Spider-Man 2

RATING: B+

If the first Sam Raimi/Tobey Maguire Spider-Man film was a mixture of dark and almost cartoony in a couple scenes, then this one is a little more bright and optimistic, to a degree; more realistic, as far as that goes in a superhero movie. Spider-Man 2 takes more of what worked in the first movie, and adds extra elements as well to get about as close to piecing the penultimate Spider-Man movie as any of them get (including the reboot). 

So in this film, Peter Parker (aka Spider-Man) is struggling with his new superhero life. His duties as Spider-Man are cutting into his life as Peter Parker, making him late for just about everything. And he still misses Mary Jane, even though he wants to keep her out of his superhero life. It's a bad time for him to be going through an identity crisis when a scientist wires four metallic arms onto himself and goes insane, becoming Doc Ock. And as if *that* wasn't enough, Peter's best friend Harry Osborn wants Spider-Man dead. 

The stakes are raised quite a bit higher in this movie, obviously. And that certainly does help. This movie as a whole is definitely better than its predecessor. The action sequences between Spider-Man and Doc Ock are nearly flawless; and the humor manages to be more than just J. Jonah Jameson this time around. The plot works quite well, and is arguably the best of any Spider-Man movie. 

As with just about any Spider-Man film as well, though, it's not without its drawbacks. Peter Parker is still cringe-worthily socially inept, particularly where Mary Jane is concerned. Again, it may be faithful to the comics, but that doesn't make me feel any better about it. Mary Jane still isn't a particularly appealing character in this rendition, but she's more easily overlooked. There's also a slightly anti-climactic ending, to a degree. Don't get me wrong, the ending is great, but it would've been even better with a little more Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock action before the still-satisfying resolution. 

Spider-Man 2 is admittedly probably the closest thing to an A-grade film that the character's ever been. It feels like there's always something holding them back a little bit. In this film, it's just Peter Parker's personality in general. Whatever the case, it's still quite an enjoyable simple superhero film that can please the masses easily. It may not be the best of its genre, but people are going to have a hard time downright disliking it.