Marvel Mania 2: Spider-Man 2

Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Alfred Molina
Directed by: Sam Raimi


When the first Spider-Man film was released, it took the world by storm and changed the landscape of comic book films forever. So, obviously sequels would be in the works. In fact, many of main actors signed on for three movies before they even had a script for the first one. So when a young Spider-Man fanboy walked into a movie theater to see a gigantic poster hyping Spider-Man 2, my jaw dropped. Seeing the image of Dr. Octopus, my favorite Spider-Man villain, reflected in Spider-Man's eye had me anticipating 2004 more than you could possibly imagine. And when the time came to see the movie, I was very happy. In fact, this might have been the first film I saw in theaters twice. It's been more than 10 years since the film was released and the comic book landscape has definitely changed in terms of film. Films have gotten darker, grittier, and are determined to build expanding universes, so can a movie like Spider-Man 2 still hold up well after all these years?

The major new addition to the franchise in Spider-Man 2 is Alfred Molina as Dr. Otto Octavius. The man who becomes Dr. Octopus is an incredible villain for this picture. Some people are a Venom guy. Others are a Green Goblin guy. I consider myself more of a Doc Ock guy. Something about the dynamic he has with Peter Parker is phenomenally engaging. Peter's the geek gone good with his powers, while Octavius is the geek gone bad thanks to his accident. He's one of the most iconic comic book villains in history and it's great to see him brought to life on film by a veteran actor like Alfred Molina. In fact, he's so good at playing Octavius that I'd rather have no Octavius in the reboot at all, than have someone else try and top the performance Molina put on.

For me, one of the biggest stars of this trilogy is J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson. If you recall my review of Whiplash (one of my favorite films of all-time), you know just how much I enjoy Simmons as an actor. So to recall that he was wowing me with his character acting more than a decade before that film is quite impressive. He's a PERFECT Jameson, to the point where the fans are quite comfortable with him showing up in all reboots and formats that Spider-Man will ever be in. He'll probably be too busy to do that with the upcoming series, since he'll be playing Commissioner Gordon in Justice League (OH MY GOD!), but at least we have his hilarious, scene-stealing performances from this Spider-Man Trilogy to remember fondly. In fact, he's so good at playing Jameson that I'd rather have no Jameson in the reboot at all, than have someone else try and top the performance Simmons put on (Boy, that sounds familiar).

I always really liked how Rosemary Harris played Aunt May in these movies. A strong, older woman who desperately wants the best for her nephew. This felt like something ripped right from the comic book pages (something that seems to be a pattern with the characters and actors I decided to spotlight in this review) and I definitely appreciate the relationship she had as Peter's guardian. From someone that grew up being raised by my grandmother, I can easily see this relationship on-screen and relate to it. It's another one of those personal touches that makes Spider-Man my all-time favorite superhero.

While the effects were too cartoony in the previous film, they really picked up by the time we got to Spider-Man 2. The effects team and the stunts team really brought their A game to make sure we could believe Spider-Man was swinging through the New York skies. On top of that, Doc Ock's tentacles are brought to life thanks to practical and visual effects. Combining the two creations in order to have the film's major action sequences was a pretty key mission for the filmmakers and they thankfully succeeded. If we were taken out of the scenes by constantly spotting what was real and what was fake, then there'd be a pretty big problem. But I didn't see wires, or CGI characters, or fake practical effects arms doing stunts. I saw Spider-Man and Dr. Octopus fighting. That's a testament to the coordinators at bringing state of the art visuals and stunts to life.

After more than 10 years, Spider-Man 2 still holds up as one of the elite comic book movies. The struggle that Peter Parker has with his powers plays out in a film that also balances his struggling romance with Mary Jane, his struggling friendship with Harry Osborn, his struggles with school, his struggles with finances, his struggles with his job, and his overall struggles in life. That's a lot to handle in a film, while also working on addressing storylines from the last movie, adding the conflicts with Doc Ock to create the major storyline for this film, and planting the seeds for what'll need to be addressed in the next film (*shudders* Dear God, I'll handle that film next time...). Yet, here the film stands, able to adequately balance all it needs to do and able to be a sequel without being a transitional film. Spider-Man 2 feels like an important chapter in the Spider-Man story, not an afterthought, something many comic book movie sequels have a tough time with when they're setting things up for other sequels. It upped the ante for comic book films at the time and is still an enjoyable film experience for me today.


Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

As far as Spider-Man movies go, Spider-Man 2 is easily the strongest film after all these years. With humor, drama, great performances, and a narrative that dives into the life and psychology of both Spider-Man and Peter Parker, this is one of the finest comic book movies to exist. This film is the measuring stick for all comic book sequels, as well as the quality of all existing and future Spider-Man reboots.

Spider-Man 2 and movie images are copyrighted by Columbia Pictures