Spiderman 2 SE-DVD Review by Dean Valent (SPOILERS)

The story takes place two years after the original Spiderman, Peter Parker is now in university, he is now good firends with Mary Jane, he takes photos of Spiderman for the daily Bugle on a regular basis, he saves people as Spiderman, and all of this is causing him to fall apart. The very first part of the movie shows how his super hero status can ruin his life. He has just rushed from (presumably) saving someone to his job as a pizza delivery boy. Again he is late, and he has the amazing jopb of getting six pizzas to a building 44 blocks away in five minutes or he is fired. As you can guess he doesn't do it. There goes his rent money...

Parkers education is also suffering. His once great grades are suffering, as his teacher says "You are brilliant, but you have to work for it. You grades are steadily declining and your papers still due." His paper is going to be written on Doctor Octavius, a proffesor studying a new energy source. When Harry Osbourne (Petes best friend and also son of the imfamous Green Goblin) manages to get Pete to meet Octavious. Peter learns how even if he is brilliant, he can't be lazy. If only every one else knew he was the super hero, then they wouldn't say that. The next time Pete meets him, he will cause his own downfall, with said energy project... Which will also turn him into Doc Ock.

Petes love interest is also becoming tired of his laxyness and unreliable tendencys. Mary Jane has become famous, she's on billboards around New York, she's featuring in many plays, and Pete still can't see her latest play... MJ has invited him to come to see her perform many times, but he never gets there. His last chance comes, but so does a police chase, he manages to aprehend the criminals but he is too late for the play... And MJ. This also effects Peter, his wev powers are starting to fail.

That is around 40% of the plot. And I haven't mentioned how Harry still wants to kill Spiderman for killing his father. He doesn't trust Peter, as he wont tell him who Spiderman is. There are many other little subplots built in. How Aunt May can't afford her rent, how Harry is starting to turn psychotic, how MJ is gonna marry someone else blah blah blah... The entire storyline melds so well and keeps up a constant good pace throughout the entire film, new pieces of info coming through every scene, all important in the way the characters react and develop.

The acting is well above par, with the highlight being Doc Ock. His character is played so well, he is always smart, even when he becomes an evil genius type he still has his intelligence intact. And his wit is as sharp and dangerous as his tentacles. After having four tentacles grafted onto him he starts to be controlled by them, and he seems powerless to do anything about it, it's played so well, it's just fantastic. There was only one person I had one problem with. Harry, it's only one scene, one which if you've seen the movie will be easy to remember. When he fuinds out who Spiderman is he comes off kinda goofy, he doesn't react the way he should in my opinion. He is too calm. Some may say that he's in shock and subtle changes are there but I disagreet. Still for the rest of the movie he is excellent and as good as the rest of the other excellent characters...

The way Sam Raimi shot this film is a great asset to Spideys web swinging antics. All of his city shots give a tremendous feel of scale, as if the whole city is alive, as if it is real. His short often used character shots are great, focusing on the emotion of the character and making you become even more engrossed in the movies plot, which in turn has you feeling for the characters. This mixed with the excellent script and sound gives this film one of the most distinct feelings in a movie ever.

Storyline - 9/10
Direction - 9/10
Acting - 10/10

Overall score 9/10. An excellent movie.

THE EXTRAS REVIEW

This special edition pack has two DVD's. The first contains the film, the commentarys and usual stuff but also has a music video (which I don't think is any good, but it's still there) and some stills. A nice bunch of shots.

The other DVD is the main extras DVD, having several documentarys on the film, my favourite being the one on how Doc Ock was brought to the big screen tenticals and all but the other three are excellent. It has several trailers for the film and other movies too, nothing big but nice that they added them. An interctive section is on there too discussing special effects and a documentary on the game.

But my personal favourite thing included is the multiple shot scen set ups. There are four scenes that allow you to view them from several sides. Now these aren't scenes from the film, they are the setting up and shooting stuff so it gives a good insight into how certain stuff was shot and made. Excellent.

DVD extras rating: 7/10.

Woth buying? Hell Yes!

THX to Dean for writing this great Review !