Spider Man 2 (2004) Directed by Sam Raimi from the character created by Steve Ditko.

"He knows a hero when he sees one. Too few characters out there, flying around like that, saving old girls like me. And Lord knows, kids like Henry need a hero. Courageous, self-sacrificing people. Setting examples for all of us. Everybody loves a hero. People line up for them, cheer them, scream their names. And years later, they'll tell how they stood in the rain for hours just to get a glimpse of the one who taught them how to hold on a second longer. I believe there's a hero in all of us, that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble, and finally allows us to die with pride, even though sometimes we have to be steady, and give up the thing we want the most. Even our dreams."  May Parker.

Spider Man (Tobey McGuire) has been on the scene for about two years now, and things are not going well for the web head.  J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) has vilified him in the press, his grades are slumping; he can't keep a job, and Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) is engaged to another man.  Poor Peter Parker.

Things have gotten so bad, and his mental state is so poor that his spider abilities are on the fritz, and so, in a scene straight out of issue #50, Peter Parker decides to focus on being Peter Parker, and give up being Spider Man.

And things pick up for Peter, now that Spider Man is not causing him any problems.  Of course, he finds his strength waning, and his vision requires glasses again....

But as his life is coming apart, another life is coming together.  Dr. Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina) has developed a potentially limitless energy resource.  It is very dangerous, but he has a novel way to control the reaction.  Cybernetic arms, able to withstand the intense energy, can manipulate the reaction at the speed of thought.  Effectively, the human brain, Dr. Octavius' in this case, controls the reaction.

However, while a genius, he is not up to the job of controlling the highly volatile energy sphere, and there is an explosion.  Rosalie Octavius (Donna Murphy) is killed, something that does not help the good doctor's mental state.

And when the surgical team goes to remove the cybernetic tentacle rig from his back, they discover that the feedback chip which protected the doctor from influence from the tentacles has been damaged.  The interaction of machine and devastated man creates a new personality; the Deadly Doctor Octopus.

Doc Ock's rampage across the city draws Spider Man out of retirement.  One of his victims is May Parker (Rosemary Harris), grabbed at random at a bank robbery.  But Spidey is on the job!  (In a very neat aside, when they started arranging for a stunt double, Mrs.  Harris declared she wanted to do the stunt herself!  She says she had a great time swinging away with Spider Man!) 

Doc Ock is restoring his lab, striving to recreate the experiment.  He needs more of the rare element to fuel the work, and that means going to Harry Osborn (James Franco). Osborn is willing to give him what he wants; for a price.  Bring him Spider Man.

And thus the final confrontation is set.  Doctor Octopus wants to draw out Spider Man; what better way than by creating a disaster?  A runaway elevated train is a perfect lure....

What follows is a textbook scene of what a hero can, and should be.  And Spider Man gives it his all.  And when he has given his all, and has no more to give, the people on the train tenderly take care of their hero.  Of course, normal humans can't exactly stand up to the tentacled might of Doctor Octopus, and he collects the wounded Spidey and makes his escape.

The final battle takes place on a very different level than most super hero battles.  And we find heroism in many unexpected places.

The Analysis.

This is an even better movie than the first.  I love it, and indeed, the whole franchise, because Peter Parker is a person, not just a set of powers.  From the very beginning, Spider Man has been an exploration of the human cost of being a hero.  It is not simple.  He can not squeeze a lump of coal into a diamond to pay the rent.  He can not move at superluminal speeds to make up the time he spends being Spider Man.  Being Spider Man has a price for Peter Parker.  And sometimes we all question the prices we have to pay for our lives.

The movie lacks many things other Super Hero movies have in abundance.  It lacks camp, like what killed the first Batman Franchise.  It lacks nostalgia, like The Spirit.  It lacks the long expositional explanations of their powers, like Fantastic Four.  It lacks multiple villains, like X-Men.  (And that was a close one; there were plans for Black Cat and The Lizard to join in this one.)

What it does have is emotional depth.  What it does have is dialogue that is as entertaining as the action sequences.  What it has is a collection of people interacting in extraordinary circumstances.  And their reactions are real.

It also has a humorous veritas, a take on real life.  What happens when you wash your spidey suit with your whites?  Tie Dyed red, white, blue, pink and purple underwear.  What happens when you don't pay your rent?  The land lord with "ears like cat and eyes like rodent" makes your life difficult.

And what happens when you put yourself on the line; when you give your all for what is right, and noble?  Well, bringing out the best in you brings out the best in other people.  I think the train scene is one of the best in the genre.

And that is what makes this movie so good; Peter Parker is not a hero because he was bitten by a radioactive spider, he is a hero because he was raised with love and a sense of responsibility, and a belief that with great power, comes great responsibility.  And that is what makes him a hero.

This of course, is entered into my I Need a Hero Write Off.

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Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older