Product: Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Rating: 3.0
Lacks What the First Had
I heard many mixed reviews about this movie so I put off buying it for quite some time. After having watched it I felt it was definitely lacking many of the characteristics that made the first movie appealing. The two main themes in this movie are Peter Parker having trouble with his powers failing and the new super-villain Doctor Octopus.Now Doc Oc was never one of my favorites but this revamping is even worse. Pains have been taken to show Doctor Octavius as a truly good man. Artificial intelligence has been added to his arms and an inhibitor chip to keep them under control. But after the accident with the completely unshielded reaction the Doc falls victim to the arms. I have to say that when one of the arms told him to rob a bank I had to wonder why he had ever programmed the arms with such knowledge. Spider-Man has his arms full trying to stop him before the movie ends.We also have scenes of Spider-Man having trouble with his powers. Sometimes his webs won't work and he loses strength and web-crawling abilities off and on. But the thing that really got me was the way he pulled off his mask at every stumbling block. By the end of the film one has to surmise that half of the city has had the chance to see who he really is. Peter seemed completely unconcerned with protecting his identity.Mary Jane, Harry, Jonas and Aunt Mae all make their appearances and have their roles to fill with Peter bouncing around uncontrolled from one situation to another. All in all it was a disappointing film and far below the standard set by the first.