It's a great feat to create a film that satisfies both the mainstream viewers and the die-hard comic book fans who will stand in line to see "Spider-Man 2."
It's also very difficult to do justice to Stan Lee's timeless classic comic book that shares the name. But, former MSU student Sam Raimi has done it by making a film that is fun and entertaining, while being deep and moving at the same time.
Two years ago, Tobey Maguire hit the big screen in "Spider-Man." The film was great, but it wasn't amazing. Maguire proved his acting abilities, Raimi further-proved his talents and abilities to create a mainstream blockbuster and whoever the special effects guys were - they proved themselves as well.
"Spider-Man" was fun and well-written and the sequel is a lot like the first one. It's not phenomenal, but it's not bad. It's good, but neither one were as great as I expected.
The basis of "Spider-Man 2" is Peter Parker's struggle to accept his identity as a superhero, an especially hard task when the newspapers are calling you the "Masked Menace."
Parker (Maguire), doubts himself and others in the face of his uncertainty.
The movie begins with Parker's bad luck. He gets fired from his pizza delivery job and finds out his true love, Mary Jane Watson, played by the adorable Kirsten Dunst, is engaged to none other than the editor at The Buldge - the paper Parker serves as freelance photographer for.
With all of his time dedicated to saving the lives of New Yorkers, Parker's grades are slipping at school where he's studying physics.
Parker must deal with the grief of his Uncle Ben's death and struggles to help keep his Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) in good spirits.
Now if that all wasn't enough to deal with, while researching for a school project, Parker comes in contact via his best friend Harry Osborn (James Franco) with fusion expert Doctor Otto Octavius, or "Doc Ock," brilliantly played by Alfred Molina.
The science genius invites Parker to attend the unveiling of his life's work - using the strength of the sun in the form of the mineral "trillium" to create a renewable energy source. Things go wrong, of course, and Octavius ends up being taken over by his experiment, which has a mind of its own.
With all things metal flying to the center of Octavius' experiment, Parker realizes the magnetic power of the sun could rip the foundations out of the city, just as it ripped the jewelry off all those in attendance at the unveiling.
Thus begins a treacherous ride with Spider-Man, Mary Jane and Doctor Ock. The action scenes are fantastic, even more advanced than in the original film. Spider-Man looks more real - well, real for a super hero.
A fantastic, thrilling train scene and a slew of scenes featuring Spider-Man taking New York City by web help the film stand up to its comic book standards.
The film represented well the age-old comic books of Stan Lee, therefore, the film should satisfy most of those who grew up on the comic books. The big name stars and the film's drama will satisfy the film critics and movie-goers.
But, the acting is cheesy, the script is cheesy, there's too much emotion wrapped up in the 127-minute film and the action scenes are few and too far in-between.
The ending gives away the entire story line for "Spider-Man 3" and I'm not sure how great that could be judging by the ending of "Spider-Man 2," just about everyone knows the true identity of the acrobatic arachnid.
Yet the film is entertaining. It's funny at times and it's not boring, though it drags a little bit while Parker struggles with his identity and briefly gives up his gig as Spider-Man.
The only displeasing thing about "Spider-Man 2" was the soundtrack. Bands like Dashboard Confessional, Train and Taking Back Sunday just aren't nearly as talented or "cool" to be on the soundtrack for a fantastic action movie.
But, don't let one critic's despise for awful music stop you from seeing this movie.
