Spider-Man 2 review

The special effects in the film are much more realistic than in the first as Spider-Man looks more human as he swings in and out of the skyscrapers of New York, than he did in the first film. This impressive show of special effects further improves the already superb screenplay and provides the viewer with various entertaining scenes to thoroughly enjoy.

The villain in this film is Doctor Otto Octavius, a brilliant scientist employed by Harry Osborne’s Oscorp, and played by Alfred Molina. Octavius, using his own ingenuity has created a set of four mechanical arms which will aid him in his attempt to control a fusion reaction using tridium, a rare element which the Oscorp Corporation are only too willing to provide. Suddenly in a freak accident during the fusion, which sends it out of control, the Doc’s inhibitor chip is shattered meaning that he cant stop the arms from taking over control and as a result starts to succumb to the madness seemingly induced by the mechanical arms. There is a brilliant scene which shows Doc Ock talking to himself about voices in his head while at the same time the menacing looking arms are hanging round his head snapping their claws seemingly in anger at what he is saying. Although Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock is not as maniacally villainous as Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin, Molina brings a subtly sinister quality to Doc Ock's persona but his villain lines are still very unconvincing. But this seems to fit very well as he involves a good mix of the menacing and the silly into his performance.

And of course the hero of the film is Spiderman who is played once again by Toby Maguire. He once again succeeds in stealing the show and it is a good job that he wasn’t replaced by Jake Gylennhaal, as the producers were planning, due to a back injury which cast his return into doubt. If that had happened it would have been disastrous for the character of Spiderman as Maguire seems to capture the essence of his character. His performance is noticeably better in this film than it was in the first film. It is almost as if Maguire has grown into the part of Spiderman and has become comfortable with it and is overall more used to the role. He combines his innocent, childlike looks and mannerism to great effect in performing the part of Peter Parker which in turn provides a good contrast with the character of Spider-Man which provides a good balance with his geeky, shy self and his confident, heroic alter ego. Maguire handles this very well, as can be seen, and you can believe him to be the comic book nerd while at the same time can also imagine him as being a super-hero.

I believe that this movie was altogether very good and is great fun for all ages and types of film. This is because it caters for so many different genres of film; it involves a bit of romance, great action sequences, and the occasional funny scene which has everyone in fits of laughter. But the ending is a great disappointment as during the film it left too many loose ends so at the end there are various endings which seem to unnecessarily draw it out as they all have to be tied off right at the end. This results in a lot of confusion at the end of the film where you are left unsure as whether to get up and leave or whether the film is not yet finished and there is another one or two more scenes to go. But despite this minor drawback the film is great fun for everyone and Spider-Man remains every comic book geek’s dream.