With action sequences that drive the plot, a sense of humour and a better villain, this is a vast improvement over its undeservedly successful predecessor.

I don't agree that the characters are getting any deeper - we're just seeing more of them. If Mary-Jane loves Peter so much, why's she always flouncing around with other blokes? I think we all get that with great power comes great responsiblah-blah-blah; what I want to know is: why do Spidey's webshooters keep misfiring? It seems to happen when he's suffering from self-doubt, so it must be a Freudian thing.

Spidey 2 also suffers from Hollywood's latest ailment - multiple tacked-on endings (see also Minority Report, The Bourne Identity, LOTR: The Return Of The King). Directors and editors take note: we want tingling in our spider-senses, not our backsides.