I didn't even like the first one, and this one pulled me in

Rating: Null/10 (7 July 2004)

This is one of the first times I've ever written a review to a newly released movie. I wasn't a fan of the first film and I in fact walked away disappointed at the end of the movie. However, when I walked out of the theater at the close of Spiderman 2 I was the exact opposite of disappointed. Does this movie still use too much CGI? Probably. Could they have developed the villain a little more? Yeah, but in the long haul this movie is a story-driven action movie, a rare thing in a time of mostly action-driven action movies. The effects in the first one just looked fake to me and the Spiderman character himself seemed flat. But in this second installment the effects worked for me, not because they were of a higher quality (which they were) but because they were empowered by characters whom the audience cares about, and it's through these powerful performances that this movie is able to set itself above the original and above all but a few movies in the genre. I was able to suspend my disbelief in this movie and embrace Raimi's world. This is much more than the basic summer blockbuster and it will undoubtedly pave the way for both, sequels and individual successes for all the cast and crew involved in this movies production. They did an A+ job and though I am not sure about this film belonging in the IMDB top 250 (especially this soon after its release) it definitely deserves high acclaim.
8/10