Blockbuster of the year?

Rating: 9/10 (21 November 2004)

Going into Spider-man 2 I was somewhat dubious about the hype surrounding it. I was a tad unimpressed by the first film, it never surpassed X-Men IMO, at times it felt a bit artificial and the time elapsing device seemed to miss out a lot of key events and just assumed we'd guess what happened since they left college. The action was pretty special at points, but somewhat marred by the CGI, which I was never convinced by.
Spidey Mk 2, welds the story far more convincingly together, managing to deal with all the various plot strands, character development and adding some very humorous moments (I'm still guffawing at the lift scene, the busker was a most amusing bit of in jokery, and Bruce Campbell would get an Oscar if there was one for hilarious cameos), all the whilst delivering awesome action. The attack on the bank and the train sequence are big screen action to the max. I was literally gasping at points there. Best of all is probably the operating theatre, as Doc Ock's tentacles kick in to life, with devastating effect.Sam Raimi's roving camera adds to the experience, the camera zooming in to detail the key action.
There are some smartly directed little moments to, like Peter running across the rooftops trying to recover his powers (a wonderful flipside to his "discovery" in the first film) which are filmed with real pizazz. There were a few other moments where the camera pans round in such a way as to be in itself exciting. Kudos to Bill Pope for helping bring the cinematography to such an exciting level. I'll need to see it again just to remember all my favourite bits.
I guess the sheer scale and scope of the movie will diminish on the small screen. What makes both movies so great is the way you are sucked into this take on New York, the world of Spidey. Something all great movies do and it's best represented on a mega mutha of a screen.
This is one of the best blockbusters in recent years, up there with Mr Jackson's masterpiece. It delivers everything a film should laughs, emotion and excitement, a genuine hero. There are some thought provoking messages too, the idea that in everyone there's a hero, it's inspirational stuff. I think people will still be warming to Spider-Man 2 for years to come. Nine out of ten.