Spider-Man 2

This article is about the 2004 film. For the 2014 film, see The Amazing Spider-Man 2. For other uses, see Spider-Man 2 (disambiguation).
Spider-Man 2

Against a New York City background, Spider-Man hugs Mary Jane Watson, with a reflection of Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man's eye as Spider-Man shoots a web.

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Sam Raimi
Produced by
Screenplay by Alvin Sargent
Story by
Based on The Amazing Spider-Man 
by Stan Lee
Steve Ditko
Starring
Music by Danny Elfman
Cinematography Bill Pope
Edited by Bob Murawski
Production
company
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release dates
  • June 25, 2004 (2004-06-25) (Lithuania)
  • June 30, 2004 (2004-06-30) (United States)
Running time
 127 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $200 million[2]
Box office $783.8 million[2]

Spider-Man 2 is a 2004 American superhero film directed by Sam Raimi and written by Alvin Sargent from a story by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, and Michael Chabon. The sequel to the 2002 film Spider-Man, it is the second film in Raimi's Spider-Man film trilogy based on the fictional Marvel Comics character of the same name. Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, and James Franco reprise their respective roles as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Mary Jane Watson, and Harry Osborn.

Set two years after the events of Spider-Man, the film focuses on Peter Parker struggling to manage both his personal life and his duties as Spider-Man, while Dr. Otto Octavius (Doctor Octopus) becomes diabolical following a failed experiment and his wife's death. He uses his mechanical tentacles to threaten and endanger the lives of New York City's residents. Spider-Man must stop him from annihilating the city.

Spider-Man 2 was released in both conventional and IMAX theaters on June 30, 2004. It grossed $783.8 million worldwide and won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. It also received five awards at the Saturn Awards ceremony including Best Fantasy Film and Best Director for Raimi. The film's success led to the release of Spider-Man 3 in 2007.

Plot

Peter Parker struggles to balance his crime-fighting duties as Spider-Man with the demands of his normal life. Estranged from both love interest Mary Jane Watson and best friend Harry Osborn, Peter additionally discovers his Aunt May is facing foreclosure.

Harry, now head of Oscorp's research division, sponsors the brilliant nuclear scientist Otto Octavius' fusion power project. While handling the equipment, Octavius wears a harness of powerful robotic tentacle arms with artificial intelligence. In a demonstration, a power spike causes the fusion reactor to destabilize. Octavius refuses to shut down the reactor. Spider-Man arrives and shuts down the experiment before it can do any further damage. The reactor explodes, killing Octavius' wife and damaging his robotic arms; in the process, the inhibitor chip controlling the arms is rendered useless.

At a hospital, doctors prepare to surgically remove Octavius's harness. However, after the inhibitor chip is destroyed, the arms have developed sentience. They spring to life and attack the medical crew, killing most of them. Upon regaining consciousness and seeing the carnage, Octavius escapes and hides at a harbor. Becoming increasingly influenced by the arms' AI, Octavius robs a bank to fund another experiment. When Spider-Man is attempting to save Aunt May, Octavius is upset because he stuck his webs in his business once again. The Daily Bugle subsequently dubs him Doctor Octopus.

Mary Jane becomes engaged to astronaut John Jameson, son of Bugle chief J. Jonah Jameson. Peter suffers an emotional breakdown and temporarily loses his powers. He abandons his Spider-Man identity, returns to his normal life and tries to reconcile with Mary Jane. A garbageman brings Spider-Man's costume to J. Jonah Jameson, who takes credit for Spider-Man's disappearance. Peter tells Aunt May that his Uncle Ben's death some time ago was his fault. May forgives him, but the rise in New York City crime rate worries Peter.

Octavius needs Tritium to fuel his reactor and goes to Harry to demand it. Harry agrees in exchange for Spider-Man's life. He tells Octavius to seek Peter, who is supposedly good friends with Spider-Man. Octavius locates Peter, tells him to find Spider-Man, and captures Mary Jane. Peter's powers are restored, and he steals back his costume from the Bugle and goes after Octavius.

As Spider-Man battles Octavius, they fall onto a rapid transit R train. Octavius sabotages the controls and jumps off, and Spider-Man struggles to stop the train before the track ends. When he faints from exhaustion, the passengers carry him into one of the cars. He comes to and realizes his mask is off, but the passengers promise not to reveal his identity. Octavius returns, easily subdues Spider-Man, and delivers him to Harry.

