Spiderman 2 is the best Spiderman movie. To me, it feels more like a movie about Peter's struggle to be Spiderman. This was the movie that cemented my love for the character.
The cast is great again. Especially Peter and Harry, both of whom are much better. However, MJ is more of herself than a girl in distress.
Throughout the film, Peter sees the consequences of being Spiderman. His life is literally falling apart. Everyone is moving and he is stuck because he must be Spiderman.
He's lost his job, he's failed his college classes, MJ gets married, Aunt May is leaving, and he's struggling to pay the rent, while J. Everything's going well for Peter and you can't help but feel bad for him. He's a nice guy, and he goes to great lengths to help others, but no one helps out.
These are the first CBMs that show the struggles of being a champion. This movie shows Peter at his lowest.
In this movie we see him telling his aunt that he "caused" Uncle Ben's death, and Aunt May kicks him out. Just WOW, his life has gone down hill.
Sometimes the movie is a little goofy in the way it shows its misfortune, but it works because it's presented in a surprisingly hilarious way.
Comedy is used to light the film. So he started losing his powers.
Later in the story we are introduced to Dr. Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina) who was awesome. It is creating a sustainable fusion power reactor, making 4 heat-impermeable and magnetic electronic arms which are essential to the reactor.
He teams with Oscorp for funding, and with Harry's help, Peter is able to write his research paper on Otto. Peter and Otto hit it off as "cool" and we've met his wife.
He explains why he does this with a great line very similar to the "Great power comes great responsibility" line. “Intelligence is not a privilege, it is a gift, to be used for the benefit of mankind.” This immediately clarifies the similarities between Peter and Otto and shows his motives.
When Otto finally tests the reactor, it unfortunately becomes unstable. Instead of stopping the reactor, Otto thinks it will work. But the reactor kills his wife and damages the inhibitory nerve chip in his spine, not allowing the AI from the arms to affect his brain.
He's brought to the hospital while being knocked out, in a gorgeous scene that shows Sam Raimi's terrifying roots. She takes over the weapons and begins brutally killing doctors. Ascorb is bankrupt. Now we have the birth of our villain.
After everything is going well, Peter decides to give up being Spider-Man. I think it's great. It shows Peter is human and sometimes you just want to give up.
So he does, and his life gets back on track. He's getting better grades, he can finally get to play MJ, and maybe he can pay the rent. He begins to ignore the crime, but soon realizes that he can't stop.
This is where the hero is tested and needs to come back. Crime increased by 70%. Very similar to the first movie, there is a fire where Peter decides to be the hero himself, saving the child, but only when he is about to praise his bravery, is he told that someone is stuck and dead.
Once again, Peter realizes that Spider-Man is wanted. With great power comes great responsibility, so Spider-Man returns!
There's the bank robbery with bags full of gold coins, which is very comic book-like, and we have the famous train fight. Peter does everything in his power to stop the train and save everyone, but he does not have his mask, everyone sees him as a hero, and understands that they need him, so none of them say anything about his identity. This is to praise a champion done correctly.
They respect the hero, although his identity is likely revealed in making a person famous or wealthy, they respect Spider-Man for sacrifice.
And then when everyone is trying to protect Spider-Man, it shows how everyone is trying to give back to Spider-Man.
After this Spider-Man is handed over to Harry we get a wonderful scene where Harry discovers that Peter is Spiderman to further fuel the rivalry between them.
The third chapter is a bit weak for me. MJ is of course the girl in distress again, the reactor is a bit unrealistic, but I think overall it was a good fight with high stakes.
Doc Ock sacrifices himself to finally stop the machine and now MJ knows who Spider-Man is. Peter finally got his happy ending.
This is one of the rare supplements where everything is improved. I think Spiderman 2 is one of the best CBMs. It really shows the struggles and consequences of being a champion, and I think it's been done really well.