A teenager character study.

Rating: 9/10 (4 August 2012)

Spiderman 2 has become a fond memory of my movie experiences, mainly due to the fact that this was the first film that provided me with an emotional investment in the characters and also illuminated me to the power that films can present. Previous to this surreal experience i liked films as a form of entertainment, however the second viewing of this film, i believe, developed my love for cinema. Spiderman 2 is a superhero movie in the minimal sense, the film provides the dangers that a superhero faces but rather is concerned in developing a character study on the concepts of being a teenager and facing simple life problems. This is where the brilliance lies in spiderman 2, it's focus is on peter parker rather than spiderman.
The audience sees immediately, as we are introduced to peter parker, the challenges he's faces from the creation of parker/spiderman. As to the previous film, we are introduced to peter parker narrating his daily life problems such as trouble at work, failing at school, struggling with rent and his social inability for Mary Jane. Raimi takes the first 10 minutes to establish these problems, which is great because it provides a brilliant focus for the movie and creates amazing pathos for the audience to establish an emotional investment. These opening sequences also create raimi exploration into the superhero paradox, spiderman offers the opportunity to save people from danger and the chance to be classified as a hero, however why does peter risk his life and sacrifice his social life when he is unappreciated for his efforts. Peter realized that the personification of spiderman was a self sacrifical curse, however peter is beginning to question his obligations.
Furthermore there is a new villain in town 'doc ock' who is a scientist that has 4 mechanical arms welded to his body, sounds ridiculous doesn't it?, however raimi provides Octavius with a great sense of depth, a scientist tragical embedded into his own creation. Furthermore the birth of 'doc ock' brilliantly shows off raimi love for horror, as the scene encapsulates the villain while paying homage to horror classics.
Once again Maguire is great, his ability to convey a sense of innocence effortlessly compliments the pathos that are used. Consider the scene when peter confesses the truth about uncle Ben death to aunt may or when he tells uncle ben that he has to give up their promise, it's quite impossible for the audience to not share some kind of emotional investment into peter's character.
The previous spiderman was noted for the first use of CGI, which brought high and lows, however it seems raimi has improved dramatically at incorporating the use of this technology as the action sequences flow quite effortlessly. Particuly the train sequence, as the CGI allows the action to obtain an exhilarating level.
As i previously noted, where spiderman 2 brilliance lies, is in it's ability to create a superhero movie that draws it's attention to not the superhero but rather the individual, who makes the choice to protect humanity and the predicaments that are cursed with this choice. Spiderman 2 is a teenager character study, most notable a drama then an action film, IMO the first superhero film to break the concepts of what these 'genre' films can represent.