One of the major reasons Spider-Man has been so beloved with his fans is that he is a regular guy first, a superhero second. He's a regular person with problems like any other human being, except for the fact that he has super powers.

When I used to read comic books when I was a child I could not identify with superheroes like Superman, who even with his supposed mild mannered secret identity of Clark Kent really didn't have any major problems and seemed to come out on top all the time. Enter Spider-Man and his true identity of Peter Parker. Peter was an ordinary guy and had problems we all could identify with. He's first Peter Parker and Spider-Man second. We could look at the depth of the character.

In Spider-Man 2 we understand what makes Peter tick. The development of the characters is first and foremost and the action sequences are secondary to the story, fabulous as they may be. Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and James Franco do an excellent job and Alfred Molina is terrific as Dr. Octopus.