Well, it did what it was supposed to...

Rating: 9/10 (11 July 2004)

It's hard to compare a movie with very simple aspirations, with other movies that are more complex. As I'm writing those lines, SM2 is in the top 250 at IMDb and is one of the best reviewed movie of the year. That is very misleading since not many people will name this film the best of the year, or even among the top-10. So why such unanimity over it? Its genre attracts a wide audience and the film does pretty much exactly what it's supposed to do.
There is a lot of time spent on the love story and Peter Parker's personal problems but that is exactly what a Spiderman movie should be doing. You don't like that, the movie is not meant for you. Sam Raimi didn't go the Tim Burton route. His love story isn't just there because every film needs one. He gave one that was more heartfelt and added a few scenes with Parker working as photograph. It took some time of the clock but very rarely does the film suffer because of this. Humorous scenes are funny, sometimes laugh out loud funny. Romantic scenes are... well, okay for the genre. It's not greatness but since it's part of a whole, it does add some tension when needed. The only real problem is that dreadful Aunt May speech about heroes, that felt forced, overlong and completely out of place. Old people don't talk like that unless they turn senile. They have to stop using that character like it was some character devoid of any personality.
As for the action scenes, well, they are great. There was a much needed upgrade over the CGI, giving the film a much more realistic look. Okay, I learned you could throw an old lady in the air pretty hard without much consequences but the movie didn't take itself too seriously to have that "cartoonishness" becoming a problem. The train sequence is spectacular enough to be worth the price of admission and Dr Octopus is much, much better villain than the Green Goblin.
There is still places for improvement but the bar has been raised for the genre. If you review it as it is, and don't compare with other, non-related films, this is worth 9 out of 10.