He's...just a kid.

Rating: 9/10 (7 June 2019)

Spider-Man 2 is the greatest superhero film of all time. Entire cinematic universes have come and gone since its release in 2004, but what are cosmic challenges to the daily dilemmas of a kid who is the city's heroic web-slinger by night, and a mere pizza delivery boy by day? Its predecessor gave legitimacy to a new generation of big screen hero flicks. Spider-Man was hewn from obvious, in-your-face storytelling, the kind perfect for fans flocking from page to screen. The choices were as bold as any all-caps comic book title: save the woman you love, or a cable car full of screaming kids? Spider-Man 2 more or less resumes that moral quandary in the life of Peter Parker, who is heralded as New York City's protector, but can barely afford his one bedroom apartment's rent.
The best stories about superheroes realise it is what is behind the mask that makes the man (or woman). That's why Mask of the Phantasm is a better Batman movie than The Dark Knight (despite the latter being the best Michael Mann picture not directed by the man himself). Bruce's most defining moment in the former comes not in beating down thugs and villains, but during a tearful soliloquy kneeling at his parent's gravestone, pleading for permission to remove his cowl and begin a normal life. Peter Parker makes the same plea here.
Tobey Maguire finds the right note for this role, perfecting a look of astonishment that he returns to again and again. When he pays for a bouquet for Mary Jane, but realises he can afford only a trio, he accepts the fact with quiet resignation. And when he is refused entry into the play on account of lateness, he is speechless; he's just halted a high speed police chase, saving how many lives in the process? Working as a freelance photographer, his own scoops slander himself, but alas, the bills must be paid. Another of his assignments is to capture the moment another man proposes to the woman he loves. The story bashes and bashes him into submission until he is at his lowest point, undoing the mythos of the red and blue mask. Why put it on, when no one will give him the recognition or time of the day? Maguire allows us to understand his selfishness, about why he chooses to walk away. Superpowers made the high school punching bag's dreams come true, but they could never replace a chance to live a full life.
Doc-Ock must be mentioned as the film's mentor turned villain, given plenty of gravitas via the sunken eyes of Alfred Molina. The character is ostensibly a human mecha-octopus, and on paper it shouldn't work as live action. Its camp potential is never milked more than in his 'origin' scene, where the robotic tentacles arise from the hospital bed, reincarnating in their fully fleshed, HAL-9000-inspired forms. Raimi shoots this with utter glee; you can tell he's riffing off his Evil Dead work, from the urgent push-ins to the blood-curdling shrieks. These robotic limbs move with a life of their own, whispering words into the Doc's ears, seducing him with promises of glory. That he is eventually given the opportunity to right his wrongs, and takes it, sets the film's ethos apart. There's no muddied misanthropy here, no ambiguous swathe of grey; rather, figures are bestowed power and given the chance to do the right thing.
Here lies the core philosophy of Spider-Man 2, that anyone could be struck by lightning or bitten by a radioactive spider, but that true heroism lies in the choice to take up the responsibility of the mantle. It is Peter that does this; Spider-Man is just an alter ego. Raimi reaffirms this belief by stretching him thin (quite literally) in the climax of the film, where he must stop a runaway train from crashing over an unfinished track. Close-ups stress the punishing physicality of being a superhero. The suit rips from the exertion of his efforts, and unmasked, his face is contorted in agony, teeth gritted, and eyes scrunched up. Would Superman ever be shot in this way? Even when the Man of Steel is straining, he looks a million bucks. But Peter Parker is the furthest he can be from self-conscious. All he asks is for the same human spirit and bravery in those he saves, and those he opposes.