Spiderman 2

• Title:  Spider-man 2
• Director:  Sam Raimi
• Date:  2004
• Studio:  Columbia (Marvel)
• Genre:  Fantasy, Action, Drama
• Cast:  Tobey McGuire, Kirsten Dunst, Alfred Molina, Ted Raimi, Bruce Campbell
• Format:  Color, Widescreen
• DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

"Being brilliant's not enough, young man, you have to work hard.  Intelligence is not a privilege, it's a gift and you use it for the good of mankind."  -- Dr. Octavius

"The power of the sun in the palm of my hand."  -- Dr. Octavius

"My Rosie's dead.  My dream is dead.  And these monstrous things should be at the bottom of  the river, along with me." --  Doc Ock.

I preferred the title sequence to this film over the sequence for the previous one.  The sequence looks like actual comic book panels and catches the audience up on the plot from the previous film.

In Spider-man 2, Peter Parker is once again the nerdy guy with bad luck.  His commitment to being Spiderman, causes him to lose his job as a pizza delivery boy, to run into trouble at college, where he's late or misses classes entirely, and even to be late on his rent.  He even loses the chance to impress MJ (Mary Jane Watson) by missing her performance in a play (which looks to be The Importance of Being Earnest, though it's never mentioned by name).  To add to his troubles, Aunt May's house is in foreclosure.

Possibly because of  all this stress, Peter is beginning to have problems as Spiderman, with his web failing, and later his powers failing.  Several times in the film, Peter literally takes a fall as Spiderman.

For a college science report, Peter meets Dr. Octavius, a brilliant scientist, working on fusion power.  At the opening demo, Peter's there to take pictures for the Bugle, but, things go wrong.  The magnetic field breaks, the fusion reaction acts like a giant magnet, and chaos ensues.  Spidey arrives to try to help, but Dr. Octavius' wife is killed by shattered glass, and his activator arms ("smart" metal arms activated by the doctor's own brain) are fused to his spine.  Worse still, the inhibitor chip that prevents the nanotech in the arms from taking over the doctor's brain, is damaged.  When a surgical team tries to remove the fused exoskeleton, Doc Ock attacks them, and a new supervillain is born.

Peter and Aunt May try to get a re-fi loan, but she fails due to her lack of  income.  But, while there, Doc Ock attacks the same bank, and even kidnaps May.  Peter, as Spidey, saves his Aunt, and fights Ock.  The pictures from the fight make their way to the Bugle, and it's Hoffman (Ted Raimi) who comes up with a name for the new villain - Dr. Octopus, which Jonah Jameson shortens to "Doc Ock", blaming Spidey of course.

But Peter is still having problems balancing his life, and since his Spidey powers keep failing him at inopportune times, he gives up being Spiderman, and even throws away the suit.  A garbageman sells the suit to Jameson at the Bugle who keeps it as a trophy.  Although Peter's life becomes simpler, crime rates skyrocket, and Peter feels guilty when he walks past crimes in progress and does nothing.

Peter tells May an edited version of  the truth about the night Uncle Ben died, after May had blamed herself. At first May seems angry at Peter, but later she comes to her senses and patches things up, letting him know she loves him.

Doc Ock goes after Harry Osborn, who's still obsessed with destroying Spiderman, whom he blames for his father's death.  He sends Doc Ock after Peter, saying Peter will led him to Spiderman.

MJ kisses her new fiance (Jameson's son John, an astronaut) upside down.  From the look on her face, she's still in love with Peter or Spiderman.  Peter and MJ meet at a cafe'.  Peter tries to apologize and tell her he's straightened out his life, but Doc Ock throws a car through the plate-glass window they are sitting near.  Peter saves MJ's life but doesn't get to kiss her.

Peter's powers return, he takes back his Spidey suit, and there's a huge F/X CGI fight between Doc Ock and Spiderman on a train.  Spidey manages to just barely stop the train full of people from falling off the track, but he's now without his mask.  Normal people hand him hand-over-hand back into the car, when Ock threatens again, all the people stand between the villain and Spidey.  A kid gives Peter his mask back.

Ock brings Spidey to Harry, Harry gives Ock the Tridium (an ultra-rare element used in Octavius' fusion reactor).  Harry's about to kill Spidey, but when he pulls off  his mask, he's shocked to discover it's Peter.  Spiderman must then rescue MJ and stop Doc Ock's fusion reactor before he blows-up half of  New York.

Spiderman and Doc Ock have their final confrontation.  Despite his plans to make it work, the fusion reactor again becomes a huge magnet, causing havoc. Doc Ock is electrocuted, and he and the reactor core are dropped in the river.  Spidey saves MJ during the battle, but she sees him without his mask.  Peter explains to MJ that they can't be together.

MJ plays the runaway bride at her own wedding, and goes to Peter to tell him they should make a go of  it anyway.  Meanwhile, Harry is hearing the voice of  the Green Goblin.  He breaks a mirror and discovers a secret lab with the mask, glider, pumpkin bombs, and enhancing formula.  Will he take it?  Only the sequel can tell.

I found Doctor Octavius to be a strangely compelling and sympathetic villain.  His own personality breaks through the Doc Ock madness much more often than say, the Green Goblin's (who's just nuts, even when he tries to act sane).  Even after he's become Doc Ock, he's still trying to get his fusion reactor working - something to benefit "mankind" (well, OK, it should be "humanity" but that's how Octavius puts it).  And he never seems to realize that it's the lack of working magnetic containment that causes his experiment to fail.  He also loses everything:  his standing as a scientist, his wife, his sanity, and eventually his life.  At times, compared to what Doc Ock goes through, Peter Parker seems like a whiny teenager, which goes to show you just what a good actor as villain can due for a piece.

Recommendation:  See it, it's better than the first one.
Rating:  4 out of 5 Stars
Next Film:  Stardust