After giving Octavius the Tritium, Harry prepares to kill Spider-Man, only to be shocked to see Peter under the mask. Saying greater things are at stake, he convinces Harry to reveal Octavius's location. Spider-Man arrives at the doctor's waterfront laboratory and tries to rescue Mary Jane discreetly. One of Octavius's tentacles senses him, and they fight. Spider-Man ultimately subdues Octavius, reveals his identity, and persuades Octavius to let go of his dream for the greater good. Octavius finally commands the tentacles to obey him and drowns the fusion reactor, along with himself, in the Hudson River. Mary Jane discovers Spider-Man's true identity and feelings, as well as why they cannot be together. Spider-Man returns Mary Jane to John and leaves.

Harry is visited by a vision of his father, pleading for Harry to avenge his death. Refusing to hurt Peter, Harry shatters the mirror, unintentionally revealing a secret room containing the Green Goblin's equipment. On her wedding day, Mary Jane abandons John at the altar and runs to Peter's apartment. After they kiss, they hear police sirens, and Mary Jane encourages him to respond as Spider-Man.

Cast

A superhero, a brilliant Columbia University physics student and photographer for the Daily Bugle. Juggling these separate lives means he briefly gives up his responsibilities as a superhero in a moment of adversity. When Maguire signed on to portray Spider-Man in 2000, he was given a three-film contract.[3] While filming Seabiscuit in late 2002, Maguire suffered injuries to his back and Sony was faced with the possibility of recasting their lead.[4] Negotiations arose to replace Maguire with Jake Gyllenhaal, who at the time was dating Kirsten Dunst, who portrayed Mary Jane Watson. However, Maguire recovered and was able to reprise his role, with a salary of $17 million.[5] Maguire and Gyllenhaal would later play brothers in the 2009 film Brothers.
A friend Peter Parker has loved since he was a child, yet he gave up the chance of being with her due to his obligations as a superhero.
Oscorp's leader and Norman Osborn's son who resents Spider-Man for his father's death.
A scientist and Peter's role model who goes insane after his failure to create a self-sustaining fusion reaction. Octavius is bonded with his handling equipment, four artificially intelligent mechanical tentacles. Molina was cast as Octavius in February 2003 and immediately began physical training for the role.[6] Raimi had been impressed by his performance in Frida and also felt he had the physicality.[7] Molina only briefly discussed the role and was not aware that he was a strong contender,[8] and was excited, being a big fan of Marvel Comics.[9] Although he wasn't familiar with Doc Ock, Molina found one element of the comics that he wanted to maintain, and that was the character's cruel, sardonic sense of humor.[10]
Ben Parker's widow and Peter's aunt.
The miserly manager and editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle who carries a personal vendetta against Spider-Man, whom he considers a criminal and does not want to accept him as the city's hero.
Otto Octavius' wife and assistant who died following the failed attempt to introduce her husband's expermient.
J. Jonah Jameson's son, Mary Jane's fiancé, astronaut and a national hero.
One of Peter's college physics professors. He is a colleague of Octavius.
Harry Osborn's deceased father who appears as a hallucination. Dafoe came up with the idea during promotion for Spider-Man, which he compared to King Hamlet haunting his son to avenge him.[11]
The daughter of the landlord of Peter's apartment.

As with the previous film, Bruce Campbell has a cameo appearance, this time as an usher in the doors of MJ's show. Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee portrays a man on the street who saves a woman from falling debris during a battle between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus. Scott Spiegel portrays a man who attempts to eat some pizza Spider-Man is delivering, only to have it webbed from his hands. Joel McHale portrays a bank teller. Hal Sparks portrays an elevator passenger who has a conversation with Spider-Man. Donnell Rawlings portrays the New Yorker who exclaims that Spider-Man "stole that guy's pizzas" and Emily Deschanel portrays a receptionist. Elizabeth Banks portrays once again Betty Brant, one of the Bugle staff and J. Jonah Jameson's secretary. Daniel Dae Kim plays an assistant of Doctor Octavius working in his laboratory. Aasif Mandvi portrays Mr. Aziz, the owner of a local pizza store. Joey Diaz portrays a similar passenger. Vanessa Ferlito portrays one of Mary Jane's co-stars. Joy Bryant appears as a spectator that witnesses Spider-Man in action. John Landis plays one of the doctors who operates on Doctor Octopus. Phil LaMarr portrays a train passenger who is most easily seen to the left of Spider-Man (the viewer's right) while the hero uses webbing to slow the train down. Greg Edelman portrays Dr. Davis, the doctor at the University, that Peter Parker sees to talk about the loss of his superpowers.

