Big Improvement

Rating: 8/10 (18 July 2004)

It's no secret that I absolutely hated the first film. But Spiderman 2 has truckloads more excitement, pathos and humor. Almost every area where the first film lagged in improved upon.
Though I'm still not keen on Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker (not tall enough, too much of a geek) he was better in the role this time around. Though I'm not sure why he's still a total nerd. This is not how Peter Parker is portrayed in the comic books and it's weird that in the movie he comes across more like Clark Kent.
The CGI effects are miles better too. Some shots still looked a little iffy, but rest was so seamless I never noticed. Granted, it would be hard to get any worse than effects in the original but I was genuinely surprised at how good they were. A lot more time and care as been put into arranging them than before.
Alfred Molina as Doc Ock was a hundred what Willem Dafoe's campy, power-ranger Green Goblin was. You could tell that underneath he really was a good guy who was just too carried away with his work. He really did have a menacing presence in any scene featuring him with his extra arms (surely more resembling a spider Peter Parker). The earthquakes signaling his approach are very cool.
The sequel has a more structured feel to it and has more inventive set-pieces. The first one felt like an empty showcase for effects but here they were integral to the story.
I'm not keen on Kirsten Dunst though (she looks far too much like my ex). In the comics she is an outrageously proportioned and glamorous woman. I just don't see that in Kirsten Dunst. However, she really did get into the character and I believed in her relationship with Peter this time as before it felt like rejected sub-Dawson's Creek trash.
Spiderman 2 is also made in widescreen, which is cool as I was disappointed at Sam Raimi's inexplicably shooting the original 'flat'. A movie of this scale deserves scope and size and this time we get what we should have got before.
Considering how the movie has already earned $40 kabillion in 3 weeks you hardly need me to tell you to go out and see it. But for once the box office receipts are validated by a good movie.
Look out for some funny in-jokes to Evil Dead and Bruce Campbell in a funny cameo as an obnoxious theatre usher.