I can’t figure out why anybody would want to waste 127 minutes sitting through this thing.
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
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Reviews Counted:231
Fresh:216
Rotten:15
Average Rating:8.3/10
Consensus: A nimble sequel that improves upon the original.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for stylized action violence
Runtime: 2 hrs 7 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Theatrical Release:Jun 30, 2004 Wide
Box Office: $373,377,893
Synopsis: Columbia Pictures' Spider-Man 2, the next installment in the adventure series that began with the 2002 blockbuster Spider-Man, swings into theaters on July 2, 2004. Spider-Man, a Marvel... Columbia Pictures' Spider-Man 2, the next installment in the adventure series that began with the 2002 blockbuster Spider-Man, swings into theaters on July 2, 2004. Spider-Man, a Marvel Enterprises/Laura Ziskin Production, grossed more than $820 million worldwide and became the fifth highest grossing movie in U.S. history. Spider-Man is based on the classic Marvel Comic book character. Spider-Man 2 reunites the filmmakers and cast from the first film, including Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Rosemary Harris and J.K. Simmons, along with director Sam Raimi, and producers Laura Ziskin and Marvel's Avi Arad. Stan Lee and Joseph M. Caracciolo serve as executive producers for Spider-Man 2, and Grant Curtis serves as the film's co-producer. Sam Raimi directs Spider-Man 2 from a screenplay by Alvin Sargent and Alfred Gough & Miles Millar and Michael Chabon, based on a story by David Koepp and Alfred Gough & Miles Millar. In Spider-Man 2, the webslinging superhero encounters a new nemesis, the villainous "Doc Ock," who will be portrayed by Alfred Molina (Frida, Identity). Two years have passed, and the mild-mannered Peter Parker faces new challenges as he struggles with "the gift and the curse," desperately trying to balance his dual identities as the web-slinging superhero Spider-Man and his life as a college student. Tormented by his secrets, Peter finds that his relationships with all those he holds dear are in danger of unraveling. His life-long yearning for M.J. (Kirsten Dunst) becomes even stronger as he fights the impulse to reveal his secret life and declare his love. His friendship with Harry Osborn (James Franco) is complicated by the young Osborn's bitterness over his father's death and his growing vendetta against Spider-Man. Even Peter's beloved Aunt May (Rosemary Harris), who has fallen on hard times after the death of Uncle Ben, begins to have doubts about her nephew. Peter's life is about to become even more complicated as he encounters a formidable new foe -- Dr. Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina). Peter must use all the powers at his disposal to try to stop this diabolical madman in his octagonal tracks. Director Sam Raimi and producers Laura Ziskin and Avi Arad lead a top creative team which includes Director of Photography Bill Pope, ASC (the Matrix film series), Production Designer Neil Spisak (Spider-Man, The Gift), editor Bob Murawski, (Spider-Man, The Gift), Visual Effects Supervisor John Dykstra, ASC (Spider-Man, Academy Award winner for Star Wars) and Special Effects Supervisor John Frazier (Spider-Man, The Perfect Storm). The Executive Producers are Stan Lee and Joseph M. Caracciolo. "ACADEMY AWARD" and "OSCAR" are the registered trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. [More]
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Alfred Molina, James Franco
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Alfred Molina, James Franco, Rosemary Harris, J.K. Simmons
Director: Sam Raimi
Director: Sam Raimi
Screenwriter: Alvin Sargent
Story: Michael Chabon
Producer: Laura Ziskin, Avi Arad
Composer: Danny Elfman
Studio: Columbia Pictures
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Release:
Aug 4, 2009
Reviews for Spider-Man 2
Gets the characters where they need to go, but it doesn't develop their struggles to a satisfactory level.
For a big-budget action movie Spider-Man 2 is modest and not assaultive -- it has a boring decency.
Plot developments are labored upon so heavily that I felt compelled to stand up in my seat during the screening and shout out, ‘Okay! We get it!’
The movie's first half is talky bordering on tiresome -- endlessly rehashing the same mix of frustrated puppy love, survivor guilt, and identity crisis.
The lightning that struck for so many of this summer's sequels fails to ignite Spider-Man 2. The franchise remains a tolerable proposition tolerably well-executed.
The superhero as schlemiel returns...a tangled web of drippy, comic-book psychodrama.
Director Sam Raimi spins an inescapable web of popcorn-munching perfection that's superer than the original.
Spider-Man 2 is full of bright colors, emphatic noises and elaborate special effects. That much is to be expected. But its distinguishing features, I'm happy to report, are strong characters and honest feelings.
...smarter, hipper, faster, funnier, and flat-out more electrifying than the original, swinging to new summer-movie heights as the greatest comic-book adaptation yet made.
Sam Raimi & Co. keeps Spider-Man 2 cracking with the best action sequences since Raiders of the Lost Ark.
[Maguire] effortlessly reconciles the seemingly insurmountable problem of embodying . . . the geek and the hero with genuine emotional nuance
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