I Sing Of Arms & The Spider! (a.k.a. - Courtesy Your Friendly Neighborhood Spoiler-Man)

Rating: 9/10 (31 July 2004)

If you told me in April that there'd be not one but two sequels that outshone their predecessors I'd've looked you straight in the eye and laughed myself sick - maybe all over your shoes/feet!
Then "Shrek 2" came along and even now I still say " * Boots, ha-hah! Hack, hak, hagh... hairball!"
Well, and I believed the old adage about lightning strikes etc. Still wrong! SpiderMan 2 came along and yanked me kicking and screaming into an unexpected cornucopia of comic book lover delights of fancy!
The last time there was a sequel that exceeded the original was SuperMan 2 in 1979!
Sure, Peter's face may have been shown more than he intended but in his line of work do you expect his uniform to stay intact? The way has been paved for the Man-Wolf, the Lizard and Harry Osborn as Green Goblin 2 in future installments...
As for the plots, there were so many and yet you could keep track of each thread (web-strand? ;p)...
* Peter's all-out tiredness at trying to please his aunt, MJ, Bugle, College and Pizza joint - phew!
* The on/off near-relationship between Pete and MJ; Doc Ock's love for his wife (and master touch implying his arms were what made him evil) juxtaposed with his fevered desire to prove science Is (I had forgotten what a great science student Peter was nearly as good as Curt Connors or Reed Richards - ye Gods! Ioan Gryfudd as Mr. Fantastic? Whoops! Wrong forum!)
The cameos of Stan Lee (Marvel's Galactus) in another crowd scene and "Army Of Darkness'" Bruce Campbell (Sam Raimi's buddy) as the evil usher were well-timed and the re-appearance of "Xena's" Jaxur as the sycophantic assistant of JJJ was equally appreciated.
This picture has many memorable quote-lines... "I am Spider-Man no more!" or "Mr. Jameson, your wife called to say she lost the checkbook!" and his instantaneous response? "Thanks for the Good News!" There was also Otto's "Ladies and gentlemen? Fasten your seat belts!"
It doesn't seem likely there'll be a budding romance betwixt Aunt May & Doc Ock in the movie version of Spidey's life as compared to the comics, not after the aborted bank robbery (and in this version, it seems Aunt May suspects Peter's truth?)...
My final spin? Don't crawl, LEAP to the cinema and watch SM2!