Director: Sam Raimi
Year Released: 2004
Rating: 1.5
Just as Shrek 2 was a slight improvement on the overbearing Shrek, so Spider-Man 2 is a small step up from the thoroughly laughable original effort. The nonsensical 'performances' have actually been toned down to a degree - whereas Spider-Man the first went overboard with action, this one strives for emotional depth and sympathy (which it hardly earns) as the conference call that brought together the multiple screenwriters appears to have installed in Peter Parker depressive tendencies and a bad case of projectile dysfunction. I still cringe whenever anyone has a big speech or any of the actors have to actually act (Molina turns in a better villain than Dafoe, but is still upstages by his metallic arms; Maguire reminds me of a kid I know who takes his Adderal two hours before school starts and spends the rest of the day burning holes in the chalkboard with his eyes) or the world teams up to humiliate dweeb deluxe Peter Parker yet adore his superhero alter ego ("Yay, Spidey!") - it's still far from the most efficient of comic book movies, bloated and corny, clinging to deal life on cheap 'values' and freewheeling with the platitudes. The shots of the title hero slinging and flinging around Manhattan, it should be noted, still look horrible.
