose experiment involves a fusion reaction that will save the city energy of electricity, and with the help of four tentacle mechanical arms that will control the reactor. Yet, his experiment turns out to be a disaster when he realize that his work is a magnetically reactor by bringing all metallic objects causing the fusion to grow even higher; he loses the inhibitor chip that controls his upper brain and is unstable until the operation scene, which in my opinion is a really scary scene and the most realistic I've ever seen (Note: this scene may scare kids). After panic in the streets, Jameson comes up with the name Doc Ock.
People back and forth complained about the first Spider-Man movie, saying that the 1st hour was better, the 9/11 scene was obtuse, the action was horrible, and that Spider-Man is like an animated cartoon. But in Spider-Man 2, the glitch is fixed. There are no problems like that; even the special effects are better looking than the original. When I bought the film for my parents to watch, they said that the special effects looked more realistic, and you know what? They were right. Spider-Man looks like he has more weight when he is swinging back and forth and Doc Ock's tentacles steal the show in special effects. With a team of puppeteers (who are erased) and CGI, Doc Ock is one scary villain as the audience sees the tentacles move, as if they are characters of their own. Plus the fight scenes are incredible as Ock and Spider-Man go at it, leaving a shocking look on people's faces.
The setback in Spider-Man 2 involves Peter Parker's choice of wanting to be the superhero saving the city or being an average citizen. In one scene after seeing Mary Jane with her boyfriend, he loses his ability to swing from a building and hold on to a wall as he realizes that he's losing his powers. Though he doesn't figure it out, he goes to a doctor and that's where his advice of having a choice takes place.
There is one scene that is not subtle and that is when Mary Jane kisses her boyfriend upside down, letting audience know that she still remembers that kiss from Spider-Man (even my dad caught it).
Sam Raimi has outdone himself in a project that he has desired all his life and unlike the first film, Spider-Man 2 is the best superhero movie out there. It outdoes the predecessor in all directions from minute one; with a few surprises along the way, the film is worth watching and nonetheless, more exciting.