Spider-Man 2

Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Thriller

Tobey Maguire	Spider-Man/Peter Parker
Kirsten Dunst	Mary Jane Watson
James Franco	Harry Osborn
Daniel Gillies	John Jameson
Dylan Baker	Dr. Curt Connors
Rosemary Harris	May Parker
Alfred Molina	Doc Ock/Dr. Otto Octavius
Donna Murphy	Rosalie Octavius
Bill Nunn	Joseph Robertson
J.K. Simmons	J. Jonah Jameson
Willem Dafoe
Cliff Robertson

Director	Sam Raimi
Producer	Avi Arad; Laura Ziskin; Lorne Orleans; Ian Bryce; Stan Lee; Joseph M. Caracciolo
Writer	Stan Lee; Steve Ditko; David Koepp; Alvin Sargent; Miles Millar
Cinematography	Bill Pope; Anette Haellmigk
Musician	Danny Elfman; John Debney; Christopher Young; Steve Bartek; Burt Bacharach; Christopher Carrabba; Maroon 5; Kris Roe
User Credit 1	Bob Murawski
User Credit 2	James Acheson; Gary Jones

Peter Parker, portrayed by Toby Maguire, is back as Spiderman. In this sequel, Doc Ock is the villain. Doctor Octopus begins the movie as a brilliant scientist Otto Octavius. He is developing a technique to extend the human body appendages in order to perform dangerous tasks. Unfortunately, the experiment goes awry, and this scientist is transformed into the evil Doc Ock. Kirsten Dunst, though billed as the number two in this film, really doesn't play a central role in the plot. She is merely window dressing. Spiderman fights Dr. Octopus in a series of different battles, including a very exciting scene involving a moving train. In the final battle Doc Ock overcomes the voices in his head and does the "right" thing. He commits suicide while saving many lives. Spiderman 2 sets up the next film with Harry, Peter's best friend. Harry is the son of the Green Goblin in Spiderman 1. He finds out that Peter is Spiderman, and also that he killed his father.

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