 Movie
Reviews
with Evelyn Gough
Spiderman 2 (M)
Directed by Sam Raimi
 The web slinger returns for a spectacular showdown with nemesis Dr. Octopus.
Hands up if you can name one superhero who has any kind of a love life, let alone a happy one! (Maybe they should make a show called No Sex in the Super City).
Let's face it, the life of a superhero is destined to be a lonely one and it appears Peter Parker, aka Spiderman (Tobey Maguire) is no exception. After all, who has time for a girlfriend - let alone work and school - when you're busy preventing crime, saving lives and fighting the latest monstrous villain 24/7?
And things are no easier for our young hero in Spiderman 2, the very satisfying sequel to the original blockbuster. Yep, I was more than happy with this second instalment in the series, in fact to be honest, I enjoyed it more than the first.
Sure it's still angst-ridden. Poor old Peter, it seems the more people Spiderman rescues, the more bad luck the guy has. He's still lusting after Mary Jane (Kirstin Dunst) but she's sick of him being so wishy-washy and as a result is dating the drop-dead-gorgeous astronaut son (Daniel Gillies) of Parker's boss, newspaper editor J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons). Good for her!
And speaking of wishy-washy, his best friend Harry (James Franco) is still crying over the death of his father. Oh boo hoo, get over it! He's even more miserable when his father's company is ruined after his latest project goes horribly wrong. Instead of creating a safe source of fusion energy, Dr Otto Octavious (Alfred Molina) becomes an eight armed technological monster, quickly nicknamed 'Doctor Octopus'.
Doc Ock turns out to be a formidable opponent for Spiderman especially when the wall crawler appears to be losing his super powers. Yikes!
Thankfully, Spiderman 2 isn't all tears and petulant hand wringing. Thanks to the super screenplay by Alvin Sargent I was chuckling constantly at the deadpan humour and clever, offbeat one-liners. I was also impressed by the flawless special effects, interesting cinematography and full-on action.
I'm not usually a huge fan of comic book adaptions, they're mostly gloss and mega-special effects, but director Sam Raimi and his talented cast and crew have created something exceptional, a comic book hero with heart and soul - and a sense of humour!
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