While the first installment of the "Spider-Man" franchise was certainly a noble beginning, this sequel somehow manages to improve upon it in a big way. The first movie accomplished the task of getting Spider Man's origins out of the way and setting up the important characters, and "Spider-Man 2" picks up right where the original left off, hitting the ground running as it further examines the struggles of Peter Parker. As you may remember, Peter can't tell the woman he loves who he is, his best friend wants to kill him and doesn't even know it, and he's having a bit of trouble finding steady work. While that may not seem like an auspicious beginning, things still proceed to go downhill pretty fast.
Much like its predecessor, "Spider Man 2" presents Peter Parker as the most human of superheroes, struggling to reconcile the responsibility that accompanies his powers with his desire for a normal life. This guy didn't ask to have superhuman powers, and as we see in this movie, there are times that he'd much rather not be one. After all, when you like a woman who looks like Kirsten Dunst, and you have lots of evidence that the feeling is mutual, it can be hard to get out there and perform the thankless task of fighting crime. In all seriousness, though, the moral conflict that Spidey faces forms the heart of the movie. With a level of emotional depth and a lack of heavy-handedness rarely seen in big-budget blockbusters, this movie brilliantly depicts the tension our protagonist feels as he tries to decide whether he wants to be Peter Parker, mild-mannered student, or Spider-Man, daring superhero.
Since it ups the ante from the original in virtually every other aspect, it only makes sense that "Spider-Man 2" would represent an improvement in the bad guy department, and it doesn't disappoint. While the villain is once again a brilliant scientist victimized by an experiment gone horribly wrong, Willem Dafoe's cartoonish Green Goblin has been replaced by the fearsomely tentacled Dr. Octopus, portrayed with the requisite gravity by a glowering Alfred Molina. The Spider-Man series has demonstrated a knack for crafting nemeses as vividly human as its hero, and as with the Green Goblin, we get to see the conflicts played out in Dr. Octopus's head as he decides to complete his fusion experiment no matter the cost. Perhaps more importatntly, Dr. Octupus's tentacles are a marvel of modern special effects, swinging wildly and with a mind of their own, smashing through concrete, effortlessly tossing whatever they can grab, and dispatching a room full of doctors in one harrowing early scene.
This brings me to perhaps the most attractive aspect of this movie: it actually features believable, fleshed-out characters. The "X-Men" franchise has done an admirable job in this regard as well, but the "Spider-Man" movies still take the prize thanks to unusually intelligent dialogue and acting that communicates the movie's key themes while keeping the melodrama to a minimum. Maguire's everyman appeal as Peter is undeniable; Dunst's smart, sensible Mary Jane is one of the only female leads around who actually bring something to the table besides good looks; and James Franco is turning the tortured soul Harry Osborn into a tragic hero of near-Shakespearean proportions.
Anyway, with Dr. Octopus predictably set on a mad quest to finish his project, and Peter the only guy who can stop him, the stage is set for some truly unbelievable combat scenes, surely among the best to be seen in a mainstream movie in recent years. While I thoroughly enjoyed the plot and character development and all that nice stuff, you can't have a superhero movie without some great action sequences, and this one has plenty of them. Whether in a bank with bags of money flying around, on the side of a skyscraper with Peter's Aunt May serving as a human shield, or on a speeding train filled with innocent passengers, the two duke it out in frenetic, fast-paced battles that pit webs against tentacles and any other potential weapon that presents itself. Sam Raimi's apparently one of the only directors in Hollywood these days who can film a tight, tense fight scene without overrelying on CGI effects or cutting every half-second, and we should all be grateful for it.
As if all that isn't enough, we're once again treated to the over-the-top antics of J.K. Simmons, who threatens to steal the show even in his limited screen time as the imperious Jonah Jameson. Mugging furiously, yelling up a storm, and terrorizing those who come near him, Jameson's character is every bit as scary as his flattop haircut and Hitler mustache would suggest. Someone could make a movie about this guy, and I might put down some cash to see it. While many big-budget movies try to inject some comic relief into the proceedings, this one is notable in that it actually does it well.
Everything comes to a head in the movie's epic climax, with a concluding half-hour full of revelations, emotional drama, and of course lots of action. In fact, the bittersweet nature of this movie and its conclusion practically position it as the "Empire Strikes Back" of the Spider-Man series. Given the massive receipts this movie has already brought in, it's inevitable that there will be a "Spider-Man 3" coming down the chute eventually, especially with the neat bit of foreshadowing at the end of this installment. If the next sequel is as smartly written and skillfully filmed as this one was, it can't come soon enough.
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