Production

Development

Peter Parker gives up being Spider-Man.
Panel of "Spider-Man No More!" which Raimi replicated for the film. Art by John Romita Sr.

Immediately after finishing Spider-Man, director Sam Raimi with help from James Keltie segued into directing a sequel.[8] In April 2002, Sony hired Alfred Gough and Miles Millar to write a script with Doctor Octopus, the Lizard and Black Cat as villains.[4] On May 8, 2002, following Spider-Man's record breaking $115 million opening weekend, Sony Pictures announced a sequel for 2004.[12] Entitled The Amazing Spider-Man, after the character's main comic book title,[13] the film was given a budget of $200 million[14] and aimed for a release date of May 7, 2004. The following month, David Koepp was added to co-write with Gough and Millar.[4]

In September 2002, Michael Chabon was hired to rewrite.[4] His draft had a younger Doc Ock, who becomes infatuated with Mary Jane. His mechanical limbs use endorphins to counteract the pain of being attached to his body, which he enjoys. When he injures two muggers on a date, this horrifies Mary Jane and in the resulting battle with Spider-Man his tentacles are fused together, and the fusion begins to kill him. In the script, Octavius is the creator of the genetically-altered spider from the first film, and gives Peter an antidote to remove his powers: this means when Octavius is dying with his tentacles, he wants to extract Spider-Man's spine to save himself. This leads to the alliance with Harry in the final film. Beforehand, Harry and the Daily Bugle put a $10 million price on Spider-Man's head, causing the city's citizens to turn against him.[15] Producer Avi Arad rejected the love triangle angle on Ock, and found Harry putting a price on Spider-Man's head unsubtle.[8]

Raimi sifted through the previous drafts by Gough, Millar, Koepp and Chabon, picking what he liked with screenwriter Alvin Sargent.[16] He felt that thematically the film had to explore Peter's conflict with his personal wants against his responsibility, exploring the positive and negatives of his chosen path, and how he ultimately decides that he can be happy as a heroic figure.[8] Raimi stated the story was partly influenced by Superman II, which also explored the titular hero giving up his responsibilities.[17] The story is mainly taken from The Amazing Spider-Man No. 50, "Spider-Man No More!" It was decided that Doc Ock would be kept as the villain, as he was both a visually interesting villain who was a physical match for Spider-Man, and a sympathetic figure with humanity.[8] Raimi changed much of the character's backstory, however, adding the idea of Otto Octavius being a hero of Peter, and how their conflict was about trying to rescue him from his demons rather than kill him.[13]

Filming

The Spydercam

Spider-Man 2 was shot on over one hundred sets and locations, beginning with a pre-shoot on the Loop in Chicago during two days in November 2002. The crew bought a carriage, placing sixteen cameras for background shots of Spider-Man and Doc Ock's train fight.[8] Principal photography began on April 12, 2003 in New York City. The crew moved on May 13 to Los Angeles,[4] shooting on ten major sets created by production designer Neil Spisak. After the scare surrounding his back pains, Tobey Maguire relished performing many of his stunts, even creating a joke of it with Raimi, creating the line "My back, my back" as Spider-Man tries to regain his powers.[16] Even Rosemary Harris took a turn, putting her stunt double out of work. In contrast, Alfred Molina joked that the stunt team would "trick" him into performing a stunt time and again.[8]

Filming was put on hiatus for eight weeks, in order to build Doc Ock's pier lair. It had been Spisak's idea to use a collapsed pier as Ock's lair, reflecting an exploded version of the previous lab and representing how Octavius' life had collapsed and grown more monstrous,[8] evoking the cinema of Fritz Lang and the film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.[18] Filming then resumed on that set, having taken fifteen weeks to build, occupying Sony's Stage 30. It was 60 feet (18 m) by 120 feet (37 m) long, and 40 feet (12 m) high, and a quarter-scale miniature was also built for the finale as it collapses.[8] Filming was still going after Christmas 2003.[19]

