A genre has been restored.

Rating: Null/10 (1 July 2004)

I went to see the most recent installment in this particular franchise with high expectations. The problem with high expectations is that they often set us up for disappointment; we expect insight into the human nature from a movie and we get a mindless action flick. In the case of Spider-Man 2, however, my expectations were surpassed beyond what I had even thought would be reasonable.
As a longtime fan of the superhero genre (one of my favorite movies growing up was the first Superman movie) and as someone who makes it a hobby to study human nature I have to say that I came out of this movie more excited than I was when I went in . . . and I was plenty excited going in.
Spider-Man was probably one of the first superheroes of his kind; he puts on the costume because he feels he has to, not for vengeance, for justice, or really even for penance, but because he owes it to his uncle. He struggles with his finances, relationships, grades, and his job. And perhaps most importantly he's starting to wonder whether or not it's worth it all anyway.
Tobey Maguire returns to his role as both Peter Parker and Spider-Man and as always it is how the actor plays the super hero's allegedly mortal alter ego that really counts. And mortal he is. Somewhere along the line Spidy's powers begin to fade. I was staunchly against the organic web-shooters when first I heard of them, but by the time I had finished watching the first movie I didn't care anymore, they never even registered with me in this one, despite the fact that their organic nature was integral to the plot.
Why are his powers fading? The movie never clearly comes out and says so, but one gets the impression That there's a measure of self-denial in being Spider-Man and that Peter is tired of it.
One of the major reasons would be Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst again, thank God). Peter struggles with the same thing any superhero would and that's protecting the ones he loves, when it becomes obvious to him that being Spider-Man is costing him so much, including this woman, he's not so sure that he's willing to pay that price. So he gives it up.
Possibly the line that sums this movie up more than any other is delivered by Peter's Aunt May when she says that she believes that there's a hero in everyone. While she's speaking of that elusive part of human nature that tells us the difference between right and wrong, we all know that Peter's inner hero is more manifest--not to mention needed. Dr. Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina) is terrorizing the populace and when he inadvertently makes the fight personal for him, Peter Parker finds that perhaps being a hero is a destiny that he can't run from.
This is the best comic book movie that I have ever seen, maybe even better than that 1978 masterpiece starring Christopher Reeve. It was made by a team that seems to care about their audience and respect their intelligence. It's a movie that has turned a genre that's been taken less than perfectly serious into something that will be hard not to. Spider-Man 2 represents everything that's right with this genre.