Superior sequel that lacks vitality

Rating: 8/10 (17 January 2005)

Before I start, let me say that I thought Spider-Man 2 was superior in every way to Spider-Man 1, but one.
Honestly, I don't know what it was about Spider-Man 2 that I found lacking. While it was a better movie with excellent effects, great performances, well-conceived plot elements, and beautiful film shots, it still felt "flat" in comparison to Spider-Man 1. Perhaps it was the fact that Peter had to surrender the mask this time. Or maybe it's that he wants to be with MJ so badly, but can't find the intestinal fortitude to be happy AND a super hero. Or it could be that I expected much more with a $61M budget increase. Whatever the dilemma, apparently it was felt by other movie-goers, since the return for that increased budget was down $23M from the first installment.
This was like Superman 2 in that our hero chooses to be an earth-bound human to be with the gal he loves, discovers there's a new menace and immediately regrets his decision. Perhaps that was why it felt "flat." It's been done. But then again, what hasn't? This was a superior story with superior effects and action sequences that looked realistically played out rather than the CGI mess that was the first installment.
Peter coming clean with Aune Mae was a difficult scene to watch. It was a courageous step on the character's part, and Aunt Mae reacted much the way I expected she would which lent a believable tone to the scene.
The villain this time around is done extremely well. Gone is the camp of the first installment's treatment of the nemesis, and enters an age of superior CGI. After Spider-Man 1's Green Goblin, I was frankly reluctant in seeing this chapter. I'm glad, now, that I have. Doc Ock is malevolently beautiful in both design and execution. I thoroughly enjoyed his character.
While the first Spider-Man rates a 7.4 (at IMDb) and received two Oscar nominations and Spider-Man 2 received none (but strangely, receives a 7.9 rating here at IMDb) the second installment was definitely above the original in every noticeable way. Yet it grossed less with a bigger budget and received no special effects Oscar nominations like the inferior Spider-Man 1 did, which leads me to believe that the lacking element, whatever that may be, affected more than just this movie Fiend.
It rates an 8.2/10 from...
the Fiend :.