Retrospective Film Review

Spider-Man 2 (2004) • 20 Years Later — thrilling superhero spectacle with a refreshing dose of realism

Peter Parker is beset with troubles in his failing personal life as he battles a former brilliant scientist named Otto Octavius.

After all these years Spider-Man 2 still evokes a sense of awe. I can’t defer to my own experience of watching this film in cinemas (my mother attests that, at three years old, I began to cry every time Spider-Man disappeared from the screen). But even then this protagonist was a thrilling figure, sweeping through the New York City skyscape as its monumental buildings became a blur with each graceful glide through the air.

While leeway can be afforded to slightly older films for conveying such moments of epic scope visually, this film is still a near-seamless experience on that front. Simply watching Spider-Man scaling buildings, casting webs to cushion innocent civilians’ falls, or nosediving to the ground from enormous heights is a thrilling experience. This, when coupled with director Sam Raimi’s…