Spider-Man 2 is a 2004 American superhero film directed by
Sam Raimi and written by Alvin Sargent from a story by Alfred Gough, Miles
Millar and Michael Chabon. A sequel to the 2002 film Spider-Man, it is the
second instalment in the Spider-Man trilogy based on the fictional Marvel
Comics character of the same name. Tobey Maguire stars as Peter Parker /
Spider-Man, alongside Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Alfred Molina, Rosemary
Harris, and Donna Murphy.
Set two years after the events of Spider-Man, the film finds
Peter Parker struggling to manage both his personal life and his duties as
Spider-Man, which affects his civilian life dramatically. Meanwhile, Dr. Otto
Octavius becomes a diabolical villain after a failed experiment kills his wife
and leaves him neurologically fused to mechanical tentacles. Spider-Man must
stop him from successfully recreating the experiment, which threatens to
destroy the city, while dealing with a subconscious desire to stop being
Spider-Man that is stripping him of his powers.
Principal photography began in April 2003 in New York City
and also took place in Los Angeles. Spider-Man 2 was released in both
conventional and IMAX theatres on June 30, 2004 and grossed $789 million worldwide,
becoming the third highest-grossing film of the year. It won the Academy Award
for Best Visual Effects and was also nominated for Best Sound Mixing and Best
Sound Editing; it also received five awards at the Saturn Awards, including
Best Fantasy Film and Best Director for Raimi. It is considered as one of the
most influential and best superhero films of all-time. Its success led to
Spider-Man 3 (2007).
My review about the movie is in the years since its release, Spider-Man 2 has
been regarded as one of the best superhero movies ever, and it's not hard to
see why. It boasts stellar characterization, a well-developed villain, exciting
action sequences, strong performances, and a human, intelligent story.
Spider-Man 2 beats Sam Raimi's first film by a large margin, much to my
excitement.
Picking up 2 years after the first film, Spider-Man 2
follows Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) as he struggles to balance his
professional and personal lives with his duties as Spider-Man. As his
relationships with Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) and Harry Osborn (James
Franco) become increasingly strained, it begins to affect his powers, and he
contemplates whether he should quit being Spider-Man altogether. But when a
menacing new enemy arises to threaten New York, Peter must find it within
himself to save his loved ones and his city. All of the main cast members from
the first movie return, and they are joined by Alfred Molina as Otto
Octavius/Doctor Octopus, Donna Murphy as Rosie Octavius, Dylan Baker as Curt
Connors, and Daniel Gillies as John Jameson.
If the first Spider-Man is about accepting your
responsibilities, then this movie is about the toll those responsibilities can
take on your relationships with the people around you. Peter knows he needs to
do all he can to protect the people of New York, but it's becoming increasingly
stressful for him to do so while maintaining a healthy relationship with his
family and friends. That's to say nothing of the fact that the city doesn't
even appreciate his heroics, courtesy of tabloids such as the Daily Bugle. This
movie does a great job of exploring how stressful superhero life can be, and
Tobey Maguire continues to impress us with his sympathetic, honest portrayal of
Peter.
The movie takes some of its beats from the Spider-Man No
More comic, which follows Peter as he chooses to quit being Spider-Man and live
a normal life. Things very much play out like that comic, complete with the
famous shot of the Spider-Man costume dumped in the garbage. I really enjoy
seeing the writers take things from the source material and incorporating them
in such an organic way. And equally wonderful to see is Peter finally come to
realize what it truly means to be a hero, which occurs in one of the best
scenes in the trilogy.
Now let's get into Doc Ock. He was very much the right
choice of villain for this movie, as he serves as a strong foil to Peter. In
this movie he's not even really "evil" so much as a misguided man
with delusions of grandeur. He starts out wanting to help the world with his
technology, only to fall apart as he watches his life's work crumble, with his
mechanical arms being a negative influence on his personality. Alfred Molina
does a bang-up job conveying Otto's descent into madness, and his quieter
moments give him the sympathy the movie needs.
No Spider-Man movie would be complete without exhilarating
action set pieces. Spider-Man's fights with Doc Ock always lead to a bunch of
fun visuals, and we get a lot of up-close-and-personal shots during scenes such
as the bank heist, the clock tower skirmish, and of course, the famous train
showdown, the latter of which is a textbook showcase of speed, precision, and
building tension. All of the visual effects are stellar; Doc Ock's tentacles
are a great mix of practical effects and CGI, the buildings being destroyed are
fun to watch, and the final showdown does its job of being an entertaining,
character-driven sequence.
Plus, this epic train scene resembled to the comic book perfectly.
Now some miscellaneous stuff to wrap up: Kirsten Dunst
delivers a standout performance as Mary Jane, James Franco does a bang-up job
portraying Harry's unhealthy obsession with Spider-Man, Danny Elfman's score is
awesome to listen to, the opening credits are inventive and fun to watch, the
final scenes are very satisfying, Aunt May is as wise as Obi-Wan, and the final
swing rocks on.
Point being, Spider-Man 2 is filled to the brim with
awesome. :)
In my opinion, this is a perfect review of a movie : -
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