A camera system called the Spydercam was used to allow filmmakers to express more of Spider-Man's world view, at times dropping fifty stories and with shot lengths of just over 2,400 feet (730 m) in New York or 3,200 feet (980 m) in Los Angeles. For some shots the camera would shoot at six frames per second for a faster playback increasing the sense of speed. Shots using the Spydercam were pre-planned in digital versions of cities, and the camera's movement was controlled with motion control, making it highly cost-effective. The camera system was only used in the previous film for the final shot.[8]

Effects

Although roughly the same, costume designer James Acheson made numerous subtle changes to Spider-Man's costume. The colors were made richer and bolder, the spider emblem was given more elegant lines and enlarged, the eye-lenses were somewhat smaller, and the muscle suit underneath was made into pieces, to give a better sense of movement. The helmet Maguire wore under his mask was also improved, with better movement for the false jaw and magnetic eye pieces, which were easier to remove.[8]

To create Doctor Octopus' mechanical tentacles, Edge FX was hired to create a corset, a metal and rubber girdle, a rubber spine and four foam rubber tentacles which were 8 feet (2.4 m) long, which altogether weighed 100 pounds (45 kg). The claws of each tentacle, which were dubbed "death flowers", were controlled by a single puppeteer in a chair, to control every available form on the claw. Each tentacle was controlled by four people, who rehearsed every scene with Molina to give a natural sense of movement as if the tentacles were moving due to Octavius' muscle movement.[20] On-set, Molina christened his co-stars "Larry", "Harry", "Moe" and "Flo", with "Flo" being the top-right tentacle.[21]

Edge FX was only hired to do scenes where Octavius carries his tentacles. CGI was used for when the tentacles carry Octavius: a 20 ft (6.1 m) high rig held Molina to glide through his surroundings, with CG tentacles added later.[20] The CG versions were scanned straight from the practical ones.[8] However, using the practical versions was always preferred to save money,[20] and each scene was always filmed first with Edge FX's creations to see if CGI was truly necessary. Completing the illusion, the sound designers chose not to use servo sound effects, feeling it would rob the tentacles of the sense that they were part of Octavius' body, and instead used motorcycle chains and piano wires.[8]

Release

Home media

The film was initially released on DVD as a two-disc special edition on November 30, 2004. It was available in both anamorphic widescreen and Pan-and-Scan "fullscreen", as well as a Superbit edition and in a box-set with the first film. There was also a collector's edition including a reprint of The Amazing Spider-Man #50.[22]

An extended cut of the film, with eight minutes of new footage, was released as Spider-Man 2.1 on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on April 17, 2007 and on October 30, 2007. In addition to the new cut, the DVD also included new special features not on the original release, as well as a sneak preview of Spider-Man 3.[23]

The film was released on Blu-ray in October 2007 as a part of the Spider-Man: The High Definition Trilogy box set. It was also released separately on Blu-ray in November 2010 as well as the previous film as part of Sony's Blu-ray Essentials Collection including both the theatrical release and the 2.1 extended cut.[24] The Spider-Man series was re-released on Blu-ray with a different audio transfer on June 12, 2012.[25]

Reception

Box office

Spider-Man 2 opened in the United States on June 30, 2004, and grossed $40.4 million in its first day; this broke the first film's opening day record of $39.4 million[26] until it was surpassed a year later by Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith ($50.0 million).[27] The film also broke The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King's record ($34.5 million) for the highest-grossing Wednesday of all time.[28] It held the Wednesday record for three years until it was topped by Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ($44.2 million).[29] Its Friday-to-Sunday gross reached a total of $88,156,227, which was the highest-Independence Day weekend, breaking Men in Black II's record ($52.1 million), until it was broken seven years later by Transformers: Dark of the Moon ($97.9 million).[30] In its first six days, the film had grossed over $180 million.[31] The film also eventually went on to gross $373.5 million, becoming 2004's second-highest grossing film, behind Shrek 2. Worldwide, the film grossed $783.7 million, ranking as 2004's third highest-grossing film behind Shrek 2 and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Spider-Man 2 is the twenty-third highest grossing film in the U.S. and Canada.[2]

