This movie excels both as a comic book movie, and a sequel. It's definitely one of the best comic book movies of all time (although I don't think anything will be able to beat X2 and the first two Batman movies). Not only is it an excellent sequel (which isn't that common to begin with), it's also one of those rare sequels that is actually better than the first film (other examples are Aliens, Terminator 2 and X2).

Almost everything in this film is better than in the original Spider-Man. I'll start with the most significant example: the characters. The character development in this movie is absolutely fantastic, easily comparable to the X-Men movies. It's never been easier to identify with Peter Parker. I've always wondered how super-heroes managed to balance their real lives and their super-hero lives like it seems that they do. Spider-Man 2 shows us that it's not as simple as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Clark Kent/Superman make it seem. In fact, Peter Parker struggles so hard to maintain both his real life and his crime fighting life, eventually he gives in and realizes that he has to choose one path or the other (he realizes this with the help of a wonderful speech from Aunt May (Rosemary Harris)). Mary Jane's character is also much deeper than it was in the first film. While it may seem that she's given up on Peter and found love somewhere else, the truth is far from that. Not only is she not sure if she still loves Peter or not, it's also apparent that she still hasn't forgotten that one kiss she shared with Spider-Man in the first film. Alfred Molina's character, Doctor Octavius (or Doc Ock), is one of the most believable villains in any movie. His character is completely three-dimensional, something relatively rare for an on-screen villain. We can see exactly where he's coming from, why he does the things he does. He's not the usual two-dimensional villain, who is just there to oppose the hero. The only other villain as three-dimensional as Doctor Octopus, off the top of my head, is Bill in Kill Bill (although there are no doubt many others like this).

The action and CGI has improved tremendously since the first film. While the CGI in the original Spider-Man was always a bit iffy in my eyes, they've clearly done a much better job. The combination of real footage and CGI is almost unnoticeable, and it's virtually impossible to tell the difference between the CGI Spider-Man and the real Spider-Man costume (except that the CGI Spider-Man does things that Tobey Maguire would never be able to do). Doc Ock's tentacles definitely stand out as an amazing CGI achievement in this film. They look excellent. The action is stunning. While, for an action film, the action is relatively scarce, when it kicks in, it does it magnificently. Spider-Man's fight with Doctor Octopus on the train is one of the most exciting and amazingly executed action scenes I've seen (not comparable to the action in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or in The Matrix Reloaded, but it's close).

Sam Raimi, director, does an absolutely brilliant job. His intentionally corny approach is what really stands out in this film  it never really takes itself too seriously. He also uses some low budget b-movie trademarks, such as quick zooms and corny one-liners. While some people don't like this approach, I thought it was brilliant. Raimi returns to his roots (in a way) with his directing style. His style of shooting is very reminiscent to his earlier films in the Evil Dead series. One of the most significant examples of this is the scene with Dr. Octopus in the hospital room, which was absolutely brilliant. The camera angles, and some of the elements (such as the nurse scraping the floor with her fingernails), are pure Evil Dead.

There were all sorts of little bits and details, really tiny ones, that made the particular scene they were in worthwhile. For instance, the lady playing the violin in the street is singing the theme song to the original Spider-Man cartoon from the '60s. Another great reference was in the hospital room scene. While the entire sequence is reminiscent of The Evil Dead, the shot of the hand on the floor still holding the chainsaw is an obvious reference to an identical shot in The Evil Dead II. Brilliant.

To sum it all up, this movie is a superb improvement on the first film (which was excellent, don't get me wrong). Sam Raimi clearly focused more on the story and the characters this time, which was wonderful. Unfortunately, some things could have still been worked on. For instance, the general structure of the film is very reminiscent of the sequels to other comic book movies, namely Superman II and Batman Returns (the whole 'abandoning the hero role' thing). And still, while it's also an extremely entertaining flick, Spider-Man 2 has much more behind it than just crowd-pleasing. It's definitely one of the best movies of the year so far, but we have yet to see what the second half of 2004 has in store for us. Recommended for anyone, even people who aren't into the whole comic book movie scene.