Great movie, true to the spirit of the comic books

Rating: 10/10 (18 July 2004)

As a long time fan of the comic books I think this movie gets as close to the spirit of the comic books as is possible in a movie format.

Knowing that a sequel will rarely if ever match the originality of the first outing this one takes a novel step. Instead of going for the bigger is better approach (a la Matrix 2 and 3) this movie goes back to the roots of the comic book and delves more into the characters and relationships than the action. As in the original comic book series the characters are not just window dressing to support the superhero action - rather the story is centered firmly on those relationships.
Spider-Man was always about Peter Parker and his struggle to maintain two separate lives. I've heard reviewers say this story is very downbeat but anyone who has read the comics will see that as again very true to the comics.
Also, a complaint about the movie I've read is that it is more like a soap opera, and again you will find that what made Marvel Comics different from the then dominant DC comics (Superman, Batman etc) was that they focused much more on characters and relationships than just on the super-hero action. The Marvel Comics of the 60s and early 70s very much were like soap operas, and therein lied their popularity.
In an interview with Sam Raimi on this topic he says if people feel this movie is like a soap opera, he has succeeded in capturing the spirit of those comics and I agree in this he has succeeded.
As with the X-Men movies there is a lot of history to compress into a few 2 hour movies and I think they are doing a good job of compressing Spideys 40 years of history.
My one complaint is the Aunt May character. I'm not giving anything away if I say that it is hinted in this movie that Aunt May knows her nephew Peter is Spider-Man, and one of the enduring facts of the Marvel comics was that Aunt May never knows - in fact the comic book version is a much more fragile old lady and it's often suggested in the comics that if she found out it would kill her!
Such very minor glitches aside it's a great popcorn movie, with great action scenes. Sam Raimi brings more of his own directorial style to this without going overboard. The hospital scene with Doc Ocks arms going on a rampage is pure Evil Dead 2 (with in-joke nod to the chainsaw scene), and Bruce Campbell again cameo's to great comedic effect, this time as a snooty theatre usher.
The fights between Spidey and Doc Ock are truly spectacular and the CGI is far less aparrent I thought than in the first movie, and definitely much less apparrent than in, say, Matrix 2 and 3.
I think there is plenty to enjoy in this movie, whether you are a long time Spider-Man fan like me, or entirely new to the web-slinger. More, more, more please!!