Spider-Man 2

Walking into a sequel for one of the pioneer and greatest superhero films of all time is very, very risky. But here we have a team who understands why the kickstarter worked big time in the first place and continued to do the same here too! How do you even tell an underdog story featuring the same protagonist, yet again? Well, we all have something to learn from writer Alvin Sargent, don't we?

Day job demands and getting fired, unable to express love to childhood sweetheart, difficulty coping with college and assignments resulting in declining grades, failure to secure freelance opportunity, financial hiccups and losing the ability to spit webs as Spider-Man are some of the many challenges Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) has to endure, to a point where he forgets his own birthday! Right from the get go, the makers successfully allow you to feel the intense pressure boiler the protagonist is in. Not to forget that along the way, minor obstacles are thrown at Peter. Broken bike, running out of coins for a call to Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst), Spider-Man's suit colors tainting his formal attire, crimefighting while delivering pizzas, if he grabs a drink it's empty and even the last bit of party dessert offering is taken away from him! It might feel like it's a little bit much, but the effectiveness is strong.

Just like the previous entry, the emphasis in Spider-Man 2 is on the characters and their relationships. It's heartwarming to see Peter, Mary and Harry Osborn (James Franco) are still friends. But before you could breathe, conflicts hit Peter yet again in this department! Harry, after losing his project to Dr. Otto Octavius's (Alfred Molina) mess-up, no longer has anything to look forward to except avenging his dad's death by killing Spider-Man. He even slaps Peter in a party asking for allegiance. Peter keeps trying to be there for Mary Jane, but Spider-Man duty calls at the same time he is about to attend her theater show and discovering she has a boyfriend to be married to are simply heartbreaking! Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) loves Peter and them grieving for Uncle Ben is highly emotional. With her having financial difficulty of her own yet passing on some money to Peter will make you weep! But even this relationship takes a turn for the worse when Peter has to confess that Uncle Ben died due to him!

The core conflict comes from the protagonist living a dual life, separating Spider-Man and Peter Parker as two entities. Even when he completely quits being the city's superhero, his responsibility keeps calling him back no matter how many times he shrugs it away. By learning how to merge both lives, only then he meets victory. You'll see how his identity slowly being revealed to everyone around him as a way completing his character arc, including Aunt May, Mary Jane, Harry Osborn and the general public!

Everyone's performance - from Tobey Maguire, Rosemary Harris, Alfred Molina to J. K. Simmons (as J. Jonah Jameson) are expert! Interactions between Peter Parker and J. Jonah Jameson are top comedy stuff! Speaking of comedy, there are some here and there that doesn't quite work. Sam Raimi didn't forget to focus on the citizens of New York by showing us Spider-Man from their point-of-view which makes it so much more relatable, but he could have remedied the artificial screams and gasps for sure! Danny Elfman's score and the profound starting credits render the feeling of watching a comic book coming to live! Animatronics done for Doctor Octopus' actuators is art!

Spider-Man 2 has some of the best superhero action sequences you'll ever get to see in cinema, particularly the iconic train-halting episode! Callback to the first movie with the kid stuck in a burning building and the car crash in coffee shop are so well made! Although Aunt May stuck in the midst of Doc Ock and Spider-Man's brawl can be cheesy, the action is awesome regardless. Also, perhaps the visual effects for Otto's drowning together with the reactor didn't age that well.