Friendly Neighbourhood Human Spider Bloke

I haven’t watched Sam Raimi’s Spider-man 2 in quite a while but with the reboot fast approaching I thought I’d check it out again. Even though I loved it on it’s original 2004 release, I’ve got the perception stuck in my head that the Spidey sequel is very talky, too silly and lacking in action. Now while that description is essentially true, I was very wrong to let my perceptions persuade me that those qualities were in any way negative as Spider-man 2 is easily one of the best super-hero movies ever made.

What’s shocking about it is how well it works as a drama on it’s own terms. Strip away the action, the effects and the super-heroics and you are left with a soulful examination of a guy trying to work out what his place is in life…to be a masked vigilante, a scientist, a blue collar worker or boyfriend to the girl of his dreams. Raimi cleverly reflects Peter Parkers inner turmoil with that of Dr Octavious who is himself torn apart by multiple inner voices (although his are caused my his deviously self-aware mechanical arms).

As with his other films (Evil Dead / Drag Me To Hell) Raimi puts his hero through all kinds of hell from the psychological (girlfriend issues), economical (he can’t hold down a job), educational (he’s missing his classes), social (he can’t get anywhere on time), physical (his powers are fading) and it’s both hilarious and heartbreaking to see our mild mannered hero get tortured so relentlessly. The poor bloke can’t even get hors d'oeuvres at a party. This is all handled with amazing subtlty and a fantastic lightness of touch meaning the film can skip from exciting to sad to knowingly silly to melancholic and never feel jarring or awkward.


In the super-heroic Raimi doesn’t drop the ball either. Here he employs his trademark invention with the camera with dizzying imagination, the special effects are flawless and far superior to that which appeared in Spider-mans 1 and 3 and the action sequences are beautifully staged including a stunning set-piece on an overhead city train.


With a great script comes great responsibility but Raimi pulls it out of the bag with style. Grounded yet fantastic, funny yet touching, it’s a shame studio intervention prevented Raimi from doing the same trick on number 3.