Critical reception

Based on 261 reviews collected by the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Spider-Man 2 has a 93% overall approval rating from critics, with an average score of 8.3 out of 10. The site's consensus states "Boasting an entertaining villain and deeper emotional focus, this is a nimble sequel that improves upon the original".[32] By comparison, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 83, based on 41 reviews.[33] The film was placed at No. 411 on Empire magazine's top 500 movies list.[34]

Chicago Tribune's Mark Caro stated that Alfred Molina was a "pleasingly complex" villain, and the film as a whole "improves upon its predecessor in almost every way."[35] Kenneth Turan, of the Los Angeles Times, gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, and concurred with Caro when he stated, "Doc Ock grabs this film with his quartet of sinisterly serpentine mechanical arms and refuses to let go."[36] Roger Ebert, who had given the first film two and a half stars, gave Spider-Man 2 a perfect four out of four stars, calling it "The best superhero movie since the modern genre was launched with Superman (1978)", and praising the film for "effortlessly [combining] special effects and a human story, keeping its parallel plots alive and moving."[37] He later called it the fourth best film of 2004."[38] IGN's Richard George felt "Sam Raimi and his writing team delivered an iconic, compelling version of Spider-Man's classic foe... We almost wish there was a way to retroactively add some of these elements to the original character."[39]

Conversely, J. Hoberman, of The Village Voice, thought the first half of the film was "talky bordering on tiresome", with the film often stopping to showcase Raimi's idea of humor.[40] Charles Taylor believed, "The script's miscalculation of Peter's decision feeds into the pedestrian quality of Raimi's direction and into Maguire's weightlessness... [Maguire] simply does not suggest a heroic presence", and suggested that "Dunst appears to be chafing against strictures she cannot articulate."[41]

Awards and nominations

Spider-Man 2 won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, and was nominated for Best Sound Mixing (Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Joseph Geisinger) and Best Sound Editing, but lost to Ray and The Incredibles, respectively.[42] The film won Saturn Awards for Best Actor, Best Director, Best Fantasy Film, Best Special Effects, and Best Writer, while being nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Best Music.[43] It was nominated for two British Academy Film Awards for Special Visual Effects and Sound, but lost to The Day After Tomorrow and Ray, respectively.[44] The AFI listed the film as one of the 2004's ten best films,[45] and nominated it for positions on the lists of the top 10 fantasy films,[46] the 100 most inspiring American films,[47] and the 100 greatest American films.[48]

