Spider Man 2: The Soap Opera

Rating: Null/10 (9 July 2004)

You can't even come close to comparing the downfall between Spider Man 1/2 and the first two 'Matrix' movies - but you kind of want to.

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A basic rundown of the plot, via IMDB -
Peter Parker (Tobey McGuire) can't seem to catch any kind of break. Being Spiderman has brought him nothing but problems as far as his personal life is concerned. Not only that, Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) is engaged to astronaut John Jameson, and Peter may lose her forever. Things are so bad for him that he is pushed past his breaking point, so he decides that he doesn't want to be Spiderman anymore, until a freak accident transforms Dr. Otto Octavius into Dr. Octopus, a super-villian with four metal tentacles coming out of him. Peter realizes that only Spiderman can stop him, but of course, problems arise. Mary Jane gets caught in the middle, and Harry Osborn, who still blames Spiderman for the death of his father, Norman Osborn, also the Green Goblin, wants him dead. Spiderman will have to push himself past his limits if he's going to survive.
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The first movie accomplished something by combining a comic book hero with normal, every day problems. And it showed you a fairly equal balance between the hero and the normal person (Spider Man and Peter Parker, in this case).

Unfortunatly, in this movie, we see way too much Peter Parker. The relationship with Mary Jane is mentioned every three minutes. The dialog with the supporting characters (Mary Jane, Aunt May, Harry etc) is way too long (esp Aunt May) and doesn't go anywhere. Even the comic relief from Jameson seems tacked on this time.
Although the action is good (and you're relieved to see it after all the pointless blabber), it's too short when it is there. Plus it gets kind of old - seeing Spider man do Kung-Foo and shoot webs is only interesting for so long. It would have been nice if they would have somehow worked another power in there for him somehow.
The one thing that almost came close to saving this movie was the villian. Alfred Molina as Doc Ock really shined. He was more interesting then the Green Goblin, and had cooler powers too. One thing I didn't like though was that he wasn't really evil - a problem with the green goblin as well. But it's a minor quibble.
Overall, a vastly inferior (and overrated) sequel to a great movie. Save it for a rental. 3/10