Too little

Rating: 5/10 (31 July 2004)

All superheroes are tortured souls, torn between their yearning to fully join the human race and their overarching commitment to duty (kind of like the British Royal Family). Superman, Batman, the Hulk-all of them modern Shakesperean tragic heroes. Spidey's no different. You know, though, I didn't care too much for this movie, and I'll tell you why-at least half the reason you go to these flicks is to examine the villian. Most of the time, they're much more interesting (although not much different) than the hero. Driven by personal pain (see: Penguin, Joker, Darth Vader), they become an image what our hero could have become. Here, we actually have very little insight into the character of the villian, Doc Ock-who is actually being controlled by some mechanical arms. Yes, he lost his wife in the melee, but there's no character development, no real personalization of the war between he and Spiderman. It's just flat. And I don't really care about the relationship between Spiderman and MJ-part of the superhero's appeal is that he's always on the outside looking in, and there's usually a beautiful woman, i.e., Lois Lane, who symbolizes that. I'm more interested in the relationship between Spidey and Harry, or Spidey and the world. Go back to the roots of superhero lore and the next installment should be much more entertaining.