Award Date of ceremony Category Recipients and nominees Outcome
Academy Awards[49] February 27, 2005 Best Sound Editing Paul N.J. Ottosson Nominated
Best Sound Mixing Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Joseph Geisinger Nominated
Best Visual Effects John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara and John Frazier Won
American Film Institute Awards[50] 2005 Movie of the Year Spider-Man 2 Won
BMI Film and TV Awards[51] May 18, 2005 BMI Film Music Award Danny Elfman Won
British Academy Film Awards[52] February 12, 2005 Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara and John Frazier Nominated
BAFTA Award for Best Sound Paul N.J. Ottosson, Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell and Jeffrey J. Haboush Nominated
Orange Film of the Year Spider-Man 2 Nominated
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards[53] January 10, 2005 Best Family Film Spider-Man 2 Nominated
Best Popular Movie Spider-Man 2 Won
Cinema Audio Society Awards[54] February 19, 2005 Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Motion Pictures Joseph Geisinger, Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell and Jeffrey J. Haboush Nominated
Empire Awards[55][56] March 13, 2005 Best Actor Tobey Maguire Nominated
Best Director Sam Raimi Won
Golden Trailer Awards[57] May 25, 2004 Summer 2004 Blockbuster Spider-Man 2 Nominated
Hugo Awards[58] August 7, 2005 Best Dramatic Presentation – Long Form Spider-Man 2 Nominated
London Critics Circle Film Awards[59] February 9, 2005 British Supporting Actor of the Year Alfred Molina Nominated
MTV Movie Awards[60] June 4, 2005 Best Action Sequence Spider-Man 2 Nominated
Best Movie Spider-Man 2 Nominated
Best Villain Alfred Molina Nominated
People's Choice Awards[61] January 9, 2005 Favorite Motion Picture Spider-Man 2 Nominated
Favorite On-Screen Chemistry Kirsten Dunst and Tobey Maguire Nominated
Favorite Sequel Spider-Man 2 Nominated
Favorite Villain Movie Star Alfred Molina Nominated
Satellite Awards[62] December 17, 2005 Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Drama Alfred Molina Nominated
Best Cinematography Bill Pope and Anette Haellmigk Nominated
Best DVD Extra Spider-Man 2 Nominated
Best Film Editing Bob Murawski Nominated
Best Original Score Danny Elfman Nominated
Best Overall DVD Spider-Man 2 Won
Best Sound (Editing & Mixing) Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, Jeffrey J. Haboush, Joseph Geisinger, Paul N.J. Ottosson and Susan Dudeck Nominated
Best Visual Effects John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara and John Frazier Nominated
Saturn Awards[63] May 3, 2005 Best Fantasy Film Spider-Man 2 Won
Best Actor Tobey Maguire Won
Best Supporting Actor Alfred Molina Nominated
Best Director Sam Raimi Won
Best Writer Alvin Sargent Won
Best Music Danny Elfman Nominated
Best Special Effects John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara
and John Frazier		 Won
Best DVD Special Edition Release Spider-Man 2 Nominated
Visual Effects Society Award[64] February 16, 2005 Best Single Visual Effect of the Year John Dykstra, Lydia Bottegoni, Dan Abrams and John Monos Nominated
Outstanding Compositing in a Motion Picture Colin Drobnis, Greg Derochie, Blaine Kennison and Ken Lam Won
Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Act on Motion Picture Dan Abrams, David Emery, Andrew Nawrot and John Hart Won
Outstanding Performance by an Actor or Actress in a Visual Effects Film Alfred Molina Won
Outstanding Special Effects in Service to Visual Effects in a Motion Picture John Frazier, James D. Schwalm, James Nagle and David Amborn Nominated
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Motion Picture John Dykstra, Lydia Bottegoni, Anthony LaMolinara and Scott Stokdyk Nominated
World Stunt Awards[65] September 25, 2005 Best Overall Stunt by a Stunt Man Chris Daniels and Michael Hugghins Won
Best Specialty Stunt Tim Storms, Garrett Warren, Susie Park, Patricia M. Peters, Norb Phillips, Lisa Hoyle, Kevin L. Jackson and Clay Donahue Fontenot Nominated
Best Work with a Vehicle Tad Griffith, Richard Burden, Scott Rogers, Darrin Prescott and Mark Norby Nominated

Legacy

Despite the many super-hero movies which have followed after it, Spider-Man 2 still regularly tops rankings as one of the best-loved of the genre.[66][67][68][69][70][71][72] In 2012, Ask Men wrote, "This is the high-water mark for Spider-Man movies, and good luck to anyone who wants to top it."[73]

In 2013, Screen Crush wrote,"Sam Raimi's second outing with the web-slinging hero is as perfect as superhero movies get, nailing everything that's great about its hero without sacrificing the unique tone established by the first film. How exactly does Raimi pull off a movie that's simultaneously goofy, melancholy, romantic, frightening, melodramatic, crazily intense and emotionally fulfilling? Some kind of cinematic alchemy, apparently."[74] Forbes described it as "Not just one of the greatest sequels, but one of the best films of the genre, period."[75]

In 2014, Yahoo Movies! wrote, "Raimi's best superhero movie still takes the cake."[76]

Spider-Man 2 is Rotten Tomatoes's second best-reviewed comic book film of all time, beating out X2: X-Men United, Batman Begins and Superman.[77] It remains the second highest-rated superhero film behind The Dark Knight at 93% on rottentomatoes.com. In 2007, Entertainment Weekly named it the No. 21 greatest action film of all time.[78]

