I loved the first movie. Despite Mary Jane's "bottled" red hair, the organic webbing and the really lousy Green Goblin costume, the movie was wonderful and deserved all that it took in at the box office. So, what's so good about the sequel?
The plot was amazing. In it, you could see all sorts of little nods to various issues of the comic book. When Peter is seen walking away from the costume that he has just thrown in the trash can, I could distincly remember the cover of the "Amazing Spiderman" comic where he gave up the duds.
The special effects in the first movie were, in my opinion, better than most people gave them credit for. But I'll admit that some of them looked unreal. That isn't a problem in this movie. The effects are so real, you won't even notice them. At times, they'll have close-ups of Spidey swinging through the city that look absolutely breathtaking. My favorite is when he swings between the cab and trailer of the rig while chasing a car with some thugs in it..
I noted that the producers seemed to "compromise" between Mary Jane's hair and that of Kirsten Dunst. The result is a Mary Jane with slightly "strawberry blonde" hair. I never even missed the comic character's hair color.
Doctor Octopus has always been one of my favorite Spiderman villains. I was looking forward to seeing what they would do with him. I wasn't disappointed. He was a true, well-rounded character. Seeing the battle between the wills of Octavius and the tentacles was good, even if the character was a bit different from the "Doc Ock" in the comics. This "split-personality" seemed to work so much better than the one between the Goblin and Norman Osborn.
On a side note, my daughter, her "Spiderman and Friends" teether held tightly in her hands, sat quietly on my wife's lap throughout the movie. If it can keep a six month-old busy, then you know that it had to be good.
July 12, 2004