  Spider-Man 2 Ah, here we go. A superhero sequel. So, essentially, two questions: *Is it better than the original? *Is it an X-Men 2 or a Batman and Robin? Let's see... It's two years since the end of the first film, and Peter Parker's life is falling apart under the pressure of being a superhero - he keeps losing his job; he's behind in his studies; his aunt is behind on her mortgage payments; his best friend, Harry Osborn, hates him because of his "friendship" with Spider-man, who he believes killed his father, and the love of his life, Mary Jane Watson, has found a new man after he rejected her in an effort to protect her. As these pressures mount, the stress causes him to lose his spider powers and he starts to wonder whether the superhero game is for him.
Unfortunately, as all this is going on, Dr Otto Octavius is injured in an Oscorp experiment, causing him to become fused with four mechanical, AI controlled arms. Coming into this film, you largely expect at lot of action and set-pieces. The film delivers in this aspect, but, like the X-Men films, this is a character driven film. The actual scenes with ‘Spider-Man’ aren’t that many, instead concentrating on Peter Parker trying to make changes to his life and reacting as if falls apart around him.
The two Spider-Man films so far follow the same order as the Superman films from the 70s – the first has the origin, leaving the last hour for all the action, while the second is based around the character giving up his powers before coming up against a formidable foe. This comparison seems valid, because like the Superman films, I believe many will call the sequel the better film (Two notes – 1: They are wrong. Superman is much, much better that Superman 2. 2: This relationship between the two franchises is used as a joke in one scene, and I’m the only one who got it.
I think I’m a geek. ) Sam Raimi has managed to create a film that is true to the comic book origins. He manages to combine action with humour and heart-felt emotion. It’s incredible how funny a film is when it also finds time to discuss at length the loss of two characters father figures. It’s a real credit to the director and Tobey Maguire that you can feel a real attachment to a guy who dresses in red spandex and swings around rooftops.
The cast are top-notch throughout, the weakest link possibly being Kirsten Dunst’s MJ, but that may be down to the character not being given much to do but sulk, pout and scream. Maguire, as said, brings the human side to Spider-Man to the fore, while being believable in the action sequences. James Franco is excellent as Harry Osborn, lurching from confident businessman to screwed up young man convincingly throughout. The real scene-stealer is J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, the newspaper editor who wishes to discredit Spider-Man.
Every scene he’s in, he captures the character perfectly and has a number of cracking lines. With every new superhero film comes a new villain. Alfred Molina is excellent as Doc Ock, giving him an air of menace but still maintaining an edge of sympathy with the character as he loses control to the robotic arms that have become part of his body. The arms of Doc Ock add a lot to this film, having characters of their own. They are the stars of one of the best moments of the film – the destruction of an operating theatre as doctors try to remove them from Doc Ock’s body.
As well as the excellent work on the arms, the special effects team have shown their worth in the creation of CGI Spider-Man. Whereas many felt this was the weakness in the first film, the new CGI Spidey looks weighter and more detailed, giving a better sense of what a real body flying through the air on webs would look like.
All in all, this is an excellent film, improving on the first and is possibly as good as X-Men 2. It possibly isn’t 100% perfect, but that may be fan boy nit-picking (though, I preferred the end of 1 than I did that of 2). I highly recommend seeing probably the only summer blockbuster that delivers all that it promises. And expect more – the producers have said at least two more are in the pipeline, and if the villains that are suggested by this film are used in the next ones, they could be just as good. 5/5 
