"I'm Spider-Man no more, no more"
Two years after his transformation into Spider-Man, Peter
Parker (Tobey Maguire) is struggling to balance the demands of being a super
hero with a job and studying while these all impact on his personal life. His
secret love Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) is now a big hit on Broadway but after
the open ended conclusion to their relationship at the end of Spider-Man, the two have since drifted
apart. Peter is writing a paper about the scientist Dr. Octavius (Alfred
Molina) and goes to the unveiling of his latest experiment. Things go wrong
though and Octavius becomes attached to four tentacle like instruments and
becomes Dr. Octopus, a villain hell bent on completing his experiments, even if
they destroy the whole city.
If you read my review of Spider-Man
then you’ll be aware of how bitterly disappointed I was with it. Thankfully
Spider-Man 2 lived up to my memory
and if anything exceeded it. The story is focussed on Peter Parker’s split
lives and how he manages to cope with the responsibility of being Spider-Man.
His relationship with Mary Jane is also at the centre and the will they/wont
they or will they/can they nature of their relationship is played out in full.
Peter’s relationship with other characters including his Aunt and friend Harry
are also featured with the later continuing an obvious thread which leads to a
third film.
The CGI is much better and more consistent than in the first
film. It’s still a little patchy in places, namely when web slinging but the
wonderful ‘spidey-cam’ makes up for that. There are some fantastic shots of
Spider-Man in full swing as the camera moves all around him to give a great sense
of space and movement. The effects still look a bit video game like in places
but overall stand up well after eight years. Another area in which this film is
an improvement over the first is in its tone. It manages to remain child
friendly but is much darker and much, much funnier. The whole film feels much
more relaxed and at ease with itself and the cast look more comfortable in
their roles.
The action is also more intense and exciting than before. The subway ride scene still looks stunning and is a highlight. Another highlight is Alfred Molina’s performance as Dr. Octopus. He makes a tremendous villain and is a massive improvement on The Green Goblin. Tobey Maguire is still great as Spider-Man and as I said before, seems to be having more fun with the role while adding greater depth to the personal side of the hero. Kirsten Dunst gives another good performance and James Franco is more intense as Harry Osborn. Also improving is Rosemary Harris as Aunt May. I felt she was a bit off in the first film but is brilliant here, remaining deadpan in extraordinary situations.
The weakest part of the film for me is something that really
bugged me during Spider-Man and that
is the constant plot explanation. This isn’t exactly a difficult film to follow
but there were constantly people shouting off camera things like “Spider-Man is
going to drop her” or “The train is going to fast”. I thought it was unnecessary
and made the dialogue feel clunky. Another problem was main characters talking
to themselves, explaining the plot. It really isn’t needed.
Overall Spider-Man 2 is
a marked improvement on Spider-Man, improving
on that film in almost every way. It’s funnier and the action is improved while
the CGI still looks fresh today.
7/10
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