My Movie Review on Spider-Man 2 (2004) · 1:52pm Mar 16th, 2020
Salutations, my good friends.
This is your friendly film, TV show, and episode reporter here with another review.
Today, for my 126th film analysis, and following my review of "Spider-Man (2002)", I'm gonna give you guys my take of "Spider-Man 2 (2004)".
Here's the rundown of this sequel:
Two years after the last battle between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin, Peter struggles with balancing his life as a superhero and being a regular person. He's having a hard time keeping a job and making money, doing his college homework, and what's worse...his friendship with Harry, now succeeding his father as CEO of Oscorp, has become strained. And as if that's not enough, Mary Jane Watson, now a broadway star, is engaged to John Jameson, the son of J. Jonah Jameson.
With all this weight packed onto him, Peter begins to question whether he should be Spider-Man anymore.
Meanwhile, after a demonstration goes awry, Dr. Otto Octavius, with the help of his sapient mechanical arms, decides to rebuild his fusion power project despite the high amount of risk it would cause to New York.
Will Peter be able to stop Octavius before it's too late?
What's more, does Peter truly want to keep being Spider-Man? Will he ever patch things up with Mary Jane and Harry?
Having watched this movie the night after seeing its predecessor, and before I even finished my review of the latter, I have two words to say about this film:
TOTAL AWESOMENESS!!!
If the mission behind this movie was to make it bigger and better than the first film as possible, then I'm happy to say "Mission Accomplished".
For instance, the direction by Sam Raimi, the story by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, and Michael Chabon, and the screenplay by Alvin Sargent, were amazing!
As I watched it, I saw that Raimi and crew were apparently able to give the movie a more smooth and relaxed tone compared to its predecessor. It wasn't acting like it was immediately jumping from one scene to another, but there was still plenty of action that helped it be lively in its own way. Plus, there was an astounding amount of humor and wit, and the emotion and drama it had was nicely done on a heart-tugging level.
Likewise, the visual effects were more impressive than in the previous movie. In my review of the latter, I commented that I thought the effects were realistic to the point of where it looked like they weren't effects at all. In this film, though, it's exactly how I described it on a much greater and enormous level. The scenes with Spider-Man swinging above New York looked more lifelike than before, and Octavius's robotic arms looked like they were actually real and full of life.
The music by Danny Elfman was as magnificent as ever, if I may add. I love how he was able to push himself into going deeper than previously he did with his music, giving a greater sense of emotional resonance that helped boost the movie into being as large as possible. Plus, the original songs that were made for the movie were fun too.
Finally, the acting, casting, characters, and character development were as spectacular as ever.
When I learned that James Franco screen tested for the role of Spider-Man during the first film's casting process, I found that to be deeply interesting. However, his portrayal of Harry Osborn in this sequel made me think that he was all-the-more perfect for the character, incorporating brilliant emotion, humor, and personality to where he remarkably matched Willem Dafoe's Norman Osborn while making the character his own at the same time. Plus, it was remarkable to see what kind of person Harry developed into.
J.K. Simmons also managed to once again steal the show in every scene J. Jonah Jameson was featured in, making every moment he was given count. Likewise, it was incredible to see what kind of person Mary Jane developed into since the events of the last adventure, and Kirsten Dunst portrayed her character to where she was as lovable and three-dimensional as ever.
Perhaps the best performances and characters out of everyone, though, were that of Tobey Maguire and Alfred Molina as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Otto Octavius/Doc Ock.
Scrapping Doc Ock's inclusion for the first film in exchange for this one was definitely a beneficial move, because if that wasn't done, the character would not have become the perfect successor to the Green Goblin. He fit the story like a glove, and Alfred Molina portrayed the character with an amazing sense of humor and personality. Aided by Molina's portrayal, the character was likewise one of the most fully-realized super villains I had ever seen.
Tobey Maguire gave perhaps the best performance as Spider-Man that I've seen so far. The emotions that he incorporated into the character were soul-tugging, and there was an added sense of conflict and insecurity that made Peter so human. The character himself was someone that I thought people could relate to in terms of what he went through in the film, and his development was marvelously well-done.
In conclusion, "Spider-Man 2" is an all-out astonishing successor to the original. The performances and character development were fantastic, the direction and storytelling were flawlessly well-worked, everything!
So, I rate "Spider-Man 2 (2004)" five out of five stars.
Some consider this film the best Spider-Man film ever made for the silver screen.
I didn't like this one as much. I found it too depressing.
One of the best super-hero movies of all time, and the launcher of a thousand memes.