Better than the first, but pointless altogether

Rating: 1/10 (28 July 2004)

While the special effects and story lines are greatly improved from the under-whelming first Spider-Man movie they alone can't make this movie worth your money. The strongest points of this movie were in the supporting roles of Aunt Mae, Dr. Octavius (before he turned evil) and of course Harry Osborn. They were the only characters that acted like actual human being in this movie and the only actors that didn't just chew up their words and spit them out.
For me the real problem with this movie is that it accomplishes nothing that wasn't a part of the first film. All the themes of the original are just redone here, and for no apparent reason. We learned from the first movie that 'With great power comes great responsibility' and that 'there's a hero in all of us'.
So why is the sequel not trying to cover any new territory? Peter loves MJ but they can't be togetherum why? Obviously her life is in danger already so what would it hurt to tell her? Peter is reluctant to become Spider-Man and struggles to use his powers, yeah that happens again to. The news paper irrationally hates Spider-Man yet Peter sells them pictures for only $300?!?! Paparazzi photographers can get THOUSANDS of dollars for a picture of Brad Pitt or Madonna or Britney Spears, so why is the clown only making $300?
All in all if you liked the first movie you'll like this one more. If you thought the first one was lame, you should save your money and just rent Hellboy or X-men 2, which are both superior super hero films.