Artistically, the first SpiderMan was a failure. It was everything wrong with big budget Hollywood flicks--horrible, soap opera acting with ignorant, mind-numbing scripts that have so many loop holes in their logic as to make any fanboy pray for an aneurism. This movie, amazingly, was far better than its predecessor.

In terms of where it started, Spiderman2 is easily the best sequel of all time! I say that simply because, while Godfather 2 was excellent, so was The Godfather. Spiderman 2 is excellent, but SpiderMan was crap. The level of improvement from original to sequel is astonishing.

I'm not sure I believe Raimi directed this film, though. He's never done anything to prove (IMHO)he had any talent for non-camp material, but somehow he pulled this one off. Anyhow, most fanboys were thankful for the greatest improvement of all: less Willem Dafoe.