References

  1. ↑ "Spider-Man 2". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 "Spider-Man 2 (2004)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved February 5, 2009.
  3. ↑ Michael Fleming; Claude Brodesser (July 31, 2000). "Maguire spins 'Spider-Man'". Variety. Retrieved January 22, 2007.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Greg Dean Schmitz. "Greg's Preview – Spider-Man 2". Yahoo!. Archived from the original on December 25, 2006. Retrieved April 15, 2007.
  5. ↑ Claude Brodesser, Dana Harris (April 13, 2003). "Tobey's tangled rep web". Variety. Retrieved April 30, 2007.
  6. ↑ Brian Hiatt (February 13, 2003). "Eight Arms to Hold You". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 30, 2007.
  7. ↑ Jeff Otto (June 29, 2004). "Interview: Sam Raimi". IGN. Retrieved April 30, 2007.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Making the Amazing (DVD). Sony. 2004.
  9. ↑ Anwar Brett (July 9, 2004). "Alfred Molina". BBC. Retrieved April 30, 2007.
  10. ↑ Jeff Otto (June 25, 2004). "Interview: Tobey Maguire and Alfred Molina". IGN. Retrieved April 30, 2007.
  11. ↑ Jeff Otto (June 25, 2004). "Spidey 2 Talk". IGN. Retrieved April 30, 2007.
  12. ↑ "Spider-Man sequel set for 2004". BBC. May 8, 2002. Retrieved March 25, 2007.
  13. 1 2 Chris Hewitt (June 25, 2004). "Spidey's Back". Empire. pp. 79–90.
  14. ↑ Thomas, Archie (April 30, 2002). "Spider-Man 2 Budget". London: Guardian.com. Retrieved November 7, 2006.
  15. ↑ Jeff Vandermeer (April 14, 2008). "Read Michael Chabon's Script for Spider-Man 2". io9. Retrieved April 14, 2008.
  16. 1 2 Stella Papamichael (July 9, 2004). "Sam Raimi". BBC. Retrieved April 30, 2007.
  17. ↑ Brian Cronin (November 28, 2007). "Guest Spot: Rohan Williams Interviews Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert (Part 1)". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved November 28, 2007.
  18. ↑ Tom Russo. "A Bug's Life". Premiere. Archived from the original on November 2, 2007. Retrieved May 6, 2007.
  19. ↑ Patrick Sauriol (December 28, 2003). "SCOOP: SPIDER-MAN 2 reshoots this week?". Mania Movies. Retrieved May 3, 2007.
  20. 1 2 3 Eight Arms To Hold You (DVD). Sony. 2004.
  21. ↑ Mike Cotton. "Spider-Man 3." Wizard: The Comics Magazine June 2007: p. 30–31.
  22. ↑ Tom Woodward (September 13, 2004). "Spider-Man 2 US – DVD R1". DVDActive. Retrieved June 7, 2007.
  23. ↑ Tom Woodward (February 2, 2007). "US – DVD R1 Spider-Man 2.1". DVDActive. Retrieved June 7, 2007.
  24. ↑ Woodward, Tom (February 2, 2007). "Spider-Man 1 and 2 Get Separate Blu-ray Releases (Update)". DVDActive. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
  25. ↑ "Spider-Man 2". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
  26. ↑ "Arachnophilia at Box Office as Spidey Sets Record". Internet Movie Database. July 1, 2004. Retrieved June 7, 2007.
  27. ↑ "'Sith' Destroys Single Day Record". Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  28. ↑ "'Spider-Man 2' Amazes on Opening Day". Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  29. ↑ "'Harry Potter' Flies with the 'Phoenix'". Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  30. ↑ "Weekend Report: 'Transformers' Claims Independence Gross Record". Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  31. ↑ "Spidey, The Champ". Internet Movie Database. July 7, 2004. Retrieved June 7, 2007.
  32. ↑ "Spider-Man 2 Movie Reviews". Rotten Tomatoes (Filixster). Retrieved July 5, 2012.
  33. ↑ "Spider-Man 2: Reviews". Metacritic.com Networks. Retrieved August 1, 2010.
  34. ↑ "Empire's 500 Greatest Movies of All Time". Empire. Retrieved October 15, 2010.
  35. ↑ Mark Caro (June 28, 2004). "Caro reviews Spider-Man 2". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on October 30, 2007. Retrieved May 29, 2007.
  36. ↑ Turan, Kenneth (June 29, 2004). "Turan reviews Spider-Man 2". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved May 29, 2007.
  37. ↑ Roger Ebert (June 30, 2004). "Ebert reviews Spider-Man 2". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved May 29, 2007.
  38. ↑ "Ebert's 10 Best Lists 1967–Present". Chicago Sun-Times. December 15, 2004. Retrieved July 12, 2008.
  39. ↑ Richard George (April 19, 2007). "Spider-Man in Film Volume One". IGN. Retrieved June 7, 2007.
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  41. ↑ Charles Taylor (June 30, 2004). "Taylor reviews Spider-Man 2". Salon.com. Retrieved May 30, 2007.
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