"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.
