A one line summary? OK then. THE GREATEST SUPERHERO MOVIE I'VE EVER SEEN!!!

Rating: 10/10 (20 July 2004)

So the long awaited sequel has arrived and it certainly does not fail to be everything I'd hoped for, absolutely fantastic!!!
It is superior to the first movie in every respect but one, the soundtrack is not quite as good (but I really didn't expect someone to produce a better song than Chad Kroeger's 'Hero').
The story picks up something like two years after the end of the first film. The main story involves Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) struggling to juggle his double life. He wants to use his spidey-powers to help people, but this seems to be interfering with his own life leading to him being fired from his job, slipping behind on his science course, but most importantly having a major affect on his will they-wont they relationship with Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst). This causes Parker to doubt whether or not he thinks being Spiderman is what he really wants.
There are also several side stories such as Harry Osbourne's (James Franco) on-going obsession with catching his father's killer and, of course, the villain of the piece, Dr. Otto 'Doc Ock' Octavius (Alfred Molina)!
This is where, I believe, the strength of the film lies. Alfred Molina plays Doc Ock flawlessly and, with the help of the writers, gave birth to the greatest comic book villain in a movie ever, in my opinion anyway. Yep, even better than Nicholson's Joker! Doctor Octopus is such a great villain because he's not just a two dimensional character and you don't just feel one emotion for him (hatred, or a desire for him just to be destroyed). *SPOILER* For example, and without wanting to give too much away, his final scenes made me feel so sympathetic towards him and made me think, 'awww how brave'. If done badly, that kind of exit for a villain would've irritated the hell outta me, but not in this movie, no sir! *END SPOILER*
Yes it does have a good, emotional (but not as emotional as City Of Angels) plot, but I couldn't get the smile off my face whenever Doc Ock and Spiderman fought. The fight scenes are absolutely remarkable!
Rosemary Harris returns as Aunt May to add a bit more conflict in Peter's choices, Donna Murphy plays a good role as Otto Octavius' wife Rosie, and J.K. Simmons is back is the wonderfully hysterical J. Jonah Jameson with the best line of the film:
Miss Brant: "Sir, your wife just called. She said she's lost her checkbook." J. Jonah Jameson: "Thanks for the good news."
I don't know too much about the comic so I can't really comment on how faithful it's been, but I did notice the dedication to spidey's usual cheesy sayings with the line "Here's your change."
God I do waffle don't I? Well let's sum up. Spiderman, I believe, is more about the action than the story, and in this case it's a good thing. The plot is nice enough but nothing too deep. There's enough twists and turns to keep you interested, and every scene seems to succeed in achieving its desired affect. It's just nice and simple so you know what's going on and so you can shift all of your attention onto the top class action. For me it was an instant classic and the best superhero movie I've ever seen!!! 10/10