An enjoyable summer flick

Rating: 8/10 (9 July 2004)

(WARNING: SOME MINOR SPOILERS)
Peter Parker's having problems. Being Spider-Man isn't easy and not nearly as fun as it used to be.
Peter can't keep his day job delivering pizzas, has trouble paying the rent on a hovel and could be on the verge of flunking out of Columbia. To make matters worse, he can't follow his heart and woo his true love and even his Spidey skills are waning. What is a superhero to do?
It's exactly because Peter's having human dilemmas that "Spider-Man 2" is one of the year's most entertaining and one of the best superhero films in a long time. Sam Raimi again is having a lot of fun. If you're familiar with the director's other work, you'll get a kick out of the snotty theatre usher cameo. There's even a humorous musical interlude. And how many superhero films do you know that emphasize their main theme by quoting Oscar Wilde?
Unlike many sequels, this one does not simply rehash the original, though some themes are repeated. The opening credits masterfully illustrate what happened in the first film and then "Spider-Man 2" takes off - funnier, smarter, more exciting and more imaginative. What makes it work is that Raimi never loses sight of the humanity of his characters, even the villain. Of course, it helps to have an Oscar-winning writer (Alvin Sargent) penning a script from a story by three others, including Michael Chabon.
We relate to Peter's personal problems. He may be a superhero, but still has to wash his clothes at the local laundromat. And, in a nicely underplayed, yet funny, scene, we learn the Spidey outfit might not be all that comfortable, either.
It's these little human moments that make "Spider-Man 2" so thoroughly enjoyable. Tobey Maguire's a terrific young actor and makes Peter's angst utterly believable. He also has good comedic timing. J.K. Simmons returns to play J. Jonah Jameson with great comic aplomb and Alfred Molina's Doc Ock is a man conflicted by his own viciousness. He's a good man dealing with badness forced upon him.
This time around, the CGI also is much better. Spidey doesn't look computer-generated when zipping through the air, leaping from building to building. But what stand out are Doc Ock's sensational arms. They have their own personalities, doffing Doc Ock's hat, handing him cigarettes, removing his sunglasses and reacting as if they were disparate characters unattached to him. They snarl, snake, do double takes, glare and even peer menacingly at him when he questions his villainy.
The film drags in the second act, partly due to a surprisingly lacklustre turn by Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane. Her performance lacks passion. Mary Jane's scenes with her fiancé and Peter ring hollow; there's a blandness to them that's not evident elsewhere.
The film turns occasionally corny, but never campy. And somehow Raimi always manages to make it fun. Let's hope this movie franchise doesn't go the way of "Batman" and wind up with different directors and actors. As long as Raimi directs and Maguire plays Spidey, this promises to be an exciting movie franchise.