Composite Score: 86.25

Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Alfred Molina, James Franco, Rosemary Harris, J.K. Simmons, Daniel Gillies, Dylan Baker, Bill Nunn, and Elizabeth Banks

Director: Sam Raimi

Writer: Alvin Sargent

Genres: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Romance, Superhero

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for stylized action violence

Box Office: $789.95 million worldwide

Why should you Watch This Film?

                Spider-Man 2 is the second film in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, starring Tobey Maguire as the titular webslinger and his alter ego Peter Parker. This film follows Peter as he struggles to juggle his personal life, his secret identity, and the arrival of a new villain to New York, the mad scientist Doctor Octopus, played by Alfred Molina. Between struggling to pay rent, worrying about his Aunt May (Rosemary Harris), trying to figure out if there’s a future for Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) and himself, slipping away from his best friend Harry Osborne (James Franco), and the threat that Doc Ock might destroy half of New York with his obsessive pursuit of creating sustained nuclear fusion, Peter/Spidey has his work cut out for him in this one. The film won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects and was nominated for the (at the time) two Sound Oscars as well. In addition to its pleasing blend of practical and digital effects, the film is also noteworthy for its strong story, memorable villain, and iconic action sequences that consistently find it floating around the top of most people’s rankings of the all-time superhero films.

Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?

                Spider-Man 2 is still definitely a sequel and relies on at least a little bit of prior knowledge of either the characters, the first film, or both to make its story work perfectly. Harry’s entire motivation is based on events that took place in the first film, and someone falling out of the proverbial coconut tree into this film might find themselves confused as to why this douchey iteration of James Franco would be invited to Peter Parker’s birthday party with Peter’s aunt and crush as the only other attendees. Also, the romantic subplot of this film – the will they, won’t they between Peter and Mary Jane – makes a few callbacks to conversations and moments from the first film that leave the arc feeling slightly shallow as a standalone romance, given where it concludes. At the same time, I first saw this film at a family friend’s house in elementary school, having only seen the middle third of the first Spider-Man, and immediately loved it and thought it to be one of the best action movies of all time – Molina’s Octavius had a lot to do with this. All this to say that there’s levels to how much prior knowledge the film requires versus how much is just generally beneficial.

So wait, why should you Watch This Film?

                As one of the best superhero films, Spider-Man 2 showcases the best way to tell a compelling story about both the hero and the person behind the mask, without losing one or the other to cuts or bloating. Most superhero films do one or the other right, even the good ones – The Dark Knight, Endgame, The Batman, Across the Spider-Verse all tell really cool superhero stories that leave the alter-egos on the backburner – so it’s so impressive that the second film in Raimi’s kitschy trilogy about the dweebiest version of Peter Parker we’ve yet seen on-screen manages to tell a great story about both Peter and the red and blue wall-crawler that weaves the two together. Peter’s struggles in his personal life carry over into his ability to be Spider-Man, just as the responsibilities that come with being Spider-Man amp up the pressures of Peter’s personal life, and you feel the tug of both on Peter as the story progresses. The iconic villain that Molina’s Doctor Octavius presents makes for what is really icing on an already delicious cake, giving us one of the most complex, menacing, memorable, and sympathetic villains in all of comic book film history. He is the highlight that makes the complexity of Peter’s/Spider-Man’s story jump from a solid superhero story to one that stands the entire test of time. You just have to look at the popularity of the film now, twenty years later, to see how universal the film is.

                The cherry on top of this delicious sundae of a film has to be the visuals, which hold up stunningly, most of the time. Yeah, there’s some CGI that looks pretty explicitly CGI in some of the fight and webslinging sequences, but the practical effects of Doc Ock’s arms and the explosions and much of the action sequences still look really good. On top of that, the film contains some of the most memorable shots, stills, and sequences in all of the Spider-Man films – the train fight with Doc Ock, the silhouetted back in the alley against the spider-suit peeking out of the trashcan, the citizens of New York passing Peter along the train car, Peter sensing the car flying at him and MJ in the diner, “Pizza time!”, “Go get ‘em tiger.” – what doesn’t this film have?

                The visuals and story of Spider-Man 2, highlighted by iconic moments, an unforgettable villain, and a compelling arc for Peter coming to terms with his role as both person and superhero, make the film not just one of the best superhero films of all time but simply one of the Greatest Films of All Time. The little pieces you might be missing due to not having seen the first film should honestly just compel you to watch that film first (even if it’s not quite as good) and then see this one because it’s truly phenomenal. Currently, you can stream this film on Disney+ if you’d like to give it a go in the coming days.