No one can deny that 2002's Spider-Man was excellent. It had everything that was required for a top superhero film  great characters, great script, great action and great effects. The story of the all-too-human Peter Parker who, because of a freak accident (aren't they all?!) became Spider-Man, and after the death of his uncle decides to heed his advice and fulfil his responsibility to protect people with his new-found powers. Of course, the Green Goblin showed up to mess things up, but it all worked out (reasonably) well in the end.

To write a synopsis for the sequel, I could just settle for "see above". The story behind this film is pretty much the same as the original, but then again when the result is this good, a 'more of the same' attitude is not necessarily a bad thing. There are obviously going to be some changes, and this time Peter begins to lose his powers instead of gaining them. This gives a nice little twist to the story, and also provides most of the films lighter moments (Spider-Man taking the lift to get down from a building), and throughout this shows how comfortable director Sam Raimi is with his source material. Also fully present and correct is the good-hearted scientist who, because of an experiment gone wrong, becomes a mad bad-guy. However Alfred Molina must be given credit, as he is a much better villain than the Green Goblin was (and not a stupid mask in sight!), giving the right amount of menace to the film; he almost steals the show from right under Tobey Maguire's web. The rest of the cast are also excellent, their characters evolving just as you would expect them to after the first film.

However, unfortunately it cannot be said that the sequel is actually better than the original; it is clearly its equal, even though has better acting, better effects and a better villain. The problem comes slap-bang in the middle of the film, just after Peter has decided to give up being Spider-Man and start his life afresh. The set up becomes repetitive  his powers fail him in exactly the same way (in mid-air) a total of four times. He even goes into a burning building just like last time to save a kid; though this time he is without his powers. Once he gives up his responsibilities, the film seems to dip into some kind of soap, with Peter trying to win Mary-Jane back. This results in some quite trite dialogue, and the whole act is far too long, prompting the audience to have doubts as to where this is all going.

But it is all saved by a relentless final act, where Spider-Man realises he has to do what he does, and goes to kick some ass. And does he! The action scenes beat the originals' hands-down, and special mention must go to the showdown on the train, which is accelerating out of control. They are expertly shot and edited, giving any other film of 2004 a run for its money in the excitement stakes. It's non-stop pace is just what the film needs after the slow middle section, and it clearly shows that this franchise is definitely going somewhere great. If only that middle had a little more attention paid to it, then this could have quite possibly been a 10. However because of this, and it's 'more of the same' feel, no matter how good it might be, just puts the top score out of reach.

Rated: 9/10

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