Spider-Man 2 Movie Review: As I watched Sam Raimi’s continuation of his superhero epic I couldn’t help but see that Raimi seems to be throwing back to the 'Superman' franchise of the early 1980s. There are so many obvious comparisons but it was never fully fleshed out until I saw that star Tobey Maguire wore a pair of glasses after one his 'power-glitches'.
In both the sequels to 'Superman' and 'Spider-Man', the hero relinquishes his responsibility of being a superhero for the woman he loves. Both have problems getting their powers back when they decide they were foolish. Both heroes also have troubles stopping a train. Then there is the obvious homage to the 'Superman' films when Parker drops his glasses on the pavement and we see one of the lens break from the frames.
Even though Raimi has framed his franchise in the same way as 'Superman' he still seems to have improved on the concept.
Raimi has injected a lot of humor, zaniness in Parker’s life and a wonderful dynamic between him and the people around him. Raimi knows how to get us involved in these people’s lives. The humor is done with such delicacy that it doesn’t poke fun at the character but instead enhances our relationship with this struggling hero. It is the brilliant aspect of this sequel.
The performance from Tobey Maguire was utterly brilliant especially during the forever classic train-stopping sequence. Raimi allowed Tobey to be just a young man with extraordinary abilities and with that it became pure magic.

Sombrero Grande's Movie Mesa: At first I was a little upset with the ending--it seemed that just as things were really getting back into full swing, it was all over--but the more I thought about it the more I liked it. I really liked that the secret room where Norman Osborne kept all his Green Goblin equipment was behind the mirror that he would often argue with his other personality through. It’s as though the Green Goblin did truly exist on the other side of that mirror--a nice touch. It had never occurred to me while watching the first movie that we didn’t know how or where Norman was hiding all his “pumpkin” bombs, etc., but now we know. It all sets up Harry to assume the role of the Green Goblin in the next movie (or one down the line since I read there are a total of six Spider-Man movies planned) but after thinking about it I’m not so sure it does. We never see Harry’s face reacting to it all, so it’s hard to tell if he was amazed that now he has a means of finally destroying Spider-Man and avenging his fathers’ death, or if he’s shocked to discover the true reason Spider-Man killed his father...’cause Norman Osborne was the Green Goblin. In a way, I don’t want to know which way he was feeling--it’s more fun not knowing--but I’m sure I’ll find out soon enough when the publicity starts for Spider-Man 3 and they announce who the next villain will be. I’m actually hoping that Harry doesn’t turn into the Green Goblin Version 2.0, not only because I’d rather not see that dorky costume again, but also because I think Harry is stronger than that. The moment he unmasks Spider-Man and finds the face of his best friend beneath, Harry instantly drops the knife he was oh-so ready to plunge into the sedated superhero and steps back. His love of his friend is stronger than his lust for revenge. I hope that stays true. Sure it may disappoint your average “this movie’s boring” moviegoer who will expect to see Harry flying around tossing pumpkin bombs in the next installment, but these are smarter-than-average action movies.
In the last shot of the film, Mary Jane’s expression goes from “go get ‘em, tiger,” to something more fearful, like, “what have I gotten myself into?” just before the fade to black. I think that’s nice; it sets up some tension for the next movie where obviously Peter and Mary Jane can’t be in a “happily ever after” kind of relationship. Like the X-Men movies, Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 have going for them the fact that they try to impose upon their characters “real-life” dilemmas to possessing super powers, and I think that’s great. Suddenly a kid who can crawl up walls and shoot super-strong webbing from his wrists feels much more human and accessible when we find out that he has trouble keeping a job delivering pizzas or keeping his grades up because he’s always running around feeling obligated to save someone.