Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Plot: Peter (Tobey Maguire) struggles with his personal life, which is now going downhill, as he battles a brilliant scientist, Doctor Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina), who becomes Doc Ock, after an accident causes him to be bound to mechanical tentacles that do his bidding.

Review: This is an awesome, awesome movie. I'll tell you why I think so.

First of all, the plot is fantastic and a big improvement compared to the plot of the first film. The second film's story touched on what I thought was wrong with the plot of the first film. In this, we see the burden that Peter is carrying with all of his responsibilities. I think the reason they focused on this more in the second rather than the first is because in the first movie, Peter was a high school student without a thought in the world. Now, he's in university, working and trying to fight bad guys as Spider-Man. All of that responsibility and stress has taken his toll on him where he decides to stop being Spider-Man. The plot has a human element to it that I think makes it much more relatable to audiences. We can relate to the fact that we just want to escape our responsibilities when they become too much, but ultimately we cannot escape what we are meant to do.

The acting is better than ever. I think that Tobey Maguire improved compared to the first film. The way he portrays Peter's inner turmoil when his life becomes a mess. Kirsten Dunst is just as good as she was in the first film. James Franco is also very good. I believed he improved since the first film greatly. J.K. Simmons is still highly entertaining as J. Jonah Jameson. But the standout for me was Alfred Molina, who plays Doc Ock. Doc Ock is a complex and entertaining villain. There are moments that we feel sympathy for Doc Ock and moments in which we hate him. Doc Ock and Molina's performance outshines Willem Dafoe's portrayal of the Green Goblin by a landslide. In the first film, you felt very little, if not, no sympathy for the Green Goblin at all. The Green Goblin is a soulless villain with no sympathetic qualities. Doc Ock is the opposite. Doc Ock's twisted sense of humor is also a nice surprising touch.

The film's special effects are amazingly impressive. We'll start with the obvious, which is the mechanical tentacles. They're extremely well done and very menacing. When you see them, you get chills. You're worried about what they'll do. Everything in the film visually is stunning. One effect that stood out for me was the train sequence where Spider-Man stops the train from crashing. I found that sequence to be intense and thrilling.

Spider-Man 2 is a phenomenal film.

Rating: 5/5