Spider-Man 2 (2004) Review

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 Spider-Man 2

Release Date: June 30, 2004

Directed By: Sam Raimi

Rating: 7.3


The second movie in Tobey Maguire's series, Spider-Man 2 did not disappoint me. I was fairly surprised by how much I liked the first movie, and this one followed it up nicely. I thought the cast's chemistry was a lot better in this movie than it was in the first installment. I also found the story to be very compelling. I enjoyed seeing Peter Parker struggle to balance his secret life with his normal life, which I know is a common trope, but I thought it was done really well in this movie. We actually got to see him not only struggle with the balance but FAIL at it! He even quits being Spider-Man at a point. I was certainly not expecting that and I thought it was a really cool idea to play around with.

I did think the original movie did a few things better, one of which was the villain. I've heard a lot of people love Alfred Molina as Doc Oc, and I thought he was pretty good too. I did like Willem Dafoe's portrayal of Green Goblin a bit more though. I thought the Green Goblin had a bit more motivation to turn "evil" than Doc Oc did. I did appreciate though, that Raimi kept a similar plotline in terms of why the villain hates Spider-Man. Both the Green Goblin and Doc Oc are trying to avenge their own personal issues. When they cross the line and break the law, Spider-Man gets in the way and essentially adds himself to the list. 

Doc Oc doesn't really have any outside motivation to break the law though. Green Goblin is motivated by what he thinks is an unjust action by the Oscorp board. Otto Octavius, on the other hand, drives himself crazy with his own failure. For that reason, I prefer the Goblin to the Octopus.  I also found J. Jonah Jameson to be a bit more annoying and unreasonable in this movie. In the first, he was just the reporter trying to find a story. Now, he actually begins to change his mind about Spider-Man and does a complete 360 in less than a minute. 

I also found the ending to be a bit confusing. I know in the comics Harry Osborn picks up the mantle of the Green Goblin in some way. At the end of this movie, we kind of see him start to go down that road before rejecting his father's spirit. Then he breaks through a mirror into a room filled with the old Green Goblin stuff. That seems to suggest that he will pick up the mantle of the Green Goblin, but I really have no idea. 

Regardless, I'm excited to watch the next movie. I've heard it's not great, but I am going to stay optimistic about it to give it a fair shot. While I've stayed away from Tobey Maguire's version of Spider-Man for a while, I am glad I finally dove into them. I think Tobey does a great job playing the character, especially as one of the first to do it. I'll be checking out Spider-Man 3 later this week, so stay tuned for that review!


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