| | Click on Product Listings for Details!
Spider-Man 2 (Widescreen Special Edition)
- Widescreen
- Special Edition
- Color
- Dolby
The Editors Desk:
More than a few critics hailed Spider-Man 2 as "the best superhero movie ever," and there's no compelling reason to argue--thanks to a bigger budget, better special effects, and a dynamic, character-driven plot, it's a notch above Spider-Man in terms of emotional depth and rich comic-book sensibility. Ordinary People Oscar®-winner Alvin Sargent received screenplay credit, and celebrated author and comic-book expert Michael Chabon worked on the story, but it's director Sam Raimi's affinity for the material that brings Spidey 2 to vivid life. When a fusion experiment goes terribly wrong, a brilliant physicist (Alfred Molina) is turned into Spidey's newest nemesis, the deranged, mechanically tentacled "Doctor Octopus," obsessed with completing his experiment and killing Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) in the process. Even more compelling is Peter Parker's urgent dilemma: continue his burdensome, lonely life of crime-fighting as Spider-Man, or pursue love and happiness with Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst)? Molina's outstanding as a tragic villain controlled by his own invention, and the action sequences are nothing less than breathtaking, but the real success of Spider-Man 2 is its sense of priorities. With all of Hollywood's biggest and best toys at his disposal, Raimi and his writers stay true to the Marvel mythology, honoring Spider-Man creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, and setting the bar impressively high for the challenge of Spider-Man 3. --Jeff Shannon
Avg. Customer Review: 
Caught in a web of indecision...
It's really hard to say that I did or didn't like this movie; I mean, on the one hand, it surpasses the original in effects, storyline, character development, everything. But as they say, too much of a good thing is bad, and that's part of my feeling about this film. The story, unlike the original, instead focuses on the negatives of being Spider-Man; Peter Parker is struggling to balance a life of his own, but Spidey always gets in the way. He even forgets his own birthday! And it also shows the effects it has on his family and friends, especially Mary Jane. And to top it all off, Doctor Otto Octavius, a brilliant scientist, is turned into Doctor Octopus, complete with four mechanical arms attached to his body, thanks to a failed fusion experiment. The battles between Spidey and his foe were terrific, unsurpassed by most action films to date. But I found myself wanting more of these scenes...in the end, you really sympathize with Peter, but I just wish we could've seen our favorite webslinger in action more. But at least the ending was good (left WIDE open for Spider-Man 3.)
 Spider-Man Returns In Form
When "Spider-Man" was released in 2002, I was amazed to see how good of a movie that Sam Raimi and writer David Koepp created about a comic book super hero. Sony announced after seeing the huge box office sales that "Spider-Man 2" was set to release in 2004. I was excited to hear that there would be more Spider-Man, but was also concerned. My thought was that the first movie was so good that if the second one was a little less in quality, meaning its still a great movie but not as good as the first, that people will be disappointed and say that the movie sucks. Well after seeing the movie, I don't have to worry about that anymore. The story continues two years from where the first one stopped. Peter Parker is trying to balance school, work and a personal life, along with being Spider-Man. He is always tired, not doing well in school, never able to fulfill committments and still chasing after Mary Jane, who is now a success stage actress. Peter is doing a paper on Professor Otto Octavious and his new science experiment. But when his experiment goes wrong, Octavious' wife gets killed and he is now controlled by the robotic arms that he attached to his body in order to do the experiment. The robotic arms make him evil and convince him that he needs to rebuild his project that has the capability to destroy haf of New York. So he goes on a crime streak to get some money, hence becoming enemies with Spider-Man. Peter Parker is becoming frustrated with his crime fighting life, especially after he finds out MJ is engaged. He decides that he doesn't want to be Spider-Man anymore and soon enough realizes that can't escape his destiny. Thats enough story without giving too much away. The main players from the first movie are back in this one. Tobey Maguire gives an amazing performance is this installment, a better performance than the first. Thank God that he was able to make this movie. Kirsten Dunst, James Franco and Rosemarry Harris also return for this movie. The new memeber Alfred Molina plays Doc Ock and does a pretty good job. I don't think he gave as good of a performance as Willem DaFoe did, but still an excellent job. The most important person that came back for the sequel was Sam Raimi. Most movies that have continuing storylines get bad if they lose the director, i.e. Batman without Tim Burton. The direction of this movie, along with the first one, are what make the movies great. As for the movie, this one has a more indepth storyline. There is a lot of human emotion involved in the storyline. I like the bad guy, Doc Ock. He was my favorite bad guy in the comic books and the effects that were used and his creation to the big screen was awesome. The action scenes were better in this movie and the special effects were a lot better. My only grievence with the movie is that it moved slower than the first. Too many long Aunt May scenes that really slowed down the pace of the movie. Otherwise this movie is excellent. Is it better than the first? I would say that it has some better parts, but also some worse parts. Its really too hard to choose which one is better. I guess you'll have to go watch the movie, which I highly recommend that you do, to decide for yourself.
a 13-year-old review
I love this movie i will buy it and i hope you buy it too Tobey Maguire Returns in this awsome action movie. All the same stars return with a new star who is Alfred Molina a great person to do the part in this movie a great action movie that all generations most likely will love i saw it in theaters 2 times and a third time tommarrow so i again this is a great movie just like the first one even better. I think this is an awsome experiance for you i recomened it to anyone!
| |
shopping cart
Enlarge View
