Fluid, Kinetic and a great degree of tension.

Rating: 8/10 (14 July 2004)

Before I say anything further about Spider-man, I just want to clear up the fact that I am not a comic book fanboy, and am not an expert on spidey-lore.
Saying that however I do enjoy comic book adaptations, and will endure almost anything, but that's not to say I will enjoy it as much as I did this, for instance the incomprehensibly bad LXG, oh how I wish I could get those two hours back. Until this point I had always considered Tim Burtons Batman the bench mark for super hero adaptations, in my view spider-man 2 changes this for a number of reasons.
Firstly Spider-man 2 continues the storyline from the first film almost flawlessly, there is no doubt that we are in the same 'reality' as its predecessor. My only real complaint about this is the way that progression of time is handled, clunky dialog to place us in the correct time frame such as Aunt Mays 'can you believe it's been almost two years since you uncle Ben past away...' it seems that Alvin Sargent is not confidant enough in his audience to make the connection that Parker is now halfway through college, etc to place the film in its own time frame. Whereas in Batman Returns there is no real character development from the first film (where's Viki Vale? Surely now Batman has avenged his parents he can now forgive himself?) Spider-man 2 does to great effect, we can believe that time really has moved on and in some ways people have moved on, but in others they have not.
Secondly in almost every aspect the action is handled a great deal more effectively. The CGI of which I am not a huge fan (a useful tool over relied upon) is substantially improved in this second outing. As Spidey swings between building this time around you don't doubt what's going on for a second. The two main encounters between Spider-man and Doctor Octopus are astounding, fluid, kinetic and with a great degree of tension.
Thirdly Doctor Octopus is a more fully realized opponent. I don't mean to criticise either the Green Goblin of Wilem Dafoe's performance in the first film (which I thought was superb), but Octavius is presented far more sympathetically than Osborne ever was. Admittedly they do share a great deal of plotting (in fact the development of Doc Ock doe's have a great deal of similarity with the Green Goblin, but this for me was just a minor point of contention, and ultimately un escapable in the comic genre) which does however lessen the impact of octavius, but it is then a credit to Alfred Molina and Sam Raimi that Octavius comes out a winner. Credit must go not just to Molina however but to John Dykstra for the incredible performance of the tentacles instilled with a personality all of their own.
For me the other major improvement in Spider-man 2 is the cinematography. Now reunited with his regular Director of Photography Bill Pope, Raimi is able to cut lose a little with his stylistic sensibilities. We are given (admittedly all too briefly) tentacle-cam much like the relentless 'evil' of Raimis earlier franchise. There is a much more visceral feel to the camera work in this film thanks to the work of Pope, who it seems has come through the matrix with a great understanding of how to marry the CGI component of filming with the photography, creating an almost seamless blend, which only falls down in some miner instances of CG over excess (such as the ultra quick track to the end of the subway line. I really hope that Pope is on board for Spidey 3. But even in the non-action moments the photography is highly effective, lingering on characters faces, often in moments of little dialog, giving us time to really watch the actors, which brings me on to my next subject.
The performances in the film are quite remarkable. Now don't get me wrong I'm not campaigning for Oscars here but considering it is a comic book story more or less everyone is believable as a real human being. Maguire is still faultless as the torn Peter Parker; we can genuinely feel the lust for life draining out of his character as he faces problem and unwanted responsibility from all directions. Dunst with thankfully more to do this time around handles MJ extremely well, we can really feel her dilemma between the relatively stable John Jameson and her longing for the socially inept un reliable Parker. Great credit must also go to J.K. Simmons who has perfected the motor mouthed J.Jonah Jameson, who provides the film with much need comic relief, especially during his son's celebration event.
Beyond these several main point s however there is much else to be admired in the film, including enjoyable in jokes both from Raimis past (chainsaw wielding, Bruce Campbell) and from spider-mans background including the use of the song from the TV show, performed by buskers, the introduction of Dr Connors, possible future villain. Spider-man also achieves the rarest of things in cinema; we are given a rewarding conclusion that ends the film perfectly whilst also providing a great cliff hanger (possibly one of the films stronger moments) without seemingly like a cop out TV moment like The Matrix Reloaded or Kill Bill Vol 1.
All in all Kudos to all involved and I hope they keep up the good work. From this point on all superhero adaptations will have a new bench mark: Spider-man 2, one that I don't see anything in the near future surpassing.
8 out of 10