Spider-Man 2

With superhero movies, you either want it to commit to it's silliness and mythological premises, or attempt to be as far away from that as possible (like how Christopher Nolan created a crime drama where a guy just happens to have a proclivity towards bats). Spider-Man 2 commits to the former, and it helps. For, with a film like The Dark Knight, there are few things that are impossible or improbable as a man shooting webs from the tips of his fingers. But despite the silliness that exists within Spider-Man 2, like when the newspaper guy is talking about the nickname Doc Ock for the villain of the film, the movie has created a world where such things make sense. In Spider-Man 2, the story is enhanced from the not-so-great first film, and an inner turmoil within each of the characters, intermingled with dashingly tinted action sequences, creates a damn good superhero movie. Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) struggles with arriving to the apple of his eye, Mary Jane's (Kirsten Dunst), play because he was held up by robbers. Mary Jane herself struggles with whether to give Parker another chance, and the best friend of Peter, played by James Franco, struggles with his hatred for Spider-Man, but his love for Peter. All of these feelings are supported and urged onward by the character Dr. Octavius and his evil plans. Octavius (Alfred Molina) had been developing a revolutionary fusion device that would allow for plentiful amounts of cheap energy. In order to harness the energy, he created four mechanical arms that connected to his spinal cord so that he would be able to control them. However, once the experiment goes wrong, Octavius is maddened with power, the mechanical arms, and ambition. He becomes the villain and constantly meddles with Peter's love life, his career, and his happiness, which is incidental as Spider-Man must constantly try to stop Octavius. This is all done beautifully and harmoniously. Everything is in a decent balance within Spider-Man 2. It's probably the start of a line of great superhero movies, being followed by The Dark Knight and Iron Man.
Spider-Man 2: ★★★1/2