A Sequel that almost surpasses the original

Rating: 9/10 (25 July 2008)

Peter Parker's life should be on the up. He is in love with a beautiful woman, he is at college studying exactly what he wants under a professor who understands his abilities, oh, and he also has superpowers and masquerades as a superhero. What could possibly be wrong with this perfect life, apart from everything. His best friend Harry is alienating him because he thinks Spider-man killed his father, his professor thinks he's lazy and his potential girlfriend is about to marry someone else. Everything is turning sour until he meets a scientific genius named Otto Octavius who has invented a way to make fusion energy work by creating pocket suns. However, after his experiment goes wrong with tragic consequences, the robotic spine and arms he used to help in his experiments take control of him turning him into Doctor Octopus.
In this, Spider-man's second outing the storyline is based on the classic story "Spider-Man No More!" with one of the definitive comic book covers. As such this means that, for me, their is a section in this movie that dragged the first time I watched it, which is when Spidey hangs up his tights and tries to find his place in the world as Peter Parker. However on a more recent perusal of this film I had less of a problem with it, so it may be a case of it growing on you over time. The script is almost equal to the first in it's diligent attempt to get the best Spider-Man has been in the comic books and transfer it to the big screen, the actions sequences in this one and the effects by far outstrip everything in the first one and they reflect everything that was good about the comic book with Doc Oc and Spidey going at it on tall buildings looking even better than one could ever imagine it. The cast do a sterling job and Alfred Molina joins the able cast and gives a show-stealing performance as the nutty Doc Oc.
The only downside I feel is that all of this great stuff does take a while to set up and because of that I have had to reduce it by a point. That said this is still one of the best superhero sequels of all time and for me what gives it that little bit extra is the look of concern on Mary Jane's face as he leaves the apartment to tackle more bad guys. It is the look of a woman fearful that she may not see the man she loves again and is played to perfection by Kirsten Dunst and really gives the ending a bittersweet feel that could have been missed by any other director, but not by the man who loves the Spider, Sam Raimi.
Excellent work.