Directed by:
Sam RaimiScreenplay:
Alvin SargentCinematography:
Bill PopeComposer:
Danny ElfmanCast:
Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Alfred Molina, Rosemary Harris, J.K. Simmons, Donna Murphy, Daniel Gillies, Dylan Baker, Bill Nunn, Willem Dafoe (more)VOD (3)
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Two years have passed since the mild-mannered Peter Parker walked away from his longtime love Mary Jane Watson and decided to take the road to responsibility as Spider-Man. Peter must face new challenges as he struggles to cope with "the gift and the curse" of his powers while balancing his dual identities as the elusive superhero Spider-Man and life as a college student. The relationships Peter holds most dear are now in danger of unraveling as he clashes with the powerful, multi-tentacled villain Doctor Octopus aka "Doc Ock." Peter's life-long yearning for M.J. becomes even stronger as he fights the impulse to abandon his secret life and declare his love. In the meantime, M.J. has moved on with her life. She has embarked on an acting career and has a new man in her life. Peter's relationship with his best friend Harry Osborn has been overshadowed by Harry's growing vendetta against Spider-Man, whom he holds responsible for his father's death. Peter's life becomes even more complicated when he is pitted against a powerful new nemesis, Dr. Otto Octavius-- "Doc Ock." Peter must now learn to accept his fate and harness all his superhero talents in order to stop this diabolical madman in his octagonal tracks. (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (11)
The second Spider-Man is a class better than the first one. It is darker, with a stronger story, and better music that adds a massive boost to the action scenes. I mean both the rock, nu-metal, and punk (the classic American soundtrack blend) as well as the excellent orchestral score by the always great Danny Elfman (Planet of the Apes, Big Fish), whose compositions are again a pleasure to listen to. The special effects belong to the absolute top of modern cinema. There is some of the traditional pathos and tears, but that belongs to Raimi's Spider-Man, or rather, we have all gotten used to it.
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Much better after a second screening. The things that bothered me before – the pathos taken to the extreme in places and the auntie's curmudgeonly proclamations – simply belong to the Spider-Man franchise, and if you accept Raimi's rules of the game, you'll be satisfied. What I admire most about Raimi's series is the perfect blend of Spider-man's human side – constant doubt, regret, unhappy love and, thanks to Tobey's looks, boyish goofiness – and the comic book superhuman side. Moreover, the unconventional beauty of Kirsten Dunst and the charisma of Tobey Maguire are always impressive. And Dr. Octopus is one hell of a villain, Alfred Molina gave him the necessary evil spark with his maniacal expression. With the passage of a few years, I have to admit that this is one of the most accomplished comic book adaptations.
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More of everything than in the first Spider-Man. And the bad guy is better, the technical aspect is more sophisticated and the omnipresent humour is wonderfully refreshing. Despite the small amount of action and a lot of dialogue reaching back to the past (which slows down the plot), I found the sequel more satisfying than the first one. Though the 110% happy ending is a bit of a bad move, its justified by the wave of emotion that it brings.
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In addition to the X-MEN series, I enjoyed Spider-Man 2 the most from what the film mainstream has to offer in terms of comic book remakes. Sam Raimi managed to perfectly balance humorous exaggeration, a tolerably sugary love-story and an action level with a very decent and jagged villain. The film thus offers a very nice cocktail, in which are mixed adrenaline passages (the fight on the train is magnificent), humorous moments and intimate vistas into the soul of the hero, who may not even want to be a hero. It is Peter's oscillation between an introverted student and an intrepid super-human - a constant search for himself - that forms a sympathetic second plan under a bombastic spectacle. The relationship is maintained equilibristically, and Spiderman 2 is an exceptionally balanced and bound spectacle almost to the end, which is sporadically disrupted only by Aunt May's excessive pathetic rants. Unfortunately, the word “almost" in the previous sentence is treacherous. The end of the film awkwardly and purposefully walls up everything it had carefully built brick by brick before, and the spectacle is rolled over by an interesting second plan. In the end, the hero does not have to solve the main dilemma of what to decide, because he can have both love and heroism. Oh, how I hate this hypocrisy. Even so, Raimi's spider man left me with many positive impressions. A great demonstration of the mainstream craft, which has long avoided the pitfalls of the mainstream, but a minute twelve it will get there...
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The sequel to the story of Spider-Man surpassed its predecessor in many ways (especially in the technical aspects), equally great part. While I hesitated to give the first one a full rating and still ended up giving it 4 stars that were more like 4.5 stars (we'll see :), I have no problem with the second one. The main role here is played by Sam Raimi, who directed the sequel to his favorite comic book superhero perfectly and didn't allow any major gaffes that would have disturbed the brilliantly filmed story full of action, love, suspense, revenge, the desire for success... Raimi handles the alternating of the storylines with flying colors and I'm really looking forward to the third one, I've never seen the whole thing.) I'm just a bit worried about the reviews of "three" here, but we'll see.) Spider-Man 2 is definitely 5 stars, and a lot of the credit goes to Danny Elfman, as well as the greater space for character psychology.
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