Made with a lot of love and care

Rating: Null/10 (24 July 2004)

I've seen the movie only once and I have been itching to watch it again ever since. This movie is a rare combination of storytelling, action and character development that we see only in classics. Directors usually forget that action is only exciting if you care about the characters involved.
Moreover, sequels often fail because the characters are more or less the same as the first movie or the sequel doesn't even bother further development of the character. The main characters have all moved forward with their lives and are each facing their own problems. They could each have their own movie which says a lot about how finely developed the characters have become. Aunt May is now a widower and alone. Peter is failing in life as his superhero skills are becoming more polished. Harry is now running Oscorp and is starting to fall under the weight of hatred against Spiderman.
The only character staying more or less the same is MJ...I would have liked to have seen a more dramatic character arc for her. Perhaps really disliking Peter at one point.
Take away the action scenes and this movie can stand on its own as an entertaining drama. A lot of love and care..and skill clearly went into making this movie. Editing was fantastic. There were two well done music video-like segments in the movie. Its very hard to suddenly jump into music video mode but Rami does it very effectively and makes good use of these segments. The transitions into these segments were flawless. The "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" segment really had me smiling. A good director can use these segments to convey a lot of information and feeling in a short period of time. In that segment, Rami shows us passage of time, Peter getting his life back together, and his adjustment away from Spiderman..and lets us understand that this is a good thing. This was a critical juncture of the movie and Rami took a risk doing it this way but really pulled it off. The segment was also a great change of pace from what had been a rather dark first half. The first music segment was also really well done as well.
The action sequences are good and moving but there is a lot more going on in this movie. The cinematography is first rate. Every shot in this movie could be a movie poster.