SPIDER-MAN 2
Released: June 30,2004
Maybe late night talk show host Craig Kilborn was on to something when he said "no one wants a villian with man boobs" when referring to Doc Ock/Dr. Otto Octavius as played by Alfred Molina. But, once you get passed the big screen man boobs, you're fully immersed in the latest adventures of Peter Parker and his super hero alias Spider-Man. The cast from the first film, along with director Sam Raimi, return for this second installment. Even cast members killed in the first movie return in dream sequences (Willem Dafoe as Green Goblin and Cliff Robertson as Uncle Ben). Tobey Maguire continues on his upward star trajectory here and is a good choice, again, to play the lead. Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, J.K. Simmons, and Bruce Campbell of Raimi's "Evil Dead" series are all entertaining here. In fact, at times the film has a very "Evil Dead" feel to it and you can tell Raimi had a lot of fun with those scenes with the chainsaw. That's vintage Raimi. John Landis, the director of "Animal House" also appears, as a doctor. Overall, it was a bit more fun and loose of a film, due largely to the fact Raimi wasn't tied into telling an "origin" story as he was obliged in the first one. The cast was pretty good in this and the story OK, but I don't agree that it's some sort of second coming of comic book/superhero movies. It's pretty good, about on par with the first film. The effects are mostly quite good, especially in scenes where Spider-Man falls to the ground, very convincingly done. The only effects shots that do not work are the "flying" Spider-Man scenes that simply look too effecty. This film cleaned up at the box office and no doubt there'll be various versions available on DVD along with more sequels in the future. "Spider-Man 3" hits theatres in 2007, so get set for more box office "spider" millions for years to come.
127 Minutes
Columbia/Sony