Running time: 127 minutes
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Alfred Molina, Rosemary Harris, J.K. Simmons
Rating 7 out of 10
Two years after the fun-packed Spider-Man broke box-office records comes the much-anticipated sequel. Here though, instead of having to face the evil Green Goblin, our superhero's biggest enemy is self-doubt. Okay, so there's the not insignificant threat of the villainous Doc Ock, but essentially Spider-Man 2 focuses on Peter Parker's internal dilemma as he wrestles with "the gift and the curse" that is being Spider-Man. It's this sensitive aspect, combined with the heart-racing action and liberal humour that make the sequel every bit as entertaining as the first film. To simply repeat the formula that proved so successful would have been easy and understandable. That the writers and director Sam Raimi have deliberately tried to explore Parker's emotional vulnerability, along with exalting his physical strengths, has added an extra dimension to what started life as a two dimensional comic book. Their efforts are serviced with great warmth by Tobey Maguire, who once again proves himself the perfect incarnation of Parker.
Although Spider-Man's nemesis has changed, many of the old faces have returned including his long time love Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), his close friend Harry Osborn (James Franco) and Aunt May (Rosemary Harris). When we meet Parker again his dual life is causing him problems. His schoolwork is suffering, he's struggling to hold down his pizza delivery job and he's drifted apart from MJ, who's forging a successful career as an actress and is in a relationship with a young astronaut.
A class project brings Parker into contact with the brilliant scientist Dr Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina), whose work on fusion is being funded by Harry at OsCorp. During an experiment designed to show how he is able to harness "the power of the sun in the palm of my hand," something goes wrong and the Dr is transformed into the metal-tentacled monster dubbed Doc Ock.
The fight scenes involving Spider-Man and Doc Ock, as they battle atop New York's high-rise landscape, is both exhilarating and dizzying, with the highlight being a nerve-jangling tussle aboard a runaway subway train. The film also boasts plenty of memorable comic moments like Parker at the laundromat washing his Spider-Man outfit.
As well as the more mundane aspects of being a superhero, Parker has to contend with the turmoil it causes in his life. Trying to maintain his secret is one thing, but the sacrifices to both his personal and romantic life, are quite another. Things reach the point where he seriously considers abandoning his heroic role. If one criticism can be leveled at Spider-Man 2, it's that at times the writing is too heavy handed. No one talks normally, instead everyone makes speeches. No better is this exemplified than in one extended lecture on the importance of heroes made by Aunt May.
If the rhetoric is grand, then it is on a scale with a film that is large in almost every factor, from its budget, to its action sequences, to its villains. But what makes Spider-Man 2 so engaging is that on a stage this large, it is still able to convey a sense of